25 songs that helped Bruce Springsteen become ‘The Boss’
When trying to ascertain the many multitudes that make up Bruce Springsteen, one silver thread stitches every part of his life together: music. He has now become an on-screen icon as well as an airwaves hero, but while his image is now as legendary as his songs, it is the music that has always kept him floating towards legacy.
A pure artist at heart, across his near-five decade career, ‘The Boss’ has routinely shown himself to be devoted to the craft of songwriting, either as a performer, singer, guitarist, or ghost-writer. Springsteen loves music more than most and, with his appreciation, interpretation, and proliferation of it, has been able to garner himself the aforementioned moniker.
Across the years, such adoration for artists and bands has led the all-American hero to cover a catalogue of impressive musicians. However, the songs he performs on stage aren’t always the ones he holds dearest or the ones which helped build the infrastructure of the cultural behemoth we now know as Bruce Springsteen. Performances are certainly a way to show appreciation, but it is sometimes the tracks we dare not speak of that are the loudest thud in our hearts. For those songs, we usually have to dig a little deeper.
Thankfully, however, in 2009, a compilation of some of Springsteen’s most treasured songs and artists was put together to do a lot of the heavy lifting for us. While it can be generally accepted that The Boss was unlikely to have sat down with the good people behind the compilation and drawn up a list of his 25 most inspirational tunes, judging by past interviews, it’s fair to say that the artists mentioned all have a place in his heart.
The first, more obvious inspirational songs on the below deck are tracks that have directly inspired some of Springsteen’s own numbers. Robert Mitchum’s ‘The Ballad of Thunder Road’ is of particular note, while Woody Guthrie’s two-part epic ‘Tom Joad Part 1’ and ‘Tom Joad Part 2’ are also included for their obvious connections to Springsteen. But the list also includes some of Springsteen’s genuine heroes.
“It didn’t take me long to figure it out: I didn’t want to meet the Beatles. I wanted to be the Beatles.”
Bruce Springsteen
Roy Orbison is one such hero, whose song ‘Only the Lonely’ is included in the compilation. “Some rock ‘n’ roll reinforces friendship and community,” Springsteen said when inducting Orbison into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Noting that he would listen to Orbison every evening during the recording of Born to Run, Springsteen’s deep affection for the songwriter was clear for all to see.
Adding: “But for me, Roy’s ballads were always best when you were alone and in the dark. Roy scrapped the idea that you needed verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus to have a hit. His arrangements were complex and operatic, they had rhythm and movement, and they addressed the underside of pop romance. They were scary. His voice was unearthly.”
Other, more obvious candidates to be Springsteen’s clearest inspiration are The Beatles, a band that changed the lives of generations of music lovers and players. The icon can even recall when he heard them for the very first time. “I saw Elvis on TV, and when I first saw Elvis, I was nine, but I was a little young, tried to play the guitar, but it didn’t work out, I put it away,” Springsteen recalled to Rolling Stone. “The keeper was in 1964, ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ on South Street with my mother driving”.
Springsteen added: “I immediately demanded that she let me out, I ran to the bowling alley, ran down a long neon-lit aisle, down the alley into the bowling alley. Ran to the phone booth, got in the phone booth and immediately called my girl and asked ‘Have you heard this band called The Beatles?’ After that, it was nothing but rock ‘n’ roll and guitars.”
Hearing them for the first time was a moment, he profoundly adds, that “just changed the course of my life.”
As well as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan, with whom Springsteen has enjoyed a long-running fandom Bruce Springsteen’s ten best Bob Dylan covers, calling Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ a “history and culture-changing piece of music,” the compilation is packed full of impressive songs that undoubtedly inspired one of the greatest songwriters in American history.
The charisma of Frank Sinatra, the energy of Eddie Cochrane, the down-home accessibility of Hank Williams, the boyish charm of Buddy Holly and the soulful darkness of Johnny Cash can all be found both on his playlist and in the inner workings of Bruce Springsteen’s songs. He may have gained his name as ‘The Boss’ from dishing out the paycheque at the end of an evening, but Springsteen also earned that kind of reputation by being the man in charge of America’s musical legacy.
25 songs that inspired Bruce Springsteen:
- ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ – Elvis Presley
- ‘Mystery Train’ – Little Junior Parker & His Blues Flames
- ‘Good Rockin’ Tonight’ – Wynonie Harris
- ‘Twist And Shout’ – The Beatles
- ‘Maggie’s Farm’ – Bob Dylan
- ‘Paint It Black’ – The Rolling Stones
- ‘Louie Louie’ – Richard Berry
- ‘Chicken Shack Boogie’ – Amos Milburn
- ‘Be My Baby’ – The Ronettes
- ‘Please, Please, Please’ – James Brown & The Famous Flames
- ‘Proud Mary’ -Creedence Clearwater Revival
- ‘The Ballad Of Thunder Road’ – Robert Mitchum
- ‘Only The Lonely’ – Roy Orbison
- ‘Mona’ – Bo Diddley
- ‘Rave On’ – Buddy Holly
- ‘Come On In My Kitchen’ – Robert Johnson
- ‘A Mansion On The Hill’ – Hank Williams
- ‘Tom Joad, Part 1’ – Woody Guthrie
- ‘Tom Joad, Part 2’ – Woody Guthrie
- ‘Johnny B. Goode’ – Chuck Berry
- ‘Angel B. Good’ – Frank Sinatra
- ‘Angel Eyes’ – Johnny Cash
- ‘Walking The Dog’ – Rufus Thomas
- ‘John Henry’ – Pete Seeger
- ‘Summertime Blues’ – Eddie Cochran
