Sunday, March 12, 2006

A True Love/Hate Relationship

I remember the very first time I heard the song, "Born To Run" by Bruce Springsteen. I absolutely loved that song. A little while later I heard "Badlands" and loved that too. And then, not long after that - "Thunder Road", which BTW is my all time favorite Springsteen song. So I started collecting his albums. I had gotten all of them up until a few years ago. I have seen him in concert THREE times; the last time I was 20 feet away from him, drooling the whole time. So, I guess you could say I was a fan. He seemed like a good guy and had a great voice. And, of course, he is a fantastic songwriter. His songs are like pictures with music. And he has a great band backing him up. So, anyway, I liked the guy. And then a few years ago I started hating the guy. He got too political and started joining the Bush-bashers. So, I stopped listening to him. I could have cared less when he came back to Greensboro last year. When the radio would announce playing one of his new songs, I turned the station. I just didn't want anything else to do with him. Until last night. I had gone to bed and was watching TV before going to sleep. I was flipping through the channels, and all of a sudden there was Bruce. He was on VH1, a show called "Storytellers", and he was telling a story. He was all by himself on the stage and playing piano. He would sing a few lines, then stop and explain where those lines came from in his head, and what he meant by them, then he would sing a few more lines, and do the same thing again. Then he would go on to another song and do the same. I was sort of hooked, listening to him again. And then . . . He played "Thunder Road". And I was gone. It was beautiful. He explained a little about the song before he started singing it, as he was playing the opening notes. Then he sang the whole song uninterrupted, just him and the piano. I didn't even know he played piano. So, I guess I'm a fan again. I hate that I had missed the first half of the show, so I looked on through what was coming up and saw that same show coming on again next week. I've already set the recorder. As Keith Carradine sang in Nashville, "I'm Easy".

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