On Love - Thoughts from others - Bruce Springsteen

• August 6, 2007
• James Skemp
• article, philosophy

I've been a fan of Bruce Springsteen since I first listened to the album Born in the USA (on cassette), way back, many, many years ago. Most of the music/songs that I enjoy are because of women, but Bruce Springsteen is one of the few artists that I enjoy because of a man. In this case, my father had the tape, but it was women who gave the music true meaning.  Anywho ...

Probably one of his most interesting songs I heard was many years later, when I bought a copy of 18 Tracks.  The text of that song follows.

When I get home from my job I turn on my T.V.
But I can't keep my mind on the show
When I lay down at night, oh I can't get no sleep
So I turn on my radio
But the only sound I hear is you whisperin' in my ear
The words that you used to say
Now my days grow longer
'Cause my love grows stronger
And the fever gets worse
And I've got the fever for this girl

CHORUS
Got the fever, oh I've got the fever
Nothing that a po' boy can do
When he's got the fever for this girl
Got the fever, oh I've got the fever
Left this little boy blue

I can remember comin' home
See you standin' at the stove
With the dishes on the table
Dinner ready to go
We'll maybe go out to a movie show
Something that you like to see
Well now you are my sun in the morning
And my moon at night
I think about you baby
I feel alright
Now my days grow longer
'Cause my love grows stronger
And the fever gets worse
And I've got the fever for this girl

CHORUS

From Bruce Springsteen's The Fever (1973).

The next, from The River, I first heard on the old Live/1975-85 three-disc set. It's probably best heard with his live text, where he actually talks about waht the song means to him. Nonetheless, a very great song. 

I come from down in the valley
where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then I got Mary pregnant
and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
that sends me down to the river
though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
my baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride

From Bruce Springsteen's The River (1980).

Many times I listened to this song on those summer nights of old ... 

Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go away and leave you all alone
I got a bad desire
I'm on fire

Tell me now baby is he good to you
Can he do to you the things that I do
I can take you higher
I'm on fire

Sometimes it's like someone took a knife baby
edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley
through the middle of my soul

At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
and a freight train running through the
middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
I'm on fire

From Bruce Springsteen's I'm On Fire (1984).

Springsteen released two albums, around the same time, and while 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) was the song that I really enjoy from this, but this song sheds much on our subject.

You and me we were the pretenders
We let it all slip away
In the end what you don't surrender
Well the world just strips away

Girl, ain't no kindness in the face of strangers
Ain't gonna find no miracles here
Well you can wait on your blesses my darlin'
But I got a deal for you right here

I ain't lookin' for praise or pity
I ain't comin' 'round searchin' for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that Human Touch
Just a little of that Human Touch

Ain't no mercy on the streets of this town
Ain't no bread from heavenly skies
Ain't nobody drawin' wine from this blood
It's just you and me tonight

Tell me, in a world without pity
Do you think what I'm askin's too much
I just want something to hold on to
And a little of that Human Touch
Just a little of that Human Touch

Oh girl that feeling of safety you prize
Well it comes at a hard hard price
You can't shut off the risk and the pain
Without losin' the love that remains
We're all riders on this train

So you've been broken and you've been hurt
Show me somebody who ain't
Yeah, I know I ain't nobody's bargain
But, hell, a little touchup
and a little paint...

You might need somethin' to hold on to
When all the answers, they don't amount to much
Somebody that you could just to talk to
And a little of that Human Touch

Baby, in a world without pity
Do you think what I'm askin's too much
I just want to feel you in my arms
Share a little of that Human Touch
Feel a little of that Human Touch
Give me a little of that Human Touch

From Bruce Springsteen's Human Touch (1992).

• bruce springsteen