Chasing Some Mirage: The Boss Tourney. LMS & Born To Run win

[LoathedVermin72]

Darth Vedder:

"Kitty's Back" as the first pick of the whole draft?! Over "Born to Run"?! What were you smoking, dude?! My hatred of The Wild... is well-documented, but, in your defense, this song is mostly an exception. Good tune. Though the outro is too long and starts to try my patience.

"Dancing in the Dark" is fucking fantastic.

"Johnny 99" is very good.

"Reason to Believe" is good.

"Ramrod" doesn't excite me. The keyboard is kind of irritating.

"Cadillac Ranch" is pretty great.

I LOVE "You'll Be Coming Down"! One of the best songs on Magic.

"Pink Cadillac" is a fun song; I didn't think anyone was gonna pick it!

Best Song: Dancing in the Dark
Worst Song: Ramrod
Overall: Good

VS.

evenslow:

Not a fan of "Rosalita". But I dislike this album in general.

"Brilliant Disguise" is pretty good, but it seems like the second round was way too early to choose this.

"Bobby Jean" is one of Bruce's absolute best songs. This one really packs an emotional wallop for me. Great grab.

"Girls in Their Summer Clothes" is good, though I think it gets a little overrated. There's a handful of songs on Magic I like a lot more.

"Out in the Street" is a little goofy, but it's also a lot of fun.

"Empty Sky" isn't bad, but it's not one of my favorites from The Rising. It didn't make the cut when I retracked the album recently.

I haven't listened to We Shall Overcome yet, and it's partially because I have been afraid it would sound exactly like "Pay Me My Money Down". This is just not my cup of tea.

"I Wanna Be with You" is all right, but it sounds like exactly what it is: a The River outtake.

Best Song: Bobby Jean
Worst Song: Pay Me My Money Down
Overall: Weak

VOTE FOR: DARTH VEDDER

---

bada:

"Jungleland" isn't one of my favorite BTR tracks, to be honest.

"Born in the U.S.A." is a strong contender for Bruce's best song ever, and ranks pretty high among my personal favorite songs by anyone. Potent lyrics, classic production, great playing, exploding with energy. It never gets old. I can't even express how much I adore that they left in that little keyboard mistake near the end.

"Two Hearts" is another classic. So much energy! Tons of fun.

"Ain't Good Enough for You" is new to me. It's all right. Doesn't do all that much for me.

"Restless Nights" is decent. I like the guitar tones, and the way they're all layered over each other.

"Streets of Fire" was a steal in the second half of the draft. Great song. (Almost picked it myself, but decided to go with "Something in the Night" instead.)

"Fade Away" is very good.

I'd never heard "Roulette" before and I LOVE it! What an explosive song!

Best Song: Born in the U.S.A.
Worst Song: Ain't Good Enough for You
Overall: Good

VS.

LV

I feel weird giving my own team a proper evaluation, so I'll just share some thoughts on the songs I chose.

"I'm on Fire" is a perfect song. It's possibly my favorite thing Bruce has ever done. As LMS astutely pointed out, the way the song never gives you any catharsis, and feels so criminally short (for how great it is), effectively creates - in the listener - the very sexual tension and longing the song describes. Pure genius.

"Hungry Heart" is just a stone cold classic, and one of the best songs on The River. So much of Springsteen's catalog deals with the dreams and yearning of middle America, and this song's chorus lays it bare: "everybody's got a hungry heart."

"Something in the Night"...man, what can you say about something as gorgeous and moving as that intro? Bruce just wailing his lungs out as the music builds and builds...it's so fucking pure and magical. Then, again, yearning. Dreams. Longing for something you can't capture. And the tragedy of being left without that intangible something which you so desperately desire.

Well you're born with nothin', and better off that way
Soon as you've got something they send someone to try and take it away
Well you can ride this road 'til dawn without another human being in sight
Yeah, just kids wasted on, ooh, something in the night

"Highway Patrolman" is such a powerfully written song. Trying to be a good person, to do the right thing, in the face of an obligation that pulls you into corruption - the all-too-common tragedy of toxic family ties. And delivered completely without bitterness or anger - just melancholy and matter-of-fact resignation.

Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away
But when it's your brother, sometimes you look the other way
Me and Franky laughin' and drinkin', nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would
Man turns his back on his family, well, he just ain't no good

"Radio Nowhere" is such an earworm. It has all the energy and hookiness of classic Bruce, but now it also has an edge of lived experience, with Bruce sounding almost weary in his pure, earnest desire for something simple and fulfilling, something to cut through all the bullshit. "Is there anybody left alive out there? I just wanna hear some rhythm..."

This one was sort of a personal pick, because while it doesn't seem to be very well-known, I absolutey adore "Lift Me Up". I'd say it's tied with "I'm on Fire" as my favorite Springsteen song. It doesn't really sound like anything else he's done; that high, gentle pitch he sings in that always seems to be just shy of breaking, underscored by a lush bed of synthesizers...it just hits me deep down.

"Further On (Up the Road)" is, I guess, also sort of a personal pick; I have loved this song since I first heard it when I was...wow, 14? I still love it now. Something about the combination of the bluesy, hard-driving melody, the ragged way Bruce delivers the vocals, and the worn-down hope of the lyrics always seems to bring me to brink of tears when I hear it. I really love this verse:

Now I been out in the desert, just doin' my time
Searchin' through the dust, lookin' for a sign
If there's a light up ahead, well, brother, I don't know
But I got this fever burnin' in my soul
So let's take the good times as they go
And I'll meet you further on up the road

Gets me every time.

"Point Blank" is my least favorite of this bunch, but it's still a great song. I love that twinkling piano line at the beginning; sonically, this sounds a lot like something off Nick Cave's Tender Prey to me. And and it's another case of Springsteen capturing tragedy and heartache in a stinging and succinct way:

Well I saw you last night down on the avenue
Your face was in the shadows, but I knew that it was you
You were standin' in the doorway out of the rain
You didn't answer when I called out your name
You just turned and then you looked away like just another stranger waitin' to get blown away

VOTE FOR: LV

[Higgs]

Dude, what the fuck?

Now I have people coming out of posting retirement just to vote against me??

Man, sorry about that. That's true, Ive never posted much since the new forum happened (I was formerly known as Walter Sobchak). But I've been a lot in Bruce Springsteen lately (reading born to run for example).
I truly chose the 2 teams that have songs that I like the most.
No hard feelings I hope.

Of course no hard feelings! I was just taking the piss. This tournamenting is serious business!

Keep voting, we need as many as we can get.

Also, congrats team guestT and lowlight, good jobs.

[Strat]

Geezes I can't believe i have the same tastes in bruce as LV

[LoathedVermin72]

Geezes I can't believe i have the same tastes in bruce as LV

I listened to 75 Bruce Springsteen songs on my road trip yesterday

[i got bugs]

Evenslow
Lv

Tough to vote vs jungleland, but I love I'm on fire almost as much.. just like the overall team there better

[Norah]

This is my favorite tournament.

[wease]

DV
LV

[evenslow]

First off, well played all. No one made an embarrassment of themselves. The Boss has got enough hits for all of us and then some.

Well I'm gonna vote for me but Darth did done good. Getting "Dancing in the Dark" at pick 32 was a steal. And one could make the argument that "You'll Be Comin' Down" is the best track on Magic.

But my team is strong and balanced. LV you're high if you think Brilliant Disguise was taken too high. That's probably his most personal, confessional writing and he pulls off such a great trick by having it all come full circle by the end. If it was good enough for the esteemed panel at Rolling Stone to pick at #29, then by God it's good enough for ol' slow here.

Also, I picked a song called Rosalita that has this section in it you fiends:

Now, I know your mama, she don't like me, 'cause I play in a rock and roll band
And I know your daddy, he don't dig me, but he never did understand
Your papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room-- I'm comin' to lend a hand
I'm comin' to liberate you, confiscate you, I want to be your man
Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny
But now you're sad, your mama's mad
And your papa says he knows that I don't have any money
Your papa says he knows that I don't have any money
Oh, your daddy says he knows that I don't have any money
Well, tell him this is his last chance to get his daughter in a fine romance
'Cause a record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance!!!

[evenslow]

Ok, Bada starts off super strong with his Jungleland, BITUSA and Two Hearts. Then, for my tastes he dies off a bit and kicks some real ass with his pick of Streets of Fire at 89. That helps his case a lot.

I would have picked Hungry Heart with my second choice if it had made it back but of course it didn't. It's one of my favorite opening lines to a song ever, in that a tells a complete story: Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack / I went out for a ride and I never went back. You could end the song there and you have a winner.

I also waited on taking Something in the Night, which I should not have. It's got a lot of personal meaning for me and I committed an act of hubris by letting LV get his grubby little hands on it.

Radio Nowhere is good but there are about 5-7 other Magic tracks you could have taken there instead.

That being said, I gotta go with LV here. A few of the songs mean a ton to me. But well played Bada. The sax solo on Jungleland almost got you there singlehandedly.

[LoathedVermin72]

Ok, Bada starts off super strong with his Jungleland, BITUSA and Two Hearts. Then, for my tastes he dies off a bit and kicks some real ass with his pick of Streets of Fire at 89. That helps his case a lot.

I would have picked Hungry Heart with my second choice if it had made it back but of course it didn't. It's one of my favorite opening lines to a song ever, in that a tells a complete story: Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack / I went out for a ride and I never went back. You could end the song there and you have a winner.

I also waited on taking Something in the Night, which I should not have. It's got a lot of personal meaning for me and I committed an act of hubris by letting LV get his grubby little hands on it.

Radio Nowhere is good but there are about 5-7 other Magic tracks you could have taken there instead.

That being said, I gotta go with LV here. A few of the songs mean a ton to me. But well played Bada. The sax solo on Jungleland almost got you there singlehandedly.

WTF

[evenslow]

Ok, Bada starts off super strong with his Jungleland, BITUSA and Two Hearts. Then, for my tastes he dies off a bit and kicks some real ass with his pick of Streets of Fire at 89. That helps his case a lot.

I would have picked Hungry Heart with my second choice if it had made it back but of course it didn't. It's one of my favorite opening lines to a song ever, in that a tells a complete story: Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack / I went out for a ride and I never went back. You could end the song there and you have a winner.

I also waited on taking Something in the Night, which I should not have. It's got a lot of personal meaning for me and I committed an act of hubris by letting LV get his grubby little hands on it.

Radio Nowhere is good but there are about 5-7 other Magic tracks you could have taken there instead.

That being said, I gotta go with LV here. A few of the songs mean a ton to me. But well played Bada. The sax solo on Jungleland almost got you there singlehandedly.

WTF

Sorry about my assumption that your hands are grubby and little. But that's all I can picture when I see you've taken my sweet sweet Something in the Night.

[whygodeepaz]

For the first match-up, I gotta go with Darth Vedder, for both having "Dancing on the Dark" on his team AND for having what I think is the best 7th and 8th round combo in the entire tournament (seriously, those are both steals).

For the second match-up, LV gets the edge with the awesome 1-2 punch of "I'm on Fire" and "Hungry Heart" (plus we both feel the same about "Further On (Up the Road)"). Though I will admit that I hate having to vote against "Born in the U.S.A."

[kreng]

DV
LV

[darth_vedder]

d_v
LV

I really like both LV's team and bada's. Two Hearts just might be my favorite song from The River, but overall I think LV has a slightly stronger team.

[MissingTheSchoolBus]

Round 1b
Darth Vedder

-----------------------------------------------------

Bada

2 very close ones. Tough to choose.

[evenslow]

So I'm really gonna lose to the guy who chose "Kitty's Back" with the first overall selection in the 2017 Bruce Springsteen Tournament?

Spoiler: show

[darth_vedder]

So I'm really gonna lose to the guy who chose "Kitty's Back" with the first overall selection in the 2017 Bruce Springsteen Tournament?

Spoiler: show

[darth_vedder]

I know, I know by not choosing BTR first.

BTW evenslow, I really like your team too. If this tournament taught me anything it's that Bruce has a vast catalog full of great tunes. We could have easily gone to 10 rounds.

[scottmusic]

Evenslow gets my vote in the first matchup. Rosalita is far superior to Kitty's Back, which is one of my least favorite songs of Bruce. It just goes on forever. Ugh. Rosalita is a classic and perhaps Bruce's happiest song on record? I don't know, I just came up with that off the cuff, but its an awesome song. I Wanna Be With You is an underrated gem, and how can you vote against a song (Girls in their Summer Clothes) that name drops Shanequa? That song just has an awesome bridge.

Going with Bada in the second matchup. Jungleland is one of his two best compositions (behind Thunder Road in my opinion...how amazing is it that he wrote all these songs when he was 25?) and Ain't Good Enough for You is a lot of fun as well. His team does lose points in my book for having no songs younger than 30 years old, but LV's team just doesn't do anything for me. I dislike Point Blank and Lift Me Up. I do really like Something in the Night, Further On (especially the Seeger Sessions version), and Highway Patrolman, but not enough to overcome those two weaknesses for me.

[guestT]

Round 1b

Darth Vedder vs. Evenslow
I had a big thing typed up here but you know what? I'm changing my rationale, and my vote. I was going to award my vote to DV for having two of my top 10 Bruce tunes (DITD and RTB), but then I asked myself: If I were going for a drive or a run, which of these playlists would I want to take with me? Despite the highs not being as high as his opponent's, for having the more consistently enjoyable team from top to bottom I give my vote to Evenslow.

Bada vs. LV
This was really tough. I tried to apply the same rationale as above and couldn't choose between the two very strong teams. So as a tiebreaker I went to my iTunes and added up my star ratings for the songs on their respective teams. The result? Bada 32 stars, LV 33. Vote goes to LV.