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I'm, very loudly, from New Jersey. So I've always been more than aware of Bruce and what he means to music, America, and NJ. But I can't say I always "got" it. As a kid and teen he was mostly just music my parents listened to while they drank with their friends.
But this (linked) video came out when I was like a freshman in college and I remember coming across it and everything clicked. Maybe it was because it coincided with the first time I was ever really away from home, but it really unlocked the boss for me. Something heartbreaking and honest about him believing so earnestly and helplessly in an America that has never existed but you can only hope one day will happen.
also being 20 and hearing "If I could take this moment into my hands. I ain't a boy, no I'm a man" is too perfect.
Feb 8, 2024
Related Recs
Nov 29, 2024
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need i say more
6d ago
Specifically "Canola Fields" by James McMurtry. I feel like the older I get, the more this sort of songwriting resonates. It's impossible to escape. Even if you're not a dad yet, the dad rock finds you. Be warned.
Anyway, one of the lines is so simple, yet poignant, and, to me, that's the true hallmark of good songwriting. The line: "cashing in on a thirty year crush, you can't be young and do that". It reorients aging in a way that really struck me. Smashing together the childish and the mature and flipping the usual loss/gain calculus. Showing that just as there are certain things unrecoverable to the old (that humming freshness of youth!), there are also things that are incomprehensible to the young. It's a dialectic, and romance and beauty come in many forms.
Mar 4, 2024
Top Recs from @will
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School made us think reading is a holy act. It is not. Its just something to do. Like watching a movie or sports. You aren’t going to be tested by anyone. Read high. Read drunk. Read 2 pages. Read half awake. Remember nothing or just some of it. It really doesn’t matter
May 2, 2024
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I feel like growing up every band or musician besides super huge pop stars was just normal looking. Not weird in a cool way and not perfectly curated. Just actually weird or actually normal. I miss that. Everyone is too hot now. To quote Silver Jews,
"What's with all the handsome grandsons
In these rock band magazines?
What have they done with the fat ones?
The bald and the goateed?"
We need more normals in music.
May 22, 2025
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Humbling. Nothing can stop this meat machine from rest.
Mar 25, 2025