Hey, it’s me again!

And it’s time for the last big project of this Chart-a-thon, all dedicated to one man and a legend of music – the great Bruce Springsteen!

My love for the man and his music is well documented here and I’ve already authored a bunch of his tunes, but this is by far the biggest Bruce project I’ve done… the man needs no introduction and there’s lots of songs ahead, so let’s get right to it.

Starting with… probably the best song? Certainly my favorite of this pack. This is the live version of the epic “Lost in the Flood”, originally from Bruce first album “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J”, here performed live in London in 1975. I’ve been working on charting that performance for more than a year. I really can’t tell you how much it means to me. It’s quite complicated to author, but I knew I had to do it. It’s quite possibly my favorite rock performance from any artist, ever.

“Lost in the Flood” is just an absolute monster of a song, an epic piano ballad that evolves into this extremely powerful performance. It shows Springsteen at his most demonic, sounding possessed, as he delivers the tragic stories of war veterans returning home and other characters, while the band steps up for the challenge and delivers an absolutely electric performance. It’s a must have song in my view and I can’t recommend it enough!

BORN TO RUN COMPLETION PACK

Big thank you to ejthedj for charting keys/pro keys on those songs!

Next up, it’s time for complete “Born to Run” – Springsteen breakthrough album, and probably his best one. I want to give a huge thanks to ejthedj, who worked with me closely on this album! He was my first ever collaborator – back in the time where I was a drums-only author – and together we completed my first ever full band collab, “Thunder Road” – the magnificent opener of this album. He has since collabed with me on pro keys and keys for every single song on this album (including my dream custom “Backstreets”) and without him this would never have happened. So thanks!

To complete this album, we bring you three magnificent songs. The fast paced rocker “Night”, a classic Springsteen anthem with some fast disco beats on drums. The cinematic piano ballad “Meeting Across the River”, telling the story of a man turning to crime as a last resort, a beautiful song all around (with trumpet charted to guitar). And finally, possibly the biggest magnum opus of Bruce’s career – the almighty “Jungleland” in all it’s 10 minutes glory is now playable in game! It’s one of the biggest and most important Springsteen songs and no Bruce collection was complete without it.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN COMPLETION

Moving on, it’s time to finish yet another album – the masterful “Darkness on the Edge of Town”!. While “Born to Run” was all about excitement, possibilities, being young and ready to take on the world – “Darkness” takes a dark turn, revisiting those characters a few years later in dead-end jobs, depression and non-functioning families. This pack kicks off with “Adam Raised a Cain”, one of the hardest rocking tunes in Bruce catalog with two fiery guitar solos and lyrics about his distant dad and they’re relationship – a topic which is revisited in “Factory”, about his dad’s endless work in harmful factories. “Something in the Night” and “Streets of Fire” are two dramatic ballads and classics of Bruce, about desperation and fear, while finally we have “Racing in the Streets” – another one of Bruce’s most beloved songs, possibly his saddest, and a true masterpiece, first cosplaying as a car song before revealing the tragic story at its core.

This amazing album is now completely available to play in RB!

Moving on, we have three more tracks of “The River”, another Springsteen classic. “Sherry Darling” is a fun, catchy and humorous song, about someone who loves Sherry but struggles to deal with her mother’s endless blabbing and having to drive her around – it’s a rare comic break from Springsteen after the gravity of “Darkness”. Fun fact: it’s also the last remaining of my drum-only customs, meaning I’ve successfully updated all of them to full band! Next up, “Two Hearts” is an upbeat, catchy tune from Bruce, while “Point Blank” is yet another epic piano ballad, about a narrator dealing with the drug addiction of his girlfriend. A lot of great keys on this pack!

Before we get to the next major milestone, a few more tracks: “Fire” is an Elvis-style rocker that was recorded for “Darkness” and omitted (probably because it’s clearly too light-hearted to fit with the album), and have then become a major hit for the Pointer Sisters (here charted is the original Bruce 1977 recording).

Bruce then went on to release “Nebraska”, an acoustic album which was actually just his homemade demos. A few of those songs have got full band arrangements live, and here’s an epic live take on Nebraska’s classic “Atlantic City” – this particular performance was recorded in Madison Square Garden in the year 2000 in the Reunion Tour of Bruce and the E-Street Band. And another Bruce live classic, “Trapped” is a song originally by reggae artist Jimmy Cliff, which Bruce has arranged and incorporated into his live act. Even though Bruce never recorded “Trapped” in the studio, a live version from a New Jersey show in 1984 had made it into the “We Are the World” charity album and other compilations since and is considered the “canon” Bruce version, authored here.

BORN IN THE USA COMPLETION PACK

Now it’s time for the third album completion in this pack! And this one needs no introducing – “Born in the U.S.A.” is one of the most famous albums of the 80’s, it yielded 7 hit singles and has gone platinum 17 times and so on. So let’s just talk about the 5 classics released today, which completes this album:

“Darlington County” is the tale of two buddies driving to look for work and meet girls (of course it ends with the buddy Wayne arrested), “Working on the Highway” is a rockabilly tune about endless hard work (that also ends with the narrator in jail, presumably for seducing a minor). “Bobby Jean” is maybe the biggest missing classic, a story of goodbye and end of a long friendship, that’s rumored to be about guitarist Steven Van Zandt who has left the band. “I’m Goin’ Down” is a classic Springsteen rocker with themes of sexual frustration in a deteriorating relationship. And finally, closer “My Hometown” is a synth ballad about the Jersey town Bruce grew up with, with stories of racial violence and economic depression and questions of leaving.

Those songs complete the third full album of this pack! And probably end what’s traditionally considered the peak years of Bruce, but there’s a lot of great songs from the rest of his career coming up!

After the record-breaking “Born in the U.S.A.” tour, Bruce tuned it down a bit by releasing the followup “Tunnel of Love”, a somber album about love and his marriage falling apart, mostly recorded by Bruce on his own with a drum machine. From this album, I bring you the classic love song “Tougher than the Rest”.

The 90’s weren’t the best time for Bruce, with the E-Street Band breaking up and some less successful albums. But still there’s some classic tunes: we have the Oscar winning ballad “Streets of Philadelphia”, from the movie “Philadelphia” released in 1994, which has become one of Bruce’s most well-known songs. And in 1995, the E-Street Band reunited and recorded some new tracks for a Greatest Hits compilation – here’s “Murder Incorporated”, an absolute banger which was actually recorded way back in 1982, but was only released as a “new song” in 1995 for the Greatest Hits compilation.

Bruce and the ESB reunited for a hugely successful tour in 1999-2000 and have started to work on a new album, but than 9/11 happened and changed everything. Bruce and the ESB didn’t deserve to have their long awaited reunion album marred by such tragedy, but nevertheless they rose up to the occasion, and delivered “The Rising” – a poignant great album about the aftermath of the tragedy. The album was a huge success and provided relief and comfort to millions of distraught Americans. After previously charting the title track, I bring you two more songs from it: the opener “Lonesome Day”, a modern Bruce classic about dealing with hardships, while “You’re Missing” is a full on tragic ballad about dealing with death and longing. On a personal note, as someone whose country has been going through a terrible war for the last few months, “You’re Missing” sounded particularly appropriate and authored with that in mind.

Finally, some banging tunes from Bruce’s late career run. “Radio Nowhere” is the lead single and opener of 2008’s “Magic”, a rousing rocker and a fan favorite that never fails to bring down the house when played live. “We Take Care of Our Own” is the leading track from 2012’s “Wrecking Ball”, a cynical and political tune about how Americans are becoming more selfish and how politicians refuse to help those in need.

2019 saw Bruce releases “Western Stars”, a folky orchestral solo album with two gorgeous songs here: lead single “Hello Sunshine” might be one of the most beautiful songs Bruce has written in his life, while “There Goes My Miracle” has a big gorgeous orchestral chorus. And finally, a fitting end to this pack, from Bruce and the ESB’s latest album “Letter to You”, the closer “I’ll See You in My Dreams” is a new Bruce classic and a fitting end to this pack, to end concerts with, and just in general. “Death is not the end”, declares Bruce, maybe paraphrasing Bob Dylan, maybe voicing his faith, before he promises us all: “I’ll see you in my dreams”.

And that’s that! I hope you have enjoyed this pack. If you love what you’ve been seeing throughout the event so far, please consider donating to the National Down Syndrome Society if you can! It isn’t required by any means, but it supports a phenomenal cause by empowering individuals with Down syndrome and their families!

Bruce Springsteen is also one of the most influential musicians in rock history, but there’s one modern band he particularly influenced and has become a part of their story – and up next is TomGuy with a whole album of theirs! So stay tuned!