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re: Greatest lyricists of all time

Posted on 3/24/24 at 10:33 pm to
Posted by 88Wildcat
Topeka, Ks
Member since Jul 2017
14010 posts
Posted on 3/24/24 at 10:33 pm to
quote:

I've noticed this board is negative on Springsteen, but he's exceptional with lyrics.


The thing I appreciate most about Springsteen's lyric is the attention to detail. He is so particular with his choice of words. He uses words like a painter uses paintbrushes.

Here is an example of what I mean from Jungleland.

Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain

He easily could have just written "girl sitting on a car drinking beer in the rain." Instead he lets us know it's not a girl, it is a barefoot girl. It is not a car it is a Dodge. It's not beer, it is warm beer. It is not rain, it is a soft summer rain. You find that kind of stuff all through his best work. It is not a generic scene he is putting you in. It is a highly detailed and very specific scene he is describing.

Posted by Rep520
Member since Mar 2018
10453 posts
Posted on 3/25/24 at 2:08 pm to
quote:

The thing I appreciate most about Springsteen's lyric is the attention to detail. He is so particular with his choice of words. He uses words like a painter uses paintbrushes.

Here is an example of what I mean from Jungleland.


I love Jungleland and you're right. Atlantic City is one of my favorite lyrical songs, and it nails the nuance of being young, poor and taking a desperate way out.

Look, I'll go to bat for Born in the USA having a tremendous amount of lyrical detail and depth for a pop song.

"Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go"

That's significantly above average for what he pretty explicitly did as a pop album. It's great imagery of a Nam vet down on his luck.
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