In a career of hacky lyrics, this may be the hackiest.
Gonna have to go with directing you to Complaints/Lost And Found. It's past the employee's restroom, right down aisle five before you hit the dairy section.We are not accepting any Bruce slander here
I raise you Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims and strap your hands 'cross my engines."Hungry Heart" down?
... and who could forget the dumdum strains of "Pink Cadillac"?
I raise you Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims and strap your hands 'cross my engines.
He may have been the first megastar who proudly flaunted that he was from Jersey -- it's even in the title of his first album. Given the lack of respect Jersey gets from much of the rest of the country, that had to have counted for a lot.My cultural attachment comes from going to a dozen or so weddings of Jersey folk after I moved to the area after grad school - maybe half had some kind of weird Jersey Girl ritual near the end of the reception. They're a strange people. Maryland folk ain't nearly so hung up on Kix.
That's why I said "may be"! There is not a runaway contender here!"Hungry Heart" down?
... and who could forget the dumdum strains of "Pink Cadillac"?
I see what you did there.He was a big deal in my hometown when Born In The U.S.A. came out
I wonder if Rock grew up near Atlantic City.I see what you did there.
Yeah, I was really bored and on a plane back from Italy when I started this thread. I had like a month's sobriety and tons of coffee (and I was just agitated and dying to have a drink), so I put fingers to phone and came up with something that's always sort of bothered me in a literary way.I get the complaints about Springsteen but I do love the music and the persona- even if it is a persona.
Yeah, it's a weird. Especially because fastball or curveball would have seemed to work just fine. I think curveball would have fit into just right actually. Why speed ball? I would love to ask Bruce.Yeah, I was really bored and on a plane back from Italy when I started this thread. I had like a month's sobriety and tons of coffee (and I was just agitated and dying to have a drink), so I put fingers to phone and came up with something that's always sort of bothered me in a literary way.
Just an egregious use of dicked-up slang straight out of Springsteen's mouf.
The way he draws out the word "speeedball" has always gotten me.Yeah, it's a weird. Especially because fastball or curveball would have seemed to work just fine. I think curveball would have fit into just right actually. Why speed ball? I would love to ask Bruce.
Very possible but no way all the band members, producers, etc. were unaware. He had to have been told that there is no such thing as a speedball and decided to keep it. Unless he was trying to portray the narrator of the song as the kind of person who would use the term speedball. Is there anything else in the song that is out of place like that? I really don't think it's the case but was this a choice made with some purpose?The way he draws out the word "speeedball" has always gotten me.
I'm left with Occam's razor, which is that I think that artists and musicians don't really know either the technical or slang terms for particular sporting moments and he just ballsed it up.
Nope.Is there anything else in the song that is out of place like that?
Could be. We probably won't ever know.I really don't think it's the case but was this a choice made with some purpose?
Love the research. Possible it was some old timey thing his grandfather said or he thought his grandfather said. He just had the idea in his head and verisimilitude be damned, he liked how it sounded.Whoops. I just found this from an online Q & A
"I don't know, man. Speedball is a term from the '50s, so it's just an old term I heard my grandparents use at different times. So in the context of that, "Glory Days," I thought it was funny. I guess! I don't know!" - Bruce Sprinsteen via Mike Ryan on Twitter
We're here to solve mysteries. To put an end to life's great confusions.Love the research
That looks like a WordleSo hokey as well as hacky. Got it.
I try to rule y in or out early, because of how versatile it is.That looks like a Wordle
hokey
hacky
Nice parallelism there.
That is a pretty funny challenge. Describe someone in a Wordle. Bruce comes up asThat looks like a Wordle
hokey
hacky
Nice parallelism there.
Solid strategy, I guess. I lost my Wordle love about four games in, for some reason. Puzzles are meant to be graded, if you ask me. And I don't do graded work in my spare time. Just like I won't go to a bar or restaurant with a strict dress code. If I wanted to go to work, I'd go to work.I try to rule y in or out early, because of how versatile it is.
We're not really doing that. And while I'm not a real Bruce fan, I'll leave the withering criticisms to others. I might appreciate those criticisms, but I'm not really joining in other than to laugh. I'm mainly here about the speedballs.I’ll just say, if you’re judging Bruce from “Born in the USA” forward, you’re doing it wrong.
I think I agree in large, but the rising, magic and wrecking ball were all quite good.I’ll just say, if you’re judging Bruce from “Born in the USA” forward, you’re doing it wrong.
They should be hung up on Kix. We all should be. What an under appreciated hard rock band. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.My cultural attachment comes from going to a dozen or so weddings of Jersey folk after I moved to the area after grad school - maybe half had some kind of weird Jersey Girl ritual near the end of the reception. They're a strange people. Maryland folk ain't nearly so hung up on Kix.
Look at me...my middle aged ### can still run!!I'm a NJ native who likes Bruce but is not a superfan. And I totally agree that "speedball" was a terrible word choice. Hey, no one bats 1.000. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a ####ing genius who also wrote "Then a hurricane came and devastation reigned", which sounds like something from a seventh-grade poetry contest.
Side note about "Glory Days": A few years ago, when I was in my mid-40s, I was running a half-marathon when that song popped up on shuffle. And let me tell you, it is pretty gosh darn demotivational to realize -- mid-race mind you -- that you're now the demographic for late-career Springsteen songs rather than his first few albums. (Though to be fair, I did at least make it out of Jersey).
Heh, I didn't realize there was some kind of auto-bowdlerizing script that rewrites the phrase "g#dd##m"I'm a NJ native who likes Bruce but is not a superfan. And I totally agree that "speedball" was a terrible word choice. Hey, no one bats 1.000. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a ####ing genius who also wrote "Then a hurricane came and devastation reigned", which sounds like something from a seventh-grade poetry contest.
Side note about "Glory Days": A few years ago, when I was in my mid-40s, I was running a half-marathon when that song popped up on shuffle. And let me tell you, it is pretty gosh darn demotivational to realize -- mid-race mind you -- that you're now the demographic for late-career Springsteen songs rather than his first few albums. (Though to be fair, I did at least make it out of Jersey).
Yeah, you caught me. That was a total #humblebragLook at me...my middle aged ### can still run!!
Dude, if I could still run like that I would work it into every post I made, good on ya.Yeah, you caught me. That was a total #humblebrag
My life goal is to have Joe Biden describe me like Rudy: "A noun, a verb and a half marathon."Dude, if I could still run like that I would work it into every post I made, good on ya.
A song he did not write and never actually recorded - only live versions exist.some kind of weird Jersey Girl ritual
Every time I hear him: ball cringy.
Peak-too-soonerThe thing that makes that song good is that everybody knows the HS jock who was King of the World for a short time and never moved on