Details
Synopsis
A sumptuously illustrated book of lyrics from three decades of Bruce Springsteen's career, from his 1973 debut, GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK to 1992's HUMAN TOUCH, SONGS provides a panoramic view of the artist's body of work. Springsteen himself provides explanatory introductions to each album's songs, setting them in the context of his personal life and musical development, and also making some revealing observations. Of the lyrics to GREETINGS, he states, "Your early songs come out of a moment when you're writing with no sure prospect of ever being heard. Up until then, it's just you and your music. That only happens once." The photographs here are also revelatory, featuring the artist in his parents' home in California, completing his epochal BORN TO RUN album over a marathon 72 hour session before starting rehearsals for a tour the next day, and chowing down at McDonalds; in addition, pictures of lyrics scrawled on scraps of paper provide an illuminating glimpse of the raw material that fuels the whole enterprise. SONGS is a luxuriously appointed oversize document of a remarkable career.
| Size | | Length: | 305 pages | | Height: | 11.5 in | | Width: | 9.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 67.2 oz |
Industry Reviews
"The tone is frank and confessional, and besides tracing his own development as a writer, Springsteen follows his characters...as they grow into the fully formed people who inhabit the GHOST OF TOM JOAD. Even the photos are of interest, revealing a gawky Bruce on the streets of New York, or loitering on the Jersey shore....The Bruce who emerges is, of course, engaging and likeable, but what makes Songs really intriguing are the small details....Also reproduced here is Springsteen's note to Jo Landau which accompanied the legendary Nebraska cassette, including his comments on one number which never made it to the finished album: "Song is in rough shape but is as good as I can get city at the moment-it might have potential". The song was BORN IN THE USA, which Bruce admits later "changed my life". Things were never the same again, but Songs intriguingly and eloquently retraces that journey from the broadwalk, to the edge of town, and beyond."
Mojo - Patrick Humphries (04/01/1999)
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