Happy '4th Of July' From Springsteen (1973)

Happy Independence Day everyone! Well, yesterday's post about 'The Boss' put me in a super-Springsteen mood. Plus, his songs often have an overtly American theme. Heck, on 1980's double album "The River" he even had a song called "Independence Day."

But that's not the song of the day. Today's track comes from the 1973 album "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Steet Shuffle" which was his sophomore release. The song is fittingly called '4th of July, Asbury Park'.

I love this era of Springsteen. He wouldn't hit it big until 1975's "Born To Run" and there is a fun anything-goes rock vibe and a melodic simplicity to his earliest albums. In fact, his debut album, 1972's "Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey" is probably my favorite Springsteen album of all time.This debut album had Springsteen's song 'Blinded By The Light' which would become a big hit not for him, but for Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1977. On a VH1 Storytellers episode, Springsteen once said he wrote the song with the aid of a new rhyming dictionary he had just purchased. And upon writing 'Blinded By The Light' it promptly burst into flames.

He also recounted that the reason Manfred Mann's version was a hit and not his was that they seemed to change the word "deuce" to "douche". He's probably right. That line "revved up like a douche" is enigmatic enough to cause one to pay more attention to the song.


So here it is. '4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)' from 1973. Click the link to celebrate America.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?idniym0z22c