March 2, 2024
By: Josh Kitchen
It is the year of our lord, 2024. We’re in the month of March. That means one thing: We have officially entered into a month where Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are going on tour. For die-hard Bruce heads like me, this is a special time. An E Street tour is not as rare these days as say, North American Cicada broods, but after the six year break between the 2017 Oceania leg of the River Tour to the 2023 E Street Band World Tour, which kicked off in February 2023 in Tampa, it’s always a time of great revelry when Bruce takes E Street on the road.
This gravity is especially felt in the post-COVID concert touring industry we find ourselves in now. Bruce and the band are entering into their mid-seventies. We’re incredibly lucky to have the band still playing near three hours shows and at a level of musical mastery we’ve come to expect.
To celebrate the start of the 2024 tour which begins March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona, I’ve been thinking about Springsteen’s stellar output over the last twenty years. In between 2004 and 2024, like his peers Bob Dylan, Nick Cave, and Paul Simon, Bruce has released some of his best work. Magic and Devils & Dust stack up with the likes of Tunnel of Love and The River.
I decided to painstakingly rank his twenty best songs he’s released since 2004. The resulting songs are in my opinion, his best and most important recordings of this part of Bruce’s career, and pull from each album he has released since 2004.
20. Good Eye, Working on a Dream (2009)
At the sight of “Good Eye,” most Bruce fans will likely roll both their eyes, no matter how good or bad they are. The only song I chose to include from Working on a Dream, (nobody’s favorite Springsteen album) might seem like a throwaway blues number, and it probably is! But it rips. I witnessed it live at my first Springsteen show in San Jose, 2009, which remains the third and last time he has played it live. It was one of those ill-fated bullet mic songs he does live, similar to Reason to Believe on the Magic tour. The song has a killer groove, and Bruce is putting his whole bullet mic-ussy into it. I love it, it’s a good song, and I’m not sorry.
19. I Forgot To Be Your Lover (feat. Sam Moore), Only The Strong Survive (2023)
Similarly, “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” is the only track from Bruce’s soul covers album, Only the Strong Survive. As of this writing, it is Bruce’s most recent studio album, and perhaps no album in his entire catalogue divides fan as much as this. The nay-sayers are just grumpy. Bruce is clearly having a blast, he’s giving some top tier vocal performances, and it was a great opportunity to spotlight underrated and under-heard songs like [oft-forgotten trailblazing trans soul singer] Jackie Shane’s “Any Other Way,” “Soul Days” by Dobie Gray, and the best track on the album, William Bell’s “I Forgot to Be Your Lover.” Like Bobbie Blue Bland’s “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City,” “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” is a song you play at night – smokey, sexy, and mysterious. Bruce’s singing on the track is full of passion, and being joined by soul legend Sam Moore certainly doesn’t hurt. I just wish he’d play it live. We’re also lucky to have William Bell still among us. I’m happy The Black Keys have decided to release it as a single from their upcoming album as well!
18. Hunter of Invisible Game, High Hopes (2014)
“Hunter of Invisible Game” is maybe the weirdest Bruce song on this list. Unlike almost anything in Bruce’s catalogue, Hunter is a waltz track that has some killer lyrics that preview a pretty bleak future. “Hope and faith and courage and trust/can rise or vanish like dust into dust.” The Springsteen and Thom Zimny directed accompanying music video digs deeper into the post-apocalyptic theme. At ten minutes long, it’s Bruce’s longest video, and features him playing a version of himself traveling a post-apocalyptic wasteland in the style of The Last of Us or The Walking Dead - Bruce even does a shirtless scene complete with fake tattoos. “Hunter” is odd indeed, but it’s a beautiful song and a great example of how Bruce is so good at surprising us.
17. Last Man Standing, Letter To You (2020)
Letter to You is melancholic. The album is about facing the ghosts of your life as you get older yourself, looking back and hoping you did alright. There are several songs about lost loved ones. “Last Man Standing” is one of them, and on the 2023 World Tour, Bruce played it acoustically every night, only accompanied by Curt Ramm playing a mournful trumpet solo. The song works in this live version better than the album cut – it is a touching part of the show where Bruce talks about the story of his last bandmate in The Castilles, George Theiss, passing away a few years ago from cancer – leaving Bruce as the titular last man standing.
16. This Depression, Wrecking Ball (2012)
In Bruce’s autobiography, Born to Run, he reveals he has been dealing with depression and going to therapy for years, talking about the medications he takes, and the decision to seek help as life-changing. The searing “This Depression” from 2012’s Wrecking Ball was already a fabulous song when released. Featuring a blistering guitar solo from Rage Against The Machine’s honorary E Street member Tom Morello, it’s importance is elevated when listened to after learning about Bruce’s depression. Lyrics like “I’ve been low/but never this low,” feel even more honest. I got to hear him play it live with Morello in Anaheim in 2012. It was fantastic.
15. Ghosts, Letter To You (2020)
While “Last Man Standing” is a wake, “Ghosts” is a celebration of life. “I’m alive!” Springsteen sings over a familiar driving E Street rhythm. Over on the Springsteen message board, Backstreets, com, which continues to live!, when most people heard “Ghosts,” they thought it would be the best of the new tracks to be played live, (and there were lots of arguments about how it would open the show. wrong!) they were right about the former. After living through the pandemic, hearing this song live by the band was cathartic. I think it is a late career classic.
14. O Mary Don’t You Weep, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006)
The Seeger Sessions rules! All of the songs are good! When Bruce plays any of these tracks live, it is very fun! Nay-sayers be damned! “O Mary Don’t You Weep” is a blast, and the best version remains the one from Jazz Fest in 2006. Soozie Tyrell is playing some of her best violin here, and I defy anyone, fan or not, to tell me its not some of the best playing by jazz musicians anywhere.
13. Janey Needs A Shooter, Letter To You (2020)
Maybe it’s cheating to include songs that were written before twenty years ago, but any big Springsteen fan can tell you Bruce likes to repackage, borrow, and re-record material from year’s past. “Janey Needs a Shooter” is one of those epic unreleased Springsteen tracks that never got a proper release. The closest thing released was a Warren Zevon version with completely different lyrics and a chance from Janey to Jeanie. The Zevon song is great in its own right, but the version Springsteen put onto Letter to You is a reminder that when he wants to, Springsteen can be heavy as hell. Janey would have been at home on Darkness on the Edge of Town with its pounding drums, organ, and “Prove It All Night”-esque guitar solo. He has yet to play this version in concert, and whatever audience gets to be the first to hear it will be damned lucky.
12. We Take Care of Our Own, Wrecking Ball (2012)
I first heard of the album Wrecking Ball on a trip to New York in January of 2012. I had never been to Asbury Park, so while on the east coast, we decided to do the Bruce sightseeing tour, albeit self-guided. We did the house where he wrote Born to Run, E Street and 10th Avenue, Madame Marie’s, the Stone Pony, and Convention Center. While we were there, I was perusing Backstreets, and people said Bruce was shooting a new music video. We were able to pretty easily figure out where that was. Sure enough, we went there, we met Bruce, and people were whispering the new album would be called Wrecking Ball after the 2009 song he played to commemorate the demolition of Giants Stadium. Cut to three days later, and we get to hear “We Take Care of Our Own” on the plane ride back to California. What an exciting moment. It has become an anthem in its own right; President Biden used it on the campaign trail in 2020. It’s a song he should play more often.
11. Western Stars, Western Stars, (2019)
Western Stars was a nice surprise. Thirteen songs featuring all kind of tales set in the American southwest: from rodeo stuntmen, ranchers, cattle drivers, migrants, and in the case of the title track, washed up western actors. The title track features some of Springsteen’s most evocative writing in this part of his career. “Here in the canyons above Sunset, the desert don't give up the fight/A coyote with someone's Chihuahua in its teeth skitters 'cross my veranda in the night,” or “Once I was shot by John Wayne, yeah, it was towards the end/That one scene's bought me a thousand drinks/Set me up and I'll tell it for you, friend.” The latter set of lyrics touches on themes Springsteen would explore further in songs like “Ghosts” and “Last Man Standing,” but they’re all the more regretful here when describing someone who thinks they might have found the end of their usefulness. The song is grand and features wonderful horns and strings. It is a shame that like every other track on this album, he has only played it live once.
10. Wrecking Ball, Wrecking Ball (2012)
I hesitated putting “Wrecking Ball” in the top ten. It’s become a bathroom break song to lots of fans, and I sort of get it. It’s repetitive, not the greatest sounding chorus, and it’s cheesy. But I think it is far too impressive not to include. It’s amazing Springsteen can still pump out anthems like this where the entire arenas can belt out the refrains in unison. As mentioned previously, it was originally written to commemorate the demolition of the Giants Stadium, Springsteen has turned it into a song about the end of things, using it as an excuse to take solace in the act of living. “Wrecking Ball” is good! I said it!
9. Gypsy Biker, Magic (2007)
For a long time, “Gypsy Biker” was my favorite Springsteen track. The harmonica Bruce plays to open this song and throughout cuts you like a knife. The song is about a man’s brother who is killed in Iraq, and a condemnation of the powers that be that he deems responsible. “Sister Mary sits with your colors, brother John is drunk and gone/This whole town’s been rousted, which side are you on?/The favored march up over the hill in some fool’s parade/Shoutin’ victory for the righteous but there ain’t much here but graves.” These are furious lyrics. Springsteen on “Gypsy Biker” is to Peter Finch in Network. “I’m mad as hell, and I can’t take it anymore!” “Gypsy Biker” is one of Springsteen’s most important political songs.
8. The Wall, High Hopes (2014)
Springsteen wrote “The Wall” in the early 2000’s and first started playing it around then. Similar to “Gypsy Biker” being about the Iraq War, “The Wall” is a condemnation of Vietnam, but in a more reserved fashion. If “Gypsy Biker” was “I’m mad,” The Wall is “I’m disappointed.” And most people would probably tell you that “I’m disappointed” feels worse. The wall in question is of course, the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. Released on the uneven High Hopes album, “The Wall” is the best thing on it. (Aside from “American Skin,” although the best version of that is still the live version from Live in New York City double live album.) “Cigarettes and a bottle of beer, this poem that I wrote for you/This black stone and these hard tears are all I got left now of you/I remember you in your Marine uniform laughing, laughing at your ship out party/I read Robert McNamara says he's sorry,” Springsteen softly sings over a beautiful dirge. “The Wall” is one of those sneaky great songs that is always there, but you might forget it is. When you hear it again, you are reminded that Springsteen is one of the best protest song writers out there.
7. If I Was The Priest, Letter To You (2020)
Another unreleased epic, “If I was the Priest” is one of Springsteen’s earliest songs – written pre-Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, and never officially released until Letter to You. It’s got all the “new Dylan” style lyrics that got early 70’s rock critics excited when Springsteen first burst onto the scene. With the addition of a full band, “If I Was The Priest” is one of our great modern Springsteen treasures. We should not have this, and it’s sort of insane we do! Priest features organ playing that would make Garth Hudson (And the late Danny Federici) proud. Those “new Dylan” lyrics I mentioned don’t make a lot of sense, but that’s what gives them their charm. Springsteen played the song a handful of times on the early part of the 2023 tour. Here’s hoping it gets a regular rotation on the 2024 tour.
6. Death To My Hometown, Wrecking Ball (2012)
Twelve years old now, “Death to My Hometown” feels a little too of its time. Flogging Molly, the Dropkick Murphy’s, and Frank Turner’s Irish punk anthems were everywhere around 2012, and “Death to My Hometown” fits right in with them. However, what makes “Death to My Hometown” so great is its infectious accessibility. Whenever I share this with someone who is not a fan or casual at best, it gets great reviews. I like to use it as a gateway track for the uninitiated. Like “This Depression,” “Death to My Hometown” features more Tom Morello, and it’s just a real fun tune. It kills live, and the last time I heard the band do it was St. Patrick’s Day at the final Forum shows in Los Angeles in 2016. That night, we were all a little Irish.
5. Radio Nowhere, Magic (2007)
“Radio Nowhere” is one of Springsteen’s most straightforward rock anthems. To borrow from the lyrics, it’s got pounding drums and whole not a thousand guitars, in “Radio Nowhere,” it feels close. Featuring one of Clarence Clemon’s final epic saxophone solos, “Radio Nowhere” is classic E Street. Raw emotional power, blistering driving rhythm from on top of their games Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent, and the assuredness that Springsteen does so well, it’s the return of The E Street Band as a “rock band” in the classic sense of songs off of Darkness on the Edge of Town or The River. While The Rising had some killer rock songs like “Further on Up The Road” and “Countin’ on a Miracle,” “Radio Nowhere” is a powerhouse. It’s unbelievable to me he doesn’t do it every night – the last time I saw him do it was 2009!
4. Moonlight Motel, Western Stars, (2019)
Not only the best track from Western Stars, but as detailed here, one of the best Bruce Springsteen songs period. The last track on Western Stars, “Moonlight Motel” is a meditation on love that often goes stale in relationships. These lyrics are devastating, “Last night I dreamed of you, my lover/And the wind blew through the window and blew off the covers/Of my lonely bed, I woke to something you said/That it's better to have loved, yeah it's better to have loved.” “Moonlight Motel” is a reminder that Springsteen is one of the great American songwriters. His singing is tender, and his voice is full. It ranks among “Tougher Than The Rest,” “Happy,” and “Backstreets” as one of Springsteen’s greatest love songs.
3. Devils & Dust, Devils & Dust, (2005)
The title track of Springsteen’s solo album, Devils & Dust is stark. It’s visceral, stinging, and an unrelenting dressing down of the Bush Administration, similar to “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, & Nash for the Nixon Administration. The song is about an American soldier in Iraq who faces a moral quandary over his mission, and his place in the conflict at large. “I got God on my side/I'm just trying to survive/What if, what you do to survive/Kills the things you love/Fear's a powerful thin,” Springsteen sings in the song’s chorus. Springsteen has rarely played it since the Devils & Dust tour, but I was very lucky to see one of the few performances of it Springsteen has done with the E Street Band, in Oakland, 2012. Before the song, Springsteen would say, “this is for the veterans out there.”
2. Land of Hope & Dreams, Wrecking Ball (2012)
This might be an unpopular opinion, but the Wrecking Ball studio version of “Land of Hope and Dreams” is the superior version. Springsteen fans know he has been playing it long before it was the studio version was released on High Hopes. When he debuted the song over thirty years ago now, it quickly became the anthem for E Street. With its call of “all aboard!” to the saints and sinners, losers and winner, whores and gamblers, “Land of Hope & Dreams” is as much part of the Springsteen fandom’s lifeblood as “Born to Run,” “Badlands,” and “Atlantic City.” It has an enduring message: Bruce is the conductor, and on his train, everyone is welcome. It’s the beauty of an E Street show. There will be people from all walks of life and political stripes. But like Olive Garden, when you’re there, you’re family.
1. Long Walk Home, Magic (2007)
“Land of Hope and Dreams” might be the obvious choice for the best Springsteen recording since 2004, but no other Springsteen song is as prescient in this writer’s eyes as “Long Walk Home.” Using small hometown imagery as an allegory for what we do in times of conflict is as Springsteen as you can get. And it’s done with such precision in “Long Walk Home,” that it wouldn’t be out of place on Born in the U.S.A. Springsteen takes you from “My father said ‘Son, we're lucky in this town/It's a beautiful place to be born/It just wraps its arms around you/Nobody crowds you and nobody goes it alone’" to “Your flag flyin' over the courthouse/Means certain things are set in stone/Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't." The latter lyric is my favorite Springsteen lyric. Like most songs on Magic, “Long Walk Home” is another about the Iraq war. In “Long Walk Home” is singling out the Bush Administration’s torture program, but the lesson can be applied to every extreme political turn America has gone down since, the Trump years the obvious parallel. Musically, the song is as gorgeous as anything from The Rising or Tunnel of Love. “Long Walk Home” is at this point, a true underrated Springsteen classic, and it is easily the best Springsteen song of the past twenty years.
Some great songs that almost made the cut include: Long Time Comin’, Down in the Hole, How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live, The Wrestler, and The Devil’s Arcade.
The start of Springsteen’s 2024 World tour is right around the corner. I will be eager to see which of these we’ll be getting as the tour progresses.
Did I Get it Right? Vote for the best Bruce Springsteen song of the last twenty years!
Long Walk Home
Land of Hope & Dreams
Devils & Dust
Moonlight Motel
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