Greasy Lake is a lake near Howel NJ. It gets its name from the idea that homeless people living around the lake used it for bathing, washing dishes, etc. The homeless people were known as "Gypsy Angels" or the "Spirits In The Night." (thanks, kevin - elizabeth, NJ)
Part of Springsteen's first album, it was a #40 US hit for Manfred Mann's Earth Band when they covered it in 1977. They also covered "Blinded By The Light" and "For You" from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
Springsteen wrote this after Columbia Records rejected his first attempt at an album, telling him to make some songs that could be played on the radio. He came up with this and "Blinded By The Light."
This was Springsteen's second single. It was released only in the US and did not chart.
The lyrics refer to "Route 88," a road that runs through Ocean County, New Jersey. Springsteen would later sing about "Highway 9" in "Born To Run."
Along with "Blinded By The Light," this was one of 2 songs on Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. featuring Clarence Clemons on saxophone. Springsteen's band didn't have a name when this was recorded. By his next album, they were The E Street Band - named after the street where they used to rehearse.
This has been a popular live song throughout Springsteen's career. He still occasionally plays it live.
The version on Live 1975-1985 was recorded at The Roxy in 1978.
This is based on people and places Springsteen met in his early years as a songwriter. His father was a bus driver for a time, which helped inspire the song. (thanks, Dirk - Southwest of Freehold, NJ)
The barrage of images in the lyrics helped earn Springsteen the tag "The New Dylan," which he would intentionally get away from by writing less introspective, harder rocking songs on his next album, The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle.
Springsteen wrote the lyrics first and filled in the music later. The only time he wrote this way was on his first album.
Joan Fontaine pops up in the lyrics for no apparent reason. She was an actress who starred in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Rebecca.
Springsteen talked about this song in detail on an episode of VH1 Storytellers. A lot of the references are personal, to include people he knew or had met on the Boardwalks, or had grown up around, or were just direct personal references to himself:
"Madman drummers bummers" - Vinnie "Mad dog" Lopez, the first drummer in the E Street Band.
"Indians in the summer" - Bruce's little league baseball team as a kid.
"In the dumps with the mumps" - being sick with the mumps.
"Boulder on my shoulder" - a "chip" on his shoulder.
"Some all hot, half-shot, heading for a hot spot, snapping fingers clapping his hands" - Being a "know it all kid growing up, who doesn't really know anything."
"Silicone Sister" - Bruce mentions that this is arguably the first mention of breast implants in popular music - a dancer at one of the local strip joints in Asbury Park.
He wrote this song in his bedroom, primarily using a rhyming dictionary. Or as Bruce put it, "the rhyming dictionary was on fire." (thanks, John - Columbus, OH)
This was Springsteen's first single. It was released only in the US, where it flopped. It was, however, a #1 hit for Manfred Mann's Earth Band in February 1977, becoming the only #1 Hot 100 hit Springsteen ever wrote. The Manfred Mann version was much more elaborately produced, and Springsteen hated it at first. It ended up earning him a very nice payout.
Manfred Mann's version replaces the line "Cut loose like a deuce" with "Revved up like a deuce." In their version, "Deuce" was commonly misheard as "Douche." Springsteen's original line makes a lot more sense - a deuce is a 1932 Ford hotrod. On his Storytellers special, Springsteen said (in a jesting manner): "I have a feeling that is why the song skyrocketed to #1."
Springsteen wrote this after Columbia Records rejected his first attempt at an album, telling him to make some songs that could be played on the radio. He came up with this and "Spirit In The Night."
After eight years playing in bars where audiences usually didn't listen to or couldn't hear the words, Springsteen used his first album to unload a ton of lyrics. All these lyrics helped earn Springsteen the tag "The New Dylan." Singer-songwriters like James Taylor and Kris Kristofferson also shared the comparison, and Bruce went out of his way to shed the tag by making his next album a true rock record.
This was the first song on Springsteen's first album. Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. featured a postcard on the cover that fans would look for any time they were near the town.
Along with "Spirit In The Night," this was one of two songs on the album featuring Clarence Clemons on saxophone. The E Street Band became a much bigger part of Springsteen's songs on his next album.
Springsteen wrote the lyrics first and filled in the music later. The only time he wrote this way was on his first album.
The working title was "Madman's Bummers," taken from words in the first line.
This was one of the songs that prompted Columbia Records to market the album by claiming "This man puts more thoughts, more ideas and images into one song than most people put into an album."
Manfred Mann's cover is so far the only Bruce Springsteen song to top the American charts. Near misses for Bruce have been "Dancing In The Dark (#2 in 1984) and The Pointer Sisters version of "Fire" (#2 in 1979).
