In November last year, Barack Obama came to see him play live and confessed to his wife that he was only running for president because he couldn't be Bruce Springsteen, Mark Hagen wrote in the Observer.
Springsteen, of course, thinks the world of Obama. Both are great.
Springsteen has created magic on his latest album, Working On A Dream.
You can hear the whole album on NPR.
And it’s just great from the opening track, Outlaw Pete. Extremely radio-friendly, full of jangling guitars, these anthemic tunes delivered in the Boss’ inimitable growl are superb. I loved the title track best. But Outlaw Pete, My Lucky Day, Queen Of The Supermarket, What Love Can Do, This Life, Good Eye, Tomorrow Never Knows, Life Itself, Kingdom Of Days, Surprise, Surprise, The Last Carnival all come close. Every track is a gem.
This is the official video of Life Itself.
The Rolling Stone says:
As much as anyone, Springsteen has mastered the key sounds of rock's golden age, and he deploys them at will on this album, diving deep into influences that he's only hinted at before on record. At least two tracks lean hard on the Byrds — the jagged, sitarlike guitars on "Life Itself" are pure "Eight Miles High," as are the close vocal harmonies on the tough little rocker "What Love Can Do."
The youthful energy of the album's music collides neatly with the all-too-adult truths of the lyrics, which — at least on the surface — return to the personal and domestic, after the global sweep of his last few records. The sunny title track is a rare and timely moment of unabashed optimism, and there are some of Springsteen's least conflicted, most devotional love songs here.
But even the title character of "Outlaw Pete" can achieve no more than temporary redemption, and Springsteen wonders on several songs how we can hold on to our attachments — and the best parts of ourselves — in the face of "the burdens of the day . . . the weary hands of time." Some of those tunes recount rough patches in a relationship that could stand in for larger, national issues.
The Guardian says:
Perhaps it's a relief that, despite the implications of its title, Working On a Dream is not a state of the nation address. At the dawn of the presidency of a man who recently said he had put himself up for the job only when he finally concluded that he could never be Bruce Springsteen, these 13 songs offer not even the most oblique of references to public affairs. The best of them concentrate on states of the heart, but with an openness and an optimism that seem unclouded by wider doubts and fears, as if in recognition of a need for consolation.
Tracks
1. Outlaw Pete
2. My Lucky Day
3. Working On a Dream
4. Queen Of The Supermarket
5. What Love Can Do
6. This Life
7. Good Eye
8. Tomorrow Never Knows
9. Life Itself
10. Kingdom Of Days
11. Surprise, Surprise
12. The Last Carnival
13. The Wrestler (Bonus Track)
And here are the lyrics for Life Itself.
We met down in the valley, where the wine of love and destruction flows
There in that curve of darkness where flowers of temptation grow
I left the rest for the others it was you and nothing else
You felt so good to me baby, as good as life itself
You were life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in the black elms
Life itself, in your heart and in your eyes
I can’t make it without you
I knew you were in trouble, anyone could tell
You carried your little black book from which all your secrets fell
You squandered all your riches, your, your beauty and your wealth
Like you had no further use for, for life itself
You were life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in the black elms
Life itself, in your heart and in your eyes
I can’t make it without you
Why are things that we treasure most slip away in time
‘Til to the music we grow deaf and to god’s beauty blind
Why do the things that connect us slowly pull us apart
‘Til we fall away in our own darkness
Stranger to our own hearts
And to life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in the black elms
Life itself, in your heart and in your eyes
I can’t make it without you
So here’s one for the road
Here’s one to your health
And to life itself, rushing over me
Life itself, the wind in the black elms
Life itself, in your heart and in your eyes
I can’t make it without you
Life itself
Life itself
Life itself
Life itself
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