U Talkin’ U2 To Me? - U Springin' Springsteen On My Bean? - Wrecking Ball

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Adam Scott Aukerman go track-by-track through Da Boss’s seventeenth studio album, Wrecking Ball—Bruce’s most political album since Tom Joad. The Scotts also discuss how new producer Ron Aniello got involved and how Bruce handled the death of Edible Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons. Plus, they talk about the types of classes at Margaritaville High School and ask, “Are hammocks more trouble than they’re worth?”

🎵 From... born in the USA to death to my hometown, this is you springin' Springsteen on my bean. The comprehensive and encyclopedic compendium of all things Bruce. This is good rock and roll music. Hit the post just in time. We're back to that theme song.

We're back to that. I decide it's a new year, new theme song. The old adage, new year, new theme song. Happens to adage new year new theme song yep happens to every podcast it really does it happens to every podcast every tv show every movie every band that has a theme song that's right the hey hey we're the monkeys that was only one year in particular or wilco the song um also every person has a theme song that's right what was your theme song i remembered some of the lyrics yeah it's uh it's an old uh traditional oh hymn uh hymn really yes that something akin to the old rugged cross perhaps or something akin to that Do the lyrics involve you being crucified at all?

Well, I think in a way, all lyrics involve a crucifixion of some sort. That's right. Be it metaphorically, most of the times literally. Some of the best songs in the world, I'm trying to think. Satisfaction. Yes. I can't get no satisfaction. When you put me on that cross yeah

that's a really that's a literal that's a blatant one i think also though if you think about a song like let's say um uh name a song wait you can't name one song? I was trying to think of that Carly Rae Jepsen song. Call Me Maybe? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes of crucifixion if you will calling someone to crucify someone else maybe but perhaps possibly why were you thinking of that carly ray jepson song i'm always thinking of that carly ray jepson i had her on my tv show she was a delight i'm sure um and a big fan of uh her output yeah you know she is prolific like couple of years, there's a new record. I mean, I wouldn't call that prolific. Is it not?

And by the way, let's take a look at these dates on Carly Rae Jepsen. I thought it was like... Because she took a long time in between. But I thought now every two years, that's a lot of output. I guess Lana Del Rey is what you could call prolific. She puts out lots of albums. Okay, so Emotion, her big breakthrough, 2015, dedicated 2019.

Four years. Four years. Prolific. Like I said, two years. The Loneliest Time, three years later. So that's, I mean, a little more prolific. Yeah, two years so uh carly ray if you're out there uh being the prolific writer that you are you're you're

probably due for another one in a couple years but look at lana del rey's output yes she's very pluralific um sometimes two in one year she'll put i know she's like a modern day prince in that way impressive 2010 2012 2014 2015 2017 2019 2021 2021 2023 right that's that's almost that's like 10 albums in a year i know that's almost too much lana del rey cool it slow it down slow it down i don't have time to listen to your first album let alone your she's great yeah uh what's up adam by the way this is adam scott hi everybody uh what's going on say hi to scott yeah scott ocherman new year new theme song, new Adam. Yeah, I mean, it's safe to say. What are your resolutions, if I can ask about those? That's a really good question.

That's a question that around this time of year, not a lot of people ask. No, you don't get that. You also don't get the greeting, happy new year. It's like you just- Or the farewell, happy new year. You just made your resolutions you want to talk about them with people no one asks no one asks it's like they're right on the tip of my tongue right why else did i come up with these stupid things just to make

fucking chit chat with the likes of you yeah i guess i'll just say i'm in the mirror again what are they by the way i don't know i haven't made any yet how about you you haven't met oh really so what's the statute of limitations on resolutions because it's the second right now so if you don't get on it boy three years three oh you have three years to do them yep and then if you've wrecked see that's the thing why don't more people do retroactive resolutions and just cover what they already did that year hey you know like i want to work out really hard the first two weeks of the year and then kind of drop it for three months my new year's resolution is to not go to i don't know poland well poland doesn't let's say france oh wait you did go go to Poland already this year? Of course I did. On January 1st?

My New Year's resolution is not to go to France. In 2023, I did not go to France. Let me tell you the years that that would have been applicable to me. 2023. Right. 2022. 2021. 2020.

2018. 2017. 2019. 2021 2020 2018 2017 2019 i think to be completely honest with you scott if you went all the way back to 2019 i could have kept that resolution what happened in 2018 you ended up no i think in 2019 i was there you were there you ended up in france i believe so yeah what happened you know it's great if you go to france if you find yourself in france 2019, I was there. You were there? You ended up in France? I believe so. Ooh la la. Yeah. What happened? You know, it's great. If you go to France, if you find yourself in France, go to the nearest pastry shop, get yourself a croissant. That's right.

There's- Why don't you explain what that is? A croissant is a pastry, flaky pastry. Very delicious. Buttery. Flaky is a great word for it. Flaky, although not the kind of flaky that maybe you're thinking of when you're thinking about someone who shows up 10 minutes late to a recording and announces he has to leave early. Not that guy.

Not that guy. Not that kind. It's totally different than flaky. To be clear. We know what you're thinking, audience. Not that one. The delicious kind. The delicious kind of flaky. Flaky, buttery, melts in your mouth.

Yeah, they don't have them in America, so people may not be familiar. have to go to france again yeah uh i mean sure they have the americanized for sure yeah you go to mcdonald's and get maybe a ham uh breakfast sandwich on on an american version a croissant which yeah croissant which which is way better than there croissant you get in France. Don't go to France. No. Don't ever go to France.

Go to McDonald's. Go to McDonald's. And get a croissant-wich. Why would you ever go to France? Do they call them croissant-wiches at McDonald's? I'm marveling at your pronunciation of these. Oh. Do you call sandwiches sandwiches?

No, but because a croissant, you call it a croissant-wich. No, you call it a croissandwich. No, it's a croissant-wich. I think the sandwich part of it trumps the croissant part of it. But there's not enough of the word croissant in it if you cut it off at- The cross! Cruss. Speaking of which, the cross cross the crucifixion there

you go it all comes back to we just celebrated his birth coming up in a few uh months spoiler alert dude's gonna die he's back but then he comes back and then he just floats away after about a month oh boy an interesting story i i gotta say the three-act structure of this story is a little wonky. It's classic. And it's wonkiness. Guy's born, guy dies, guy comes back, month later, floats away. Again, gone. Bye-bye, everyone.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Yeah. So, anyway, that's basically it. It's just crucifixion and, uh, Chris sandwiches. 2024 is going to be an amazing year for us because, uh, you and I are celebrating a huge anniversary. What are we going to do for this, uh, 10 anniversary?

I know we, uh, I think we're going to wind up at 97 episodes before you have to leave. So it's not even like we could do a hundredth for the 10th anniversary or anything. Unless we really boogie and get a couple more episodes in the camp. Well, unless we, I don't know, pick another artist and do some. Do two random episodes with you in New York. Do I have to fly out there to do these? Well, remember we were doing them remotely for a while. Yeah, and they sucked.

Did they? I don't know. What were we? We did Talking Heads. Talking Heads. We did it remotely? Yes. It was a lark during COVID that we decided. We did them remotely from LA.

Yes, from our individual houses. But then we did some from when I was in New York. From New York, yeah, we did. We did some, I think we did a few red hot chili peppers episodes that were never put out into the world no we put it no for their last couple oh that's right that's right yes yes yes to your chagrin yes i still stand by that uh the unlimited love that's i like that with uh aquatic mouth dance yes with aquatic mouth dance so you like that song better than any other song i would that's i believe that was one of my uh cuts to the album was it really i believe so aquatic mouth dance i would have left that one

off why is that because of the title or because of the well that's part of it sure uh no it's just uh i don't remember i don't remember who knows i think this might be an episode of i don't remember i'm sure we could do that one what were you gonna say i was gonna say the red hot chili peppers i bet oh i'm no perfectly happy to do i don't remember no let's let's... You know what? Let's do them both. Let's do them both. I don't remember. I don't recall.

I don't remember. I don't remember. From Aeroplane to the Zephyr song. I don't remember. Zephyr song. I don't remember.

From My Friends to the Zephyr song. I don't remember. From My Friends to the Zephyr song? I don't remember. No, from... From... What's one of their first songs? I don't remember. Ugh, God, I don't remember. I don't remember.

Bye. Bye. I don't remember. I don't recall. I said don't remember it. don't recall. I said don't remember it. Come back later. Wow. Strange combination of podcasts.

I like it when people decide to do crossover episodes. Yeah, yeah. But that one was unsatisfying. Remember when CSI and Two and a Half Men did the crossover episode? Loved it. They did not. They did. They did?

And supposedly the writers of each show. Didn't get along? No, no. They swapped not. They did. They did? And supposedly the writers of each show. Didn't get along? No, they swapped shows. So the CSI writers wrote Two and a Half Men, and the Two and a Half Men writers wrote CSI. Why did I not know this? You should see them. Did you see them? I saw them, yeah.

So Two and a Half Men is filled with things like people getting punched in the gut and then you'd zoom in on their intestines and see. Oh, so they didn't try and write a comedy episode. Here's what I think happened is they did the first draft. And then Chuck Lorre just came in and cleaned everything up and vice versa for the CSI writers. They're like, okay, good try. We'll turn this into an actual episode. Now I feel like I'm not going to see those. Come on, just watch them.

Okay, let me watch them real quick. I'll be right back. Okay. And we're back. Those were super interesting, very funny, and super dramatic and gory. I don't know if I can watch that sort of stuff. I know, it was so gory. It was like the investigations are interesting, but they get all the blood and guts.

I can't do it. And the bile and the piss and the shit. I mean, I would love if one CSI episode they were to arrive and not be like, there's fucking shit everywhere. This house is filled with shit. This is like diarrhea ville. Have you ever been to diarrhea ville? haven't have you been by the way wasting away in diarrhea yeah we lost a legend uh uh jimmy buffett that was a sad one i gotta say yeah you uh i've been to his restaurant a few times i've i saw him live really yeah in high school. He was in high school or you were in high school?

He was in high school. So you went to his high school? Yeah. And you saw him? I saw him. I time traveled. What was he doing? He was wasting away in Margaritaville High.

Oh, okay. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Great place. Really mellow school. a lot of kicking back what were the classes that you would take at margaritaville high you could major there's a high school where you could pick a major major and kicking back kicking back and a minor and

taking it easy shit man i want to go to there uh a lot of flip-flops yeah it was that like the school uniform just flip-flops flip-flops like tomm Was that like the school uniform? Just flip-flops? Flip-flops. Like Tommy Bahama's shirt? Tommy Bahama's shirt and some cutoffs. And then just, they didn't have a football team, nothing. Just taking a nap. That's what they did in the hallways.

So Tommy Bahama's shirt and cutoffs. A lot of hammocks everywhere. Oh my God. Yeah, hammocks, more trouble than they're worth i don't know what do you ever been a fan i i think crab uh claws like eating them yeah eating them in hammocks are the two things that like you go oh my god i would love to go on vacation like lie around in a hammock it'd be so relaxing and both of them are just like fucking stress inducers. The entire time you're on the hammock, you're like, or getting into the fucking thing.

Oh, that's a piece of cake. Getting out. Oh, love it. But on it. Whoa. Is this an episode of? I think so. Hey, everyone.

Welcome to... And this is Scott. And... Bye. Bye. Bye. I didn't know that I would listen to a second episode. I don't either. I don't feel like they accomplished much.

Well, God love them for trying to start a podcast. Sure. More people need to start podcasts. You know what? I remember being on a vacation somewhere and there being a hammock and getting into it. And the kids were little and just kind of finally finding some balance and trying to relax. And anytime a kid would come up and try and jump on you or even like a slight tap you on the shoulder the whole thing would capsize yeah terrible which is by the way the same noise that i make when i try to eat crab try to get it out try to get it out of the fucking

we had it on christmas day um we had a seafood uh uh feast of lobster and crab and crab just crab is like you get so little of it and it tastes fine it's a lot of work but then it seems like i'm always surrounded by people who have a little tool and they're gracefully pulling out these giant pieces of meat. Yeah. And I'm never able to retrieve the big, nice, juicy meat pieces. You have the little tool and you're not able to pull out a giant piece of meat. Everyone else is using these little metal tools and I'm pressing my penis against it. It's like, why doesn't this work i uh you know i i read an interesting article about lobster that um it it used to be like

garbage food that you would feed to like uh uh the workers at your factories basically because their bottom feeder animals lobsters and crab to the point where people had to to say no more lobster they had to write that into their contracts of like please stop feeding us lobster really yeah and now we we sit around it's expensive and we go like oh lobster it's so good and it's like it fucking sucks right i like lobster i like crab a lot too but i agree that it's a pain in the sucks, right? I like lobster. I like crab a lot too, but I agree that it's a pain in the ass. Yeah.

You wish there was like someone you could pay. Like I need to put on staff like a lobster and crab guy. Oh yeah, I have a guy you can use. You have a guy? I pay him full time. He's always, always there. Always at your beck and call. That's right.

He lives in the refrigerator. How tall is this guy? Nine feet tall. Nine feet tall. This is not a refrigerator-sized man. Well, he folds up nicely. Oh, he does. But we also had to get an enormous refrigerator.

Oh, that's true. Yeah. How big is your refrigerator? It's nine and a half feet. Nine? So he has half a foot. A little leg room. Yep.

Can stretch himself out a little bit. But it's half a mile deep. That's not bad. Yeah. Yeah. So he has a whole little setup in there. I forgot that your place is like a full square mile. Yeah.

It's huge. Yeah. And it's underground, entirely underground. Yeah. Your refrigerator is like the door swings up. Yeah. And it's underground, entirely underground. Yeah. Your refrigerator is like the door swings up because it's deep into the ground. Remember the kind of military base in War Games that they drive into underground? Wait, is this an episode of Who Else is in War Games? I think it is. Hey, everyone. Welcome to Who Else is in War Games.

This is Scott. And this is Scott. Episode two. Yeah, the second episode of the show, the inaugural episode, I feel like we covered a lot of ground. We covered Matthew Broderick. We covered Ally Sheedy. Dabney Coles. The Dabs.

The Dab Man. We covered the dog. The dog. Oh, the mom who eats raw corn. I don't think we talked about her in episode one we didn't um i'm not raw corn yeah she doesn't cook the corn and the dad is like why uh wait this is this is legitimately part of war games yeah she doesn't cook corn the the corn is raw she's like yeah there's all we have all the nutrients uh this is part of war games war games yeah they wasted like five minutes of valuable screen time talking about raw corn well yes but they're establishing that his home

life is not what are you you're on your phone right now. Are you looking up War Games corn? Yeah, I'm looking up War Games. You can buy War Games corn. War Games branded corn. Susan Davis played his mom. Susan Davis. William Bogert was his dad, and they were arguing about the corn not being cooked. Are you looking up who else is in War Games? No, I'm just remembering.

Because, you know, that's one of our first rules. We can't look up who else is in war games no i'm just remembering because you know that's one of our first rules we can't look up who else is in war games otherwise the podcast is gonna end right i know i was looking at my okay do you remember anyone off the top of your head uh ali sheedy dabney coleman matthew broderick um oh you know who who uh who else was in that movie was i mean off the top of my head i would say john wood oh john wood he barry corbin joe lips oh joe dorsey kent williams michael ensign william bogert was dennis uh irving metzman john spencer michael madsen alan blue bloominfield james tolkien drew snyder eddie dezine jason bernard uh jesse d goin steven lee art lefleur william h William H. Macy, uncredited? Oh, John Spencer.

I said him. You did? Yeah. God. Leo McGarry himself. That's right. Old heart attack Leo. Yeah, that's who's in War Games. else i mean those are some of the people those what about the remake who's in the

remake there's a remake of war games yeah i'm pretty sure there is isn't there um i mean there was a sequel i'm pretty sure called war games The Dead Code if I'm remembering correctly that probably starred Matt Lanter Amanda Walsh Colm Fjord Chuck Shimata Maxim Roy Nicholas Wright

Gary Renike Susan Glover Trevor Hayes Claudia Ferrari Vila Severana Nikki Mabe Claudia Black Russell Yoon

Robert Hidgen Michael McLaren John McLaren John Kunzkin Albert Delbergo Lucinda Davis When did they make a sequel to War Games? John Kunzkin, Albert Delbergo, Lucinda Davis. When did they make a sequel to War Games?

Off the top of my head, it probably came out around July 29, 2008. Huh. Wonder what percentage on Rotten Tomatoes that would have gotten. I mean, as I recall, it was, you know, there were only three reviews, I think, and two were negative, one positive so what about the imdb score imdb score i wonder if it even got one um that i don't know i think it's 4.5 out of 10 oh really oh okay yeah i do know i mean one thing that i do remember is because i i was reading the San Francisco Examiner this day, the critic Rossiter Drake gave it a two out of four. Oh, Drake gave it two out of four?

Yeah, he said it keeps the formula topical, replacing Soviet aggressions with cyber-savvy terrorists. Ah, that's... But the renovations end there, is what I remember him saying, but yeah. War Games, the dead code. code well you can't win them all right that's the thing every once in a while you put out war games the dead code and it doesn't quite connect doesn't quite connect but then sometimes you put it out and it's a goddamn blockbuster everyone loves it why don't people if movies don't make enough money, just put it out again? No one's going to remember.

Right. They could put out War Games, The Dead Code right now. Tomorrow. Put it out tomorrow, blockbuster. Makes a little bit of money. That Rotten Tomatoes score goes up to 100%. People are like, oh, the Marvels. Oh, it didn't make enough money for a Marvel movie.

Just put it out again. Put it out again. Put it out right now. I'll go see it. Put it out. You know what? Or put it out again. Put it out right now. I'll go see it. Or put it out in 200 years. It'll make so much money. Yeah. By then, movie tickets will cost like probably-

$100 million. $100 million a piece. So even if two people go see it- $200 million. You make your budget back. That's so much money. It's like, guys, come on. I know Hollywood accounting.

What are you looking at? What did the first war games get on Rotten Tomatoes? I mean, if I had to guess, I'm just not seeing it here, buddy. If I had to guess, I would say probably 94% on the tomato meter. 76% audience score.

Probably. Yeah. How often are you on Rotten Tomatoes looking at your own movies? Name one of your movies. No, let's not do this. Can I look up Tork? Sure. I think Tork? Sure.

I think Tork might be higher than you think. Am I right? Or is it like 20? I thought it was at zero, so yes, it is higher than I thought. It's 22%. Oh, yeah. No, not Tork.

That's not what I was thinking. What are you thinking of? Never mind. Never mind. That's not the one I was thinking of is having higher than you would think. Which movie? I was thinking of a different one.

Okay. We'll figure out what that is. Okay. All fair. All right. But I'm excited for your new movie, Madam Web, coming out very soon. We want to make sure, I believe Sony called us up and said, please mention Madam Web. Yeah, I'm sure.

On the podcast. We need to get the word out about Madam Web, where Adam plays a young Ben Parker, according to internet rumors. That's right. And also probably the IMDb. Is your name listed in it already? Should we wrap up this episode of Who Else is in War Games? I guess so. Bye.

Bye. That was by far the longest episode yet of that podcast i feel like they listed everyone who was in war games both versions both that and the sequel was was he like matthew broderick's son in the sequel like how did that work his neighbor here listen to what what they say about it okay wait i'm back at lana del rey's discography um okay war games this podcast is literally us just browsing the internet okay so it's um it is a teen guy but but Will Farmer's neighbor. No. Will Farmer. Was Will Farmer in the first one?

I don't know. War Games is a good piece of IP, right? Yeah, it seems like they kind of maybe fucked it up. I guess so. The Dead Code. What is that? What is that? I mean, this is the great thing about that title.

It raises so many questions that I'm like, I gotta pop this motherfucker in and just take a look. Take a little look-see at the Little Dead Code. What is Matthew Broderick's character's name in War Games? If you had to guess, what do you think it is? character's name in War Games. If you had to guess, what do you think it is? Matthew... Computer guy?

Matthew Computer Boy. Gosh, I... I do not know. Don't know, don't care. I'm gonna eat your underwear, Adam. Hmm. Please. Okay, David. don't know don't care i'm gonna eat your underwear adam please okay david his name is oh thank god we figured out by the way this is we're back in who else is in war games yeah i mean that's ridiculous hey everyone welcome back to who else is in War Games, episode 3.

Now we're trying to figure out character names. We've listed all the actors. Now we want to know, we're doing the flip side of this question when we say who else is in War Games. What are their characters' names? What characters are in War Games? We know David, obviously. David. How about Ally Sheedy's character? What's her name?

Like, I'll give you a hint. Okay. There's a movie with this name and the title and it's Godzilla.

It's Body. It's Body. Jennifer? Yeah. Jennifer's Body. Yeah.

Interesting. Good movie. So when you hear the name name jennifer yeah your mind immediately goes to megan fox to the karen kusama movie jennifer bot jennifer's body jennifer body jennifer body my name is jennifer my name's body jennifer body uh and by the way the s has a little apostrophe next to it yeah there's an apostrophe preceding it uh what who does john wood play in war games um colonel no come on scott jesus christ date mr david's father i don't know who's john wood john wood is the guy they find on the island the island of what

troy what they find the the the they they go and there's a pterodactyl flying i oh oh oh oh oh oh jurassic park there's a pterodactyl flying it It almost hits them. They're like, what the fuck is going on? Speaking of speaking, by the way, of Jurassic Park, we were just talking about him. Mr. Margaritaville himself has a little cameo in Jurassic World. Oh, he does. Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. He is. You see the pterodactyls diving, you know, in the theme park part of it where like it's like the city walk part of it before you get into the park.

Yeah. Once all the dinosaurs get loose, you see pterodactyls diving and attacking everyone. part of it where like it's like the city walk part of it uh before you get into the park yeah once all the dinosaurs get loose you see pterodactyls diving and attacking everyone you see him at a table with two margaritas trying to save the margaritas running away really yes uh is that the first of the jurassic world movies i believe so yeah the starring lauren lapkus and jake johnson um who what is dabney coleman's character's name okay this is an easy one this Jurassic World movies? I believe so, yeah. The starring Lauren Lapkus and Jake Johnson. What is Dabney Coleman's character's name? Okay, this is an easy one. This is a layup.

He played Wa-R Games, which is where they get the title. Yep. He's Mr. Games. Mr. Games. Okay. You have War Games on the brain this is the second podcast episode we're trying to do a podcast about bruce springsteen whom whom we have not

mentioned you keep up one war games no you started this all right bye bye wow i hope that's that was the the and we just listened to the penultimate and final episode they barely scratched the surface on who else is in work yeah they character name edition they're gonna need to dive back in at some point i don't doubt that we will. Yes. Okay. So Adam mentions a gentleman by the name of Bruce Springsteen, American rock musician. And we are covering, if you haven't heard the show before, it's a new year, new podcast. We're covering the albums and output of said musician, American rock musician, Bruce Springsteen. Yep. And on this particular episode, we are going to be covering an album called

Wrecking Ball. That's right. That's how you pronounce it. Every time you say the title, that is the way it needs to be pronounced. And you're going gonna get very tired of it but i'm gonna try to do it every single time now on this show great um so we're gonna be talking about the album we're gonna be going track by track on it we're gonna have a good time

and adam's gonna get out in plenty of time but we need to take a break first. We're going to come right back. We'll be right back with more You Spring and Springsteen on my Bean. Hey, welcome back. You spring and spring scene on my bean. That is a song called Outside Lookin' In from The Promise, which we did not cover. Although,

if we had more time, we would have. If you haven't heard that one, you should pick it up. It is... It's kind of... kind of a Darkness on the Edge of Town album of discarded songs from that album, but a lot of it they re-recorded. So it's this weird cross of old sessions with new vocals sometimes, sometimes completely new recordings. But it's really good. It's really good um we'll put it

on our our uh rankings at the end of the year if you haven't heard it go back and listen to it why didn't we cover it we don't have time you have to go okay um but uh yeah that that's one that i would keep in my car so in my old car that i had for 14 years that i just gave up um it had a uh exterior auxiliary jack that i would plug in my ipod to but if i ever forgot my ipod or because i would take it out of the car so it wouldn't get stolen if i ever forgot it at home or whatever i would then use the cd player and that was was the CD that was always in my player. So that was my backup. And when I loaned my car recently to my mother, that was in the CD player and the promise, the promise.

And she, she asked, she said, Hey, um, why do you still use a CD player? No, she couldn't. CD playing is such new technology to her. She couldn't figure out how to take it out of the car. She couldn't figure out how to take it out of the car she couldn't figure out the eject button so she was like there's a there's a i don't know whether it's a tape or what's in there but it plays all the time because even your mom has moved on from cds so profoundly that she doesn't understand what this is but she wondered what it was because she's like i really love it um and uh, that's cool. She loved The Promise.

So she would listen to that whenever she was driving, and it's a great record, so check it out. That came out, I think, a year after working on A Dream, and they didn't tour with it, but they did some promo, like they did Fallon and shit like that. What do you think of everything I just said? Oh, deeply interested. they did uh fallon and shit like that what do you think of everything i just said oh deeply interested it's so hard to be doing a podcast when the person you're doing it with is just

looking at his fucking phone well i was looking at the promise yeah i was actually listening to what you were saying so when you you said deeply interesting, you were being sincere? Oh, yeah. No, I was actually looking at The Promise and then the stuff that came out from there till present time. And the interesting thing, and I know we're not getting to it today, is there are two Western Stars albums

and I've never been able to quite figure out why. Which one's the real one? Well, the first one's the real one. The second one is the live one. Slightly different versions from the movie. Can we talk about it next week? Yeah. And I'll tell you why.

Okay. Great. Fine. Fine. Okay. We have a deal. Let's shake on it. Fine. Fine. Okay. We have a deal. Let's shake on it. Fine.

Fine. Great. Wow, that was a weird handshake. Yeah, let's try that again. I think the spit was making a noise and then the wind as they were like... Okay, here we go. Huh. Okay, well, here we go. Interesting. Okay.

Well, when you spit in your hand, that's what happens. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Okay. Okay, so we're talking about an album called Wrecking Ball today. Let's do some stats, Adam. Yes, indeed. This came out March 6th, 2012.

Yes, indeed. Now, why is that so scary? It's just a frightening combination. I mean, it's right before the Ides of March. So he has an album that comes out on right when the Obama administration starts. Yes. Which is magic. Like a couple weeks after.

After the inauguration. Which is not magic. It's working on a dream, but yeah. Oh, is that working on a dream? Yeah. Remember we talked about- Oh, magic was 07. Sorry.

We talked about working on a dream. He was doing the inauguration. That's right. He was expected to do the He was doing the inauguration. That's right. And expected to do the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl. And then this one is election year 2012, when we weren't sure if Obama was going to prevail. Yes. This is a few months earlier in March, a mere year and a half after The Promise came out. He didn't tour behind The Promise promise as previously discussed in a very

interesting section of this show that's right um okay march 16 2012 length what if you had to guess 56 minutes little shorter it's 51 40 you're not far off. Okay. 51-40. I would say too long. Me too. Okay, interesting. We have three singles. One was released a couple months before the album came out. We'd take care of our own. Right. And then when the album came out, about a month later, Rocky Ground came out. And then a month after that, Death to My Own Town.

Three singles. I believe the album went to number one in the US. I remember it doing very well. Am I wrong about that? Well, let's talk about it afterwards. Oh, okay. It did go to number one. That's doing pretty well in my book.

It went gold in the US, not even platinum. Well, it's hard. The music industry has changed so much at this point. That's pretty good. Worldwide, we're talking a million and a half, baby. That's not bad for post. I'd love to sell a million and a half of anything. Me too.

I'd love to sell a million and a half bananas. Sure. At a million dollars a piece. Yeah yeah that would be like my personal dream that would be a lot of money that's just you you'd be so freaking rich if i was selling them for a million bucks each i'd be fine even smelling smelling what 200 of them so you smell so if you had a million bananas yeah as long as you could smell 200 of them. I don't need to even sell them. I just want to smell them. There goes old smelling bananas at them.

So yeah, you mentioned it came out right before Obama's inauguration because I think that ties, or sorry, before his reelection. Yeah. That ties into sort of what this album is about a little bit. So the story behind it is Springy himself is driving around. In a car. I think it was a car. He doesn't specify. It around. In a car. I think it was a car. He doesn't specify.

It could have been a tractor. He could, who knows? He could have been just riding a plane down the highway. Yeah. Or a motorcycle. Yeah. Who's going to stop him? I won't.

I would. Yeah. I'm sort of like Marky Mark on 9-11. I would. Okay. Weird guy, right? I don't know. You may work with him, so you don't want to say?

Yeah, pretty much. I'm not going to. But so he's driving around after going to a bar. It's safe to assume several hours have passed since his last drink. He's totally sober. Um, and he starts singing, uh, one of the songs that we'll talk about, uh, the first lyrics to it. And he realizes, oh, I have an album. This is what the album one is going to be about.

Okay. He's upset about, um, 2008. He's upset about the financial collapse of the housing system. He's a lot going on. I would say this is his most political album since Tom Joad. For sure. He's just very upset at the ruination of the middle class and and even the working class at the expense of uh these corporations getting richer and the banks there was like zero consequence zero consequences they

all got bailed out um and he i think that one of the quotes is this is his first album where he writes about a guy in a tie because he's always written about the working man. In this, he's writing about the corporate execs who have swindled everyone out of their money. And so he has the first song and then he just in a rush writes a whole bunch of other songs. The first song, and then he just in a rush writes a whole bunch of other songs. A couple of them are from a gospel movie project he was writing that he hasn't ever talked about in length because he still hopes it will come out. That makes sense. So he includes a couple of those songs in there. And then a little guy,

now Brendan O'Brien, we've talked about him. He honestly looked like he was on his way out, the last record. Yeah. He wasn't really being listened to or anything like that. So a little guy,

this is where a little guy named Ron Aniello enters the picture. Tell me about Ron. Ron, which I'm going to assume is short for Ronald John Aniello, is from Las Vegas, Nevada. He's an American songwriter, producer, composer, and musician. So this morning I was looking at his credits. um so this morning i was looking at his credits it seems like he's part of the sort of christian rock scene for a long period of time in the early 2000s he's like working with bands like sixpence none the richer and lifehouse and days of the new uh Is Lifehouse a Christian rock band, sort of?

I think they are. I mean, a lot of these band names seem like they're a Christian band. I just looked up Lifehouse, and it says that they... Yeah, I don't know. But whether or not they're Christianian rock bands jars of clay definitely is yeah he's worked with them but he's working with like kind of down the middle like straight ahead

kind of rock artists kind of these these if they are christian artists they're crossing over to the mainstream like sixpence done the richer definitely did yeah jars of clay um but he's working also working with bare naked ladies guster um people like that and so in 2007 he works with uh patty scalfa on her solo record play as it lays he's the co-producer on that and from what i am piecing together in the source material that i have is that he kind of was meeting patty about doing a record and he came out to the farm where they lived and then he just kind of like hung out and uh lived there for months and months at a time and bruce was like hey get the fuck over here play on my album and he just kind of like lived on the farm for a long time and was it was available to bruce at any time of day to to do this and rad so just kind of you know became the producer of

this this record it's cool hanging around it's cool in the the just does fundamentally sound differently than the last couple or last three albums. Yeah. It's definitely, it feels like a burst of new, uh, techniques and new record production. We'll hear some of the songs a little later. Um,

so here's, uh, the other thing that happens, uh, before making this record. So this record is, has a few of the edible street band members on it, but not all of them.

It's more of a solo record. Is that right? Yeah. Huh? And, and the ones that are on it, like max plays drums on three tracks. Is that right?

And the Pearl jam drummer, Matt Chamberlain plays on most of them. I did not know that. Uh, you know, uh, I just assumed it was East street band. No,

uh, Steven, little Steven plays mandolin on a couple has a backing vocals on a cup on a couple. Um, and, uh, so it, it, it, it is more of a, you know, Ron Annie yellow is, is playing a lot of them. Yeah. Sure. Of the music. And he, and he and springy are doing it kind of all together. And then maybe that's part of why it sounds quite different.

Yeah. He is bringing in Patty and Susie Terrell to do a lot of it. And they're like auxiliary edibles. So the other thing, though, that happens is on the Working on a Dream tour, Clarence is obviously ailing and not doing well. And Bruce is kind of wondering how he's doing, but he's keeping it very private. And he starts to notice that there's this kid who's helping him at every show. And he doesn't know who this kid is. He's not never been introduced to him or anything like that.

So but this kid is there and he slowly starts to realize that this kid is there in case Clarence can't go on, on the show, on any show. And he's there as like a backup that Clarence has brought because he doesn't want to, you know, it's cover your shift. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, he doesn't want to, you know, he doesn't want the show

to suddenly not have a key part to it. Yeah, of course. So Springy doesn't know who this kid is, but Clarence never misses a show. Yeah. So Max misses a few shows on the Working on a Dream, and his son plays, who you can read about in other places.

Why does Max miss shows? Because of his Tonight Show. That's when Conan got the Tonight Show. Oh, got it, right. Yeah. So Springsteen is working on the wrecking ball album he calls up clarence and he says like hey i want you to come in and do a session and clarence says i don't know i'm i he had just played on lady gaga's uh was it edge of glory or uh one of those songs clarence clemens yeah um and had just played on

american idol with lady gaga debuting it but he's like i don't know i'm feeling a lot of numbness in my playing hand i don't and he had never missed a session before but he says like i think i want to go see a specialist um And Springsteen says, yeah, sure. Yeah, we'll put this aside. You can play in a couple of weeks or whatever. Springsteen goes to Paris. And in Paris, he gets a knock on the door that Clarence has fallen into a coma. Oh, man.

The entire band goes to the hospital, camps out there that i guess they put them in a room uh kind of adjacent to clarence away from all the other patients and they're all like playing music there every every day uh it takes a week but clarence never comes out of it and they say goodbye to clarence and that is our goodbye to Clarence Clements. That's so fucking sad. So one of the songs that they were working on that Bruce really wanted him to play on, he is all bummed about,

but we'll tell that story when we get to the actual song. So that's a big change in this. So that's pretty much... Well, Steve Jordan plays percussion. Steve Jordan is back. That's cool. Yeah, Steve Jordan plays on one song. He plays percussion on track two.

And Tom Morello. It's very easy to pick out where Tom Morello pops in. Yes, we'll talk about Tom coming up. All right, so that's the story of the record. Anything I didn't cover that you want to cover? No. I did a good job? Just tell me I did a good job.

Okay, you did, Scott, you did a wonderful job. Thanks, Adam. You hardly ever compliment me. Teeing Up, Wrecking Ball. So nice of you. Bruce Springsteen's greatest album. Just kidding. I was just getting your was just and you didn't say it the right getting your attention i didn't wrecking ball wrecking ball is that how you said it i think

that's how he said it all right we're gonna take a break when we come back we're gonna hear wrecking ball um hear the songs from it springsteen's most political album since Tom Jode. Is it a banger or is it a stinker, a true stinkeroonie, or is it somewhere in between? Hmm. Actually, I was going to answer it right now, but we're going to answer it after the break. Okay, so we're going to come back with more of you, Spring,

and Springsteen on my bean after this. Welcome back. You Spring and Springsteen on my bean. He's a rocker. Oh, he is a rocker. I'm talking about Wrecking Ball, the Bruce Springsteen album, named Best Album of 2012 by Rolling Stone.

Boy, they were on the cutting edge. They gave it five stars, which means a classic. I feel like they've given all of his albums all of his last five records yeah mick jagger's solo album from 2001 five stars yeah classic i remember reading that review and just being like oh my god and going out and buying it and being like what what am I listening to? What is this? Which one is that? Primitive Cool? No, this is Goddess in the Doorway.

Oh, Goddess in the Doorway. Oh my Lord. Remember that? Yes, I remember it. Still, we love him. Five stars. Five stars. Probably the best album I've ever heard.

Yeah, so we're listening to Wrecking Ball. Wrecking Ball. Wrecking bow and um you want to do it adam what do you say yeah let's go let's let's fucking do it here we go this is track one this is we take care of our own this is by bruce springsteen We'll be right back. I've been knocking on the door that holds the throne I've been looking for the map that leads me home I've been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone Of good intentions, it's gone dry as a bone We take care of our own We take care of our own

Wherever this flag's flown We take care of our own From Chicago to New Orleans From the muscle to the bone From the shotgun shack to the Superdome Rain or hail, the Calvary stayed home the Superdome. There ain't no help, the Calvary stayed home.

There ain't no one here in the Buglebone. We take care of our own. We take care of our own. We take care of our own, Adam. Wherever this flag's flown now they talk he talks about how this is another one of his misunderstood songs because he said not since born in the usa has the song been kind of this misunderstood i think i think a lot of people view it as like a jingoistic, like, this is the USA. We take care of our own.

We've always done it. And I think what Springsteen is trying to say, it's a little aspirational in a way, but he's trying to introduce the theme of we take care of our own and then saying like, this is where we failed at doing this. What do you think? like this is where we failed at doing this what do you think yeah like that's the idea behind this country is that we help each other out and we take care of each other that's why it's a democratic republic rather than a true democracy you and your democratic republic and your electoral college how how much you love it i'm sorry um but can we talk about the electoral college and why it's so great uh um he i i think uh a lot of this record also was written in the wake of katrina uh i think that's the reference to the superdome yeah is what although katrina was like

eight years ago in 2012 right it was 2004 hurricane or was it 2006 uh 2005 2005 but you know superdome that's definitely a reference yeah i mean i guess when i say in the wake of it i mean a lot a lot of these things are on his mind yeah uh but the financial collapse certainly because 2012 we were not recovered right um yeah i remember i remember in 2008 during the election when everything collapsed and everyone trying to say like it is going to take us yeah more than one term to repair this damage and then everyone forgets about it like two years later and it's like why isn't everything better yeah um and but they had accomplished a lot in those four years but people were still hurting yeah so i kind of feel like with this song i like the sound of it i like it's kind of reminiscent of

of newer bands like uh arcade fire and gaslight. And it sounds like a great opener for a concert. But it almost feels like something that happens a few times in this album where the message for me kind of feels like it's prioritized above the songs a little bit. Yes. Agreed. It's a little on the nose recordings. Appreciate it. And I, and I sort of,

I like the melody too. It's a little, it feels a little, what was that Paul McCartney song, which was like the freedom, freedom. Yeah. It feels a little like that,

but I, but I think spring springy is trying to say like, no, there's more of like a, a Serbic sense of like, fuck you. We didn't do this. Yeah yeah but it's not coming necessarily coming across no it feels like it's a straightforward kind of uh like hey we're american it feels you know what it feels like to me is it feels like that part when they had to reshoot the end of spider-man after after 9-11 and it has a bunch

of new yorkers going like this is new york we we you don't fuck with new york god to the green goblin i don't remember like what better uh message a way to get that message out than have it having it be screamed at the green goblin. Yeah, I think it's fine. I don't think it's like a great song or not like a clear hook. It's surprising to me that that was like the first big single. I do like the big booming drums. I like the guitar part of it. It's just maybe the lyrics are a little obvi.

Yeah. Okay, let's go to track two. This is Easy Money. this is by bruce springsteen you put on your coat i'll put on my hat you put out the dog i'll put out the can You put on your red dress For me tonight, honey We're going on the town now Looking for easy money

There's nothing to it, mister You won't hear a sound When your whole world comes To a new town And all that fat cash When your whole world comes tumbling down And all them fat kids, they'll just think it's funny I'm going on the town, I'm looking for easy money adam i like this a lot. This is the song, by the way, that he was singing on the way

to Home from the Bar. Oh, it is? That made him want to write the whole song. Is it the theme to the Rodney Dangerfield film? Yeah. Easy Money? It is. Actually, I think...

That was Billy Joel. Yeah, he had a song called Easy Money, I think that was the theme to that. Oh, no, this is the theme song to Back to School the right that makes sense yeah yeah um i like i i revisiting this album i forgotten just how like rootsy and americana and like it's a i guess yeah it's a combination of like his seager session sound with like celtic music like hoagsy type stuff and then like straight ahead rock songs yeah rock and gospel yeah and then a little bit of rap later but definitely the seger session seemed to have uh influenced a lot yeah it's um so yeah i i i think

and again good oh oh the drum sound i wanted to mention. They were originally, producer Ron wanted to use the sample to We Will Rock You in it. And he put that in. Oh, interesting. And then Springsteen was. This is another. This is the first album, I think, where there are samples used. One song sounds a little like Moby a little later that we'll hear. But Springsteen nixed it.

And instead, they recorded that themselves there's no credit for the drums on uh we take care of our own i was wondering if that was springsteen they they or annie yellow they talk about on some of these songs they both played the drums at the same time because neither of them are a good drummer so they like one of them would handle the bass drum and then maybe a cymbal and the other would do the snare or whatever. So it sounds like they were just kind of experimenting. I also know that producer Ron had sampled drum sounds from E Street Band performances that he would also layer in and stuff. So there's a lot of sampling going on.

What do you think of that song? I think it's good. I mean, I definitely heard him play it a few times on that tour it's like on this tour yeah it's um it's a it's catchy uh it is rootsy in that way that like you know like lumineineers-y and, uh, uh, uh, Mumford and Sons-y in that way. That's like good in small doses for me. Yeah. Um, but yeah. What do you think?

Yeah, I do. I do like it. I, I do like the, the song. I like this, you know,

version of him where he's kind of more rootsy. That kind of starts with seager sessions and and he kind of carries with them for the rest of his days for the rest of his days up until this day although letter to you doesn't have much of this yeah yeah um okay this is uh track three this is shackled and drawn by bruce springs One, two, oh, closer to the grave, closer to the grave, and come the dawn. I'll hold up this morning, shackled and drawn, shackled and drawn, shackled and drawn. Beat up the rocks, uncarried on, we're trudging through the dark in a world gone wrong. I'll hold up this morning, shackled and drawn. Whoo! Whoo!

Whoo! I always love the feel of sweat on my shirt Stand back sun and let a man work Let a man work, is that so wrong? I woke up this morning shackled and drawn Shackled and drawn, shackled and drawn Pick up the rock from Cary Lark Shackled and Drawn, Adam. He's talking about unemployment, people being in the prison of unemployment, and, wow, everyone's making a ton of money above them.

What do you think i like this song very much yeah it's again it's oh this is one that he wrote for the gospel film that he was trying to make what is the gospel film he was trying to make uh you'll recall when i mentioned it he uh uh you'll recall me saying that he doesn't want to say too much about it because he still hopes that it will be made. Oh, I see. So that's all you know? Well, you know, without hiring a private investigator to go through his trash. Are you a producer on this movie?

You don't want to? Look, I'm angling for a producer role on this movie. This is a weird way of doing that. role on this movie huh this is a weird way of doing that uh i feel like you're not as inclined to enjoy the rootsier side of bruce springsteen i like it i i i mean i'll give my verdict at the end of this okay but um i i i like it i don't love it yep but i but again these are catchy songs i heard him play them quite a few times how many times did you see this tour i think i saw this particular one twice and then you know would would listen to the the recordings of of the tour as well and and so a lot of these songs are deeply ingrained in me. So whenever I hear them, I'm like, oh, this is a hit in a way.

But then listening to the whole album, I'm a little, well, we'll talk about it. Okay, this is track four. This is Jack of All Trades by Bruce Springsteen. I'll mow your lawn Clean the leaves out you drain I'll mend your roots To keep out the rain I'll take the work That God provides

I'm a jack of all trades Honey, we'll be all right I'll hammer the nails And I'll set the stone I'll harvest your crops When they're ripe and grown I'll pull that engine apart and patch her up till she's running dry I'm a jack of all trades will be all right.

The hurricane blows, brings a hard rain. When the blue sky breaks, feels like the world's gonna change. Adam, this is such a slow song, I'm just going to burst in in the middle of a... Sure. This is a six-minute song. What do we think of Jack of all trades? It's fine. It's a little kind of boring. A little lugubrious, maybe.

But I think it's the kind of thing he's done more interestingly elsewhere right it's definitely on his topic that he wants to talk about yes i like that some of this sounds like beirut which i really like yeah yeah this part of it sounds really good tom morello by the way comes in at the end that's right and does uh a solo apparently he came in and did more Rage Against the Machine-y type solos, which were like, I can only imagine, sound like... And Bruce was like, why don't we try something... What's the actual quote? Try something a little more elegant.

So he did several, several takes and they pieced together where it ends up. Let's try to find that, by the way. Where is it? A little later in the song. It's really pretty. I don't want to slag it as something that... I don't know.

Something about the pace of it. Anytime this one would come on during the tour, it would be a little like... I saw this tour, too. I don't remember him playing a ton of this album, but I would imagine he did. Yeah, this... I mean, Wrecking...

Sorry, Working on a Dream. I don't think he played a lot from Working on a Dream on that tour. I think by the time it came out, it was kind of a dog, so he never played any of the songs. This one out it was like kind of a dog and so he never played any of the songs this one i think he's really proud of and so he keep here we go by the way and so i think he really wanted to stress how good these songs were to people and really that gives you a little taste of elegance so yeah i i i like kind of awesome i like the rootsy stuff

when other people do it a little more maybe i don't know i don't know what uh uh i like this album conceptually more than i like it in practice i would say all right let's go to uh this is track five this is death to my hometown oh shit bruce springsteen raising the musical question death to my hometown by bruce springsteen We'll be right back. Oh, no cannonball did fly, no rifles cut us down No bombs fell from the sky, no blood soaked the ground No powder flash blinded the eye, no deathly thunder sound But justice shows the hand of God, they brought death to my hometown They brought death to my hometown They brought death to my hometown, boys

Blue shells ripped the evening sky No cities burning down No armies stormed the shores For which we die no dictators or crown i woke on a quiet night i never heard a sound marauders raided in the dark and brought death to my hometown boys death to my hometown death to my hometown. This is one he's really talking about, the financial crisis.

Yeah. What do you think, Adam? I like it. I like this vibe. And I like it more than the Seeger sessions. Yeah. Because I just like these songs more. Yeah.

Yeah. Maybe if Jack of All Trades wasn't in there slowing it down as track four, maybe, uh, well, we'll talk about maybe a resequencing ideas. Of course, this is,

what are you listening to? You're listening to you spring and spring scene on my bean. We're going to take it apart and put it right back together. Um, all right. This is track six and, uh, this is called this depression and it's by bruce bracing another song with the giant booming drums We'll be right back. This is my confession I need your heart In this depression

I need your heart Baby, I've been alone But never this alone I've had my faith shaken But never hopeless Yeah, reading about this song, producer Ron talks about he believes he bolstered the drums

with samples from 80 songs. 80 songs? Probably 79 or 80 different songs. No, 1980s songs. Oh, I see. What? What do we think? I would probably leave this one off if I were to have my drugs. I would too. This is not my favorite.

I will say I don't think people knew for a few more years yet that Bruce was going through major depression times, and this is one of them. I think he was saying from like when he turned 60 to 62 and then it took a year off and then came back for a year or something. He's in like major, major depression, like crying all the time. And I think this is this song is like a little more autobiographical than people even realize, because I think he's using two forms of the word depression. You know, the depression of, you know, obviously financial depression. But he's also talking about his own depression i think yeah which i think is a great thing to do yes but um leave it off this album sing it around the house um yeah not my fave either okay let's go then this is sort of the second side of the even though this um it came out as a two LP set, if you were really,

who cares? All right, this is the next song. This is Wrecking Ball. I was raised out of steelhead swamps in Jersey Some misty years ago Through the mud and the beer And the blood and the beer and the blood and the cheers I seen champions

come and go so if you got the guts mister if you got the balls you think it's your time then step to the line and bring on

your wrecking ball bring on your wrecking ball. Bring on your wrecking ball. Bring on your wrecking ball. Come on and take your best shot. Let me see what you've got. Bring on your wrecking ball. Now my home's here in these meadowlands Where mosquitoes grow big as airplanes

Here where the blood is spilled The arena's filled Giants play games So raise up your glasses Let me hear your voices come. Tonight all the dead are here. So bring on your wrecking ball. Bring on your wrecking ball.

Wrecking ball, Adam. I like this song a lot. This was originally written as a tribute to the old Giants Stadium, which was being torn down. Oh, interesting. And so they sort of changed the lyrics, but not much. I think there was some discussion about, do we get rid of the specific references to a stadium? And then they make one there. They didn't.

Yeah. and then they make one there they didn't yeah um but um i think that the metaphor of like these financial institutions taking a wrecking ball to uh the economy was sort of strong enough for him to say like it doesn't need that much tweaking and this is max weinberg showing up for the first time yes they apparently because they've been playing this as early as 2009 um apparently the original arrangement was more of an e-street band kind of thing because they played this live yeah yeah um and it sounded a little more like arcade fire they say which I would be interested to hear what that version sounds like. But I like this version. It's kind of, again, a combo of Beirut-style horns and Celtic penny whistles

and off-time gospel clapping. Not off-time, but maybe correct time gospel clapping. But an interesting, interestingly produced record. Yeah, I like it like it okay let's go now to the next track this is called you've got it adam and this is by bruce springsteen no one ever found it ain't no school ever taught it Ain't no school ever taught it No one ever made it

Ain't no one ever bought it Baby, you got it Baby, you got it Come on, give it to me Ain't no one can break it Ain't no one can steal it Ain't no one can fake it You just know it when you feel it

Baby, you've got it Baby, you've got it Come on, give it to me You've got it, Adam. They call this one a palate cleanser. It's the one song that doesn't have anything to do with the theme. Yeah. I'd leave it off.

Me too. Great, we've agreed. Okay, moving on. All right. This is Rocky Ground. Was this a single? I don't remember. It was not? I don't remember. It was not?

I don't think so. It was a limited edition seven inch as part of Record Store Day. Okay. This is Rocky Ground. And this is the one that I was mentioning. Sounds slightly like Moby because it uses an old blue sample over it. But here we go. This is Rocky Ground by Bruce Springsteen.

It also has. Oh, you're right. It was a single. Yeah, I know. Oh, yeah. We've been traveling over Rocky Ground, Rocky Ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground.

We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground. Rise up, shepherd, rise up Your flock is grown far from the hill Stars have faded, the sky

is still Angels are shouting glory and alleluia We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground We've been traveling over rocky ground, rocky ground Forty days and nights of rain have washed this land. Jesus said the money changers in this temple will not stand. Find your flock, get them to higher ground.

Floodwaters rising in Canaan. We've been traveling Over rocky ground Rocky ground We've been traveling Over rocky ground Rocky ground And to your flock

Oh, they will Stray, we'll be Called for our service Come judgment Day For we cross We'll be called for our service come judgment day. Before we cross that river wide, blood on our hands will come back on us twice. I hear a little wah-wah guitar that Springsteen's playing here, which is not something he usually does.

Okay, so this is an interesting track. It's got a little rap later. Here's the sample from an old song from the 40s. Someone going, I'm a soldier. from an old song from the 40s. Someone going, I'm a soldier. So like a cross between Moby stuff with wah-wah shaft guitar, gospel rap. An interesting...

I think it hangs together. What do you think, Adam? I think it's pretty. It's not my favorite. If you're going to have like a slowdown song, maybe this album suffers from too many just like palate cleansery songs. I guess so. I think this is one you put in the middle of the record,

maybe to close outside one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, here we go. I guess that producer Ron was bringing up a lot of like famous people to kind of sing the hook. Like Al Green and even Nas and stuff like that. And in spring you went for a local gospel artist, Michelle Moore. That's cool.

I think that's cooler. Yeah, totally. And it sounds really good. Yeah. And then suddenly she's singing with a chorus. Yeah. I think this is cool in a better sequenced album. It would be like a highlight,

but in this album, there's too many songs. Very, yeah. Maybe put it like number four or something, like highlight it a little more. Yeah, I would make, I would number four or something like highlighted a little more. Yeah. I would, I would make, I would say four or five,

six. I would make this a nine song album and make it like the centerpiece four or five. Yeah. Um, okay. Then let's go to, this is the second to last track. Uh,

this is now we, we talked about this track a while ago. Um, because they recorded a live version of it that came out um but this is the official album version this is land of hopes and dreams this is by bruce springsteen I'm riding this train Don't you wanna ride This train This train This train Oh, oh, oh

Get off me Get off me Get off me Get off me Get off me Get off me We'll be right back. Grab your ticket and your suitcase Unders rolling down this track Well you don't know where you're going now But you know you

won't be back Well darling if you're weary Lay your head upon my chest We'll take what we can carry And

we'll leave the rest We'll be wheels rolled through fields where sunlight streams Meet me in a land of open dreams So I think what's interesting about this Meet me in her land of open trees.

So I think what's interesting about this reimagining of the song is producer Ron had no idea how popular the song was with fans. So and they actually listened to the album or the live version that they put out once. And Springsteen was like, let's not listen to this again because it's too perfect. So Ron just basically did whatever he wanted with it and did some stuff that is totally unlike, put it in a different tempo, uses electronic drums. What's the live, where was the live version?

Like where was it released? It ended up on the Essential Bruce Springsteen officially. But I think that everyone had their hand and he had just been playing it on every tour and stuff. Let's hear the live version before this one. Before we make our official decision. Well, the pre-2012 live version

could be interesting to hear. Yes. Okay, so here we go uh oh also it was on the big concert from new york city that they they put out um but uh let me find the exact version of it here we go this is land of hope and dreams this is the original live version that they put out. Let's go! Let's go! Grab your ticket and your suitcase Thunder's rolling down this track Well, you don't know where you're going now

But you know you won't be back Well, darling, if you're weary Lay your head upon my chest Yeah, we'll take what we can carry And we'll leave the rest Well, big wheels roll through the night What do you think, Adam? It's cool. It's interesting.

I feel like whatever version you heard the first is the one you're used to. Yeah. So I think most huge Springsteen fans knew this version. And so when it was reimagined for Wrecking Ball, maybe they didn't like that version. But I think the Wrecking Ball version is really good. Me too. I think it's an SCC. Yeah, it's a seven-minute song.

My personal feeling is it should have closed the album. Because it just reaches these heights that the rest of the album doesn't even reach. Yeah, it kind of makes me wish that the album had more of this on it. Yeah. More of the kind of agree like springsteen the the preponderance of the album is kind of this got this mix of gospel celtic uh pogues type stuff um and so if it had just tipped a little bit more towards arena rock but um like the opening track and this one are more kind of if if there was one more of those it would have balanced it a bit more one interesting part of this song that i wanted to bring up when we were talking about clarence

is this is the song that springsteen wanted clarence to come and play on because he had done it live so many times. And so in that week that he was in the coma, producer Ron Aniello didn't really know what to do. And so he went back and listened to a bunch of live versions and picked out the sax solo from it and chopped it up. Oh, cool. So that's what's on this? So that's what's on this.

When Springsteen came back and was listening to their version after Clarence died, the day after he came back, he kind of said ruefully, we'll never have Clarence on this song. And Ron said, actually, I have a version of that for you and played this solo, and Bruce just burst into tears. Oh, that's great. In fact, let's see if there's a little bit of that.

I think it's coming up a little bit into this. But yeah, studio trickery works out for the best in this instance. I don't know who plays drums on this track. I don't know. Does it sound like it's electronic drums, maybe? Here it is. Come on this train People get ready It just builds to this incredible crescendo. I think there's more of Clarence to come too. Yeah, there he is playing in the background. They did a great job piecing this yeah into a big epic song no i

think it's a great version um probably the best song for me same we still have one more to go though on the official uh released version um for some reason springy felt like they needed one more song to close the album out even though that's like to me an epic closer yeah like we need one more yeah so here's uh we are alive this is by bruce springsteen you hear a another bit of studio trickery. Hmm. Wizards. Of Waverly Place.

There's a cross up yonder on Calvary Hill There's a slip of blood on the silver night There's a graveyard kid down below Where at night the dead come to life And above the stars they crackle in fire A dead man's moon throws seven rings Well, we put our ears to the cold gravestones This is the song they'd sing

We are alive And though our bodies lie alone here in the dark Our spirits rise to carry the fire And light the spark To stand shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart What do you think, Adam? It's a weird way to end the album, I think. After that giant, epic, crazy song.

He's going for a thematic thing about the spirit and ideas of the world that go on and on throughout generations across the U.s yeah there was a version i think where producer ron put a ring of fire sample over it because it's very reminiscent of the sample crazy yeah he loves the samples this guy um i think i i like it it's nice i would have put it somewhere i would have put it somewhere else. I would have just put it earlier. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same. Yeah, exactly. Same. Okay, so. Then there are the bonus tracks.

There's the two bonus tracks. Let's hear them because one I like and one I don't like. I wonder if you have the same feeling or if you have a different feeling. This one is called Swallowed Up in the Belly of the Whale and it's by Bruce Springsteen. this kind of sounds like my sleep machine yeah it's quite mellow i feel asleep oh really so was i until you started singing okay what do we think of this song uh so far not much i can't listen okay okay it's, okay. It's not my favorite. Next bonus track. Okay.

And this is one that I would put on the album proper. This is called American Land. This was from the Seeger Sessions. And then they started playing it with the E Street Band, the Edibles. Yeah, this is a good song. Yeah! so this is very poesyues-y, but I like it. Yeah, it's cool. So, I think with some editing and some shuffling around,

this is a good album that I would listen to. I just, I find it a tough list. For some reason, I like it conceptually more than I like it in practice. I think because it's not... I would take out three of the songs. Yeah, I remember liking it a lot when it came out and listening to it quite a bit. But now, kind of going back to it,

I appreciate it more than love it. Magic is one that I'm listening to a lot since we did the episode like really rediscovering how great that album is right this one is a cool experiment um it's great there's some great songs there's some great songs on it i just yeah just let's it's more cohesive than working on a dream yes definitely i the songs aren't as outstanding as magic. I would probably take off Jack of All Trades, This Depression, You've Got It, not use Swallowed Up in the Belly of the Whale, which we didn't even listen to, but use all the others. Make it a 42-minute record.

If you had to, and that's nine songs. I'd keep Jack of All Trades. and that's nine songs. I'd keep Jack of All Trades. If you had to keep one, I would say keep Jack of All Trades, make it a 48, make it 10 songs, 48 minutes. Just put Jack of All Trades a little bit maybe later or something.

But yeah. But so I think a return to form in a way and him doing something really interesting. Yes. And finally talking about meaningful subjects again um but not quite hitting the target for me but um but but we'll figure out where it can i feel like one more big like arena rock song would have balanced out the whole album

yeah you know agreed maybe take off jack of all trades and write one extra song that's arena rock. Who knows? So this comes out and Bruce is pretty disappointed with the reaction to it. Really? So he says, look, I know it came out. It was number one, but it just seemed like and of course rolling stone gave it a five-star review classic but he thought this was like one of his strongest collection of songs in a long time and um it just kind of and he toured behind it relentlessly and it just kind of was met with a shrug by the greater uh sense of culture in a way

and what he came to realize is that rock music was no longer the way that people were going to get interested in these types of songs yeah that hip-hop had kind of taken its place and in the culture and you know you could talk about these types of issues in hip-hop and i think people would pay more attention but rock music was sort of slipping from uh popularity yeah so that's kind of a bummer yeah it is a bummer um but he's also filling stadiums and arenas around the world. And he sold a million and a half. It's like, come on, man. You're all right.

Yeah. But I do think it's one of those things that you two obviously went through, where it's like they take so long in between the records, and suddenly the culture has just shifted. And it's like, oh, no one cares about rock music anymore? Oh, shit. It's true. And it's like, oh, no one cares about rock music anymore.

Oh, shit. It's true. But I remember culturally it being a big deal, you know, when it came out. But maybe not. Certainly not to the point where a Bruce Springsteen album was a big deal like in 1995 or whatever. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I think he just squandered the 90s too much.

Maybe. Or that audience is just older. Yeah. The momentum after Rising, too, I think, where he went off and did Devils in Dust and Seeger Sessions. Yeah. Instead of really... Because you feel at this point he's really got the momentum of like,

he's putting out, he put out The Promise, and he's touring a lot, he's like doing rock albums. You really feel like after the Seeger sessions for this period of time, he's really like, hey, everyone, the Edible Street Band is back together. We're doing great work. Come see us. Yeah. I see a lot of these shows. So it feels like he's part of the culture. But I think certainly after the rising and kind of catching a cultural moment and he and you two both did that really well and kind of helped heal, you know, culturally a bit.

I think that anything will probably feel like a disappointment after a high like that probably. the other couple of things that happen is they go on tour for the Wrecking Ball Tour and little Steven has to bow out for a bit due to a little show called Lily Hammer. Really? Yes.

Which I've never seen a single episode of. I haven't either. But one of the first Netflix originals. That's right. uh remember the posters everywhere oh yeah just was that 2012 i guess it was i think so yeah so like pre house of cards it was it was before house i think house of cards maybe was the second netflix original or something actually ted sarandos was talking about to us that technically the first Netflix original was the comedians of comedy because they, um,

so when we were doing the Ferns film, he's like, yeah, you were the very first, uh, but, uh, we,

I think we associate it more with Lily Hammer and house of cards, but, um, so little Steven bows out. And so they call up a gentleman by the name of tom morello and he joins the edibles oh that's right for like the back half of the tour i remember that i didn't see him play with i saw yeah um the whole show yeah the whole show yeah that's cool so yeah he joined for months he was on this tour and we'll talk about it coming up um so tom morello joins but then um they're the other

thing that happens is they're looking for a replacement for clarence and i really think that springy just feels like to replace some of these people you really need to get their like their children yeah like it just something about it you know when max was gone for the tonight show he got he got max's son to play um i think there was another instance of it that is not coming to my mind right now but he just really or someone in the family because uh it is a family you know it is a family and so like they they technically could have gotten any saxophone player in the world probably to step in but springsteen's mind keeps going back to the to the young guy who had been escorting clarence on the last tour turned out this is jake clements who's the nephew of clarence and he's a saxophonist

as well and um so it just kind of gets in his head like this is a family it feels right if this guy can do it but he's being warned by several members of the band who have worked with Jake. This guy's not ready. He's immature. He can't do it. And so he, oh, another part in the book, Springy's book, which is very funny, is remember when we were talking a while back about band members who kept approaching, asking for money i think clarence is one because springsteen mentions he said clarence at one point said that he should be not only paid to play the saxophone but be paid for being clarence clemens and springsteen was like and yes he was paid for being clarence clemens because he was the highest paid saxophonist in the world right um but anyway that's really funny so springsteen says okay let's audition here here's the process he calls up jake

and he says here's the process um you're gonna audition with me first none of the rest of the band you and i are gonna gonna do four or five songs and he gives them the names of the songs and he goes you're gonna come to me first and then we're gonna uh audition with tapes of the band and then you're gonna do it with the band right and so he gives them the name of the five songs sets the time and springsteen time goes by he doesn't show up jake doesn't show up doesn't show up an hour later jake comes and bruce is like why are you late he's like oh i got lost um he goes okay well how old is jake at the time i think he's currently 43 this must have then 10. He was in his early 30s. Yeah. So he goes, okay, well, do you know the four or five songs?

And Jake goes, kind of. And so Bruce has to sit him down and go like, this is not a job where you can kind of know things. Yes. Like this is not what you do in a professional audition. You have to. He goes he goes go home i don't even want to hear you today go home learn these down cold oh yeah and then you can come back and then we'll we'll talk so a week goes by and then jake calls me goes okay i know everything down cold uh and so but just what what a weird ignominious beginning to, uh, to, uh, the audition. So he comes back, he knows everything.

The audition to the tapes, he does really well there. He then Springsteen goes, this is the guy. And he, he apparently has to prove it to these other people in the edibles that he's worked with before who view him as a flake but he he nails the audition so uh since then he's been the saxophonist yeah he's great he's really really good they they on that tour they were intentionally not putting him in the position that clarence was in stage position yeah he was like part of the horn section they brought on a horn section and he was just one of the horns and then he would come out and solo um also on this tour they would play 10th avenue freeze out and say when the big man joined the band and then the whole band would stop and they would put up a huge picture of clarence yeah yeah yeah you know everyone would freeze yeah for like

a minute while everyone like in the in the crowd applauded and everything so but spring scene was like we're not gonna have you in the position we're not gonna do like the iconic things where like you and i are back to back yeah yeah we're not gonna do any of that stuff because people would take it as uh an insult to the memory of your uncle now he says they're way more relaxed about that and whatever happens happens yeah but at but that time, it was very much like, we want to honor Clarence's memory. So those were the two additions to the Edible Street Band for that tour. What do we think? Just generally about?

Anything. I'll take any topic um i i have seen him play with them a bunch and he's awesome and and it seems like now they've fully let him kind of because he really steps in and plays like at those and it's really like he's taken his uncle's place but earned it and it sounds great sounds just just like Clarence Clemons. Yeah. All right. Well, that's going to do it. That's the long and the short of it. Did I get you out in time?

Sure did. We feel good about the time we spent here listening to Wrecking Ball? Yeah. I'm excited for our last two episodes. I think we only have two episodes left. Only, only, only. Next week, we're going to cover two episodes. I think we only have two episodes left. Next week we're going to cover two records. We're going to cover High Hopes

and Western Stars. We may listen to Western Stars. We may not, depending on how late Adam gets here and how early he has to leave. But we're definitely going to listen to High Hopes as well as probably American,

whatever it's called that EP he put out at the same time. Oh yeah. Um, but, uh, we may just talk about Western stars conceptually. I don't know. We'll definitely answer your questions about the differences between the two.

So many questions. And then for our last, uh, episode, we're going to cover a letter to you. Maybe talk a little bit about his motown album but then we'll also rank his records yes that's a good idea and uh that's gonna uh we only have two episodes left next week is our penultimate episode adam are you excited yes mostly about

the word penultimate and now it's often misused mostly also i think uh uh the fact that we're wrapping this up right you're excited about that i am but i want to find another artist possibly yeah well um you know how long do you think you'll be uh maybe aha or a band that has like one or two albums aha has a lot out do they actually yeah they're very very popular how about abc do they have a lot of albums they have if i had to tabulate i believe they have eight albums okay um okay we're gonna go um next week you have your assignment for what you have to listen to we'll see you then but until then we hope that you have found what you're looking for bye We'll see you then. But until then, we hope that you have found what you're looking for.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.