“That’s what balances the songs”: Bruce Springsteen’s first commandment of songwriting
If there’s anyone whose advice on songwriting should be heeded, it’s Bruce Springsteen. Since his rise to fame in the 1970s, The Boss has not only cemented his status as perhaps the quintessential American artist but also as one of the most cherished, respected, and admired rock songwriters of all time. He stands among the elite—alongside legends like Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Joni Mitchell—as someone with unparalleled skill in crafting songs. So, when Springsteen offers his most important piece of advice for creating something truly special, it’s well worth paying attention.
What is it about Springsteen’s songs that make them so special? What has made them so broadly beloved and timeless? It could well be the instrumentals as the artist’s New Jersey home and his early influences of classic rock and roll merged with blue-collar suburban blue created a knack for building catchy, rousing sounds to please the masses. It could be his storytelling abilities, as tracks like ‘Thunder Road’ or ‘Nebraska’ feel like whole novels or full films in a song, complete with characters and a plot to follow. To some, it might just be his voice as he moves between the gritty rock and roll energy and a rich, velvety crooner style.
But in Springsteen’s own mind, it all comes down to balance. To him, a song is at its best when it’s walking on a tightrope, cutting a line straight down the middle between vulnerability and relatability, between the personal and the universal.
“The secret of the songwriting was to get personal first, then you sort of shade in universal feelings,” Springsteen told Uncut, “That’s what balances the songs.” That’s the rule he sticks to and the process he follows, allowing him to become such a broadly beloved act.
He explained it further, so get your pens ready to take notes. “All experience is personal so you have to start there,” he said, encouraging artists to not deny their lived experiences and innermost feelings but to use them. However, he said that the magic happens when artists then zoom out to a broader scale.
“Then if you can connect in what’s happening with everyone, the universality of an experience, then you’re creating that alchemy where your audience is listening to it, they’re hearing what they’re feeling inside, and they’re also feeling ‘I’m not alone,’ you know?” he said, considering that sense of community and collective understanding to be the goal.
When listening back to almost any of Springsteen’s songs, that balance is heard. Let’s take one of his biggest songs as an example; ‘Dancing In The Dark’. There are lyrics in this song that feel almost nonsensical. They feel so specific and so personal that the listener is almost intruding on some kind of inside joke in Springsteen’s life. He sings, “I’m sick of sittin’ ’round here tryin’ to write this book,” but what book? He continues, “Messages keeps gettin’ clearer,” but what messages? He doesn’t explain these things, allowing the personal images and thoughts to exist in the song. But the balance comes with lines like “I check my look in the mirror / Wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face,” where that feeling of insecurity and restlessness is universal, or as he sings, “You can’t start a fire / Worryin’ about your little world fallin’ apart,” bringing the song home to a broader moral message.
The interplay between those who side allows ‘Dancing In The Dark’ to be relatable and universal without being cliche and allows it to be personal without being too exclusive or alienating. To Springsteen, that’s what allows it to be a hit.
