The Bruce Springsteen songs that even Bruce Springsteen hated: “I never liked it”
Bruce Springsteen’s songs still resonate with people today not just because they’re good, but because of the fact they tap into something that’s much deeper than sound alone. The way that Bruce Springsteen writes is a combination of exciting rock music and lyricisms that taps into something buried within everyone who listens.
Two of his biggest inspirations were The Beatles and Bob Dylan, both of which are very clear in his music. You can hear it in his instrumentation, as his songs are upbeat and easy to move to, like a lot of The Beatles’ catalogue. Meanwhile, his lyrics talk about his personal life, internal struggles, and politics, all topics that don’t age and people still find meaning in today.
His broad approach to music means he has never been stumped for ideas. Regardless of the period of Bruce Springsteen’s life in which he is writing, there has always been a part of him that he draws from and lays on a track. This means he has written a great deal of incredibly personal and varied songs throughout his career. While he’s a fan of the majority of these songs, even The Boss himself admits that there are some tracks of his that he doesn’t like that much.
There are different reasons for his reasons for disliking songs. Some are because the way a track eventually came together simply didn’t sit right with him. Meanwhile, there are other songs where, just because of the way certain words are pronounced, Springsteen wasn’t a huge fan.
For instance, one of the lead singles on his debut album was a cover of Manfred Mann’s ‘Blinded by the Light’. Springsteen was never a big fan of this track because the way that Mann pronounced “deuce” made it sound like he was saying “douche”. While Springsteen liked the song as a whole, he thought that this language slip-up was what led to the song’s success. “My line says, ‘cut loose like a deuce,’ and theirs said, ‘cut loose like a douche,’” said Springsteen, “I have a feeling that that is why the song sky-rocketed to number one.”
It may also come as a surprise to fans that Springsteen also wasn’t a big fan of ‘Born to Run’ when he first heard it. While this is one of his biggest tracks and a song that the majority of fans look forward to the most whenever they see him, it was released during a time when Springsteen hated the sound of his own voice and so couldn’t listen to it.
“When you first start, you’re not used to hearing yourself, even two or three records in,” he explained during an interview, “I just couldn’t get used to the sound of my voice. Very often, it sounds terrible to you.”
Finally, Springsteen hated the song ‘The Way’ so much that he didn’t even include it as an original song on his album. Instead, he put it at the end of the record as a secret track. When asked what his rationale was, he said, “The main reason it’s hidden is because I never liked it […] I would like to see it placed in a David Lynch film over a sexually perverse scene. That, to me, is its righteous home.”
