Springsteen Challenge Day 21: Favorite Bruce Harmonica Solo

Bruce is, at heart, a folk singer with a heart of rock and roll.  In the book “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” The author, Joe Klein, takes great pains to show how Bob Dylan would come and sit at Woody’s bed in the hospital where he was wasting away due to his Huntington’s Disease. He makes sure to note that Bob Dylan was “The Kid” to Woody, and that Woody was who Bob wanted to be.  But, that’s not really the case.  Bob Dylan isn’t necessarily hyper political.  Bob Dylan, while if I had to guess I’d say he’s liberal, doesn’t really involve himself in politics.  Bruce Springsteen has involved himself in one way or another ever since the Reagan administration. For that reason alone, I think he’s closer aligned with Woody Guthrie than is Bob Dylan.  But, for their personal proximity, as well as their songwriting capabilities and troubadour spirit, Bob and Bruce are alike.  Additionally, they both make use of not only the Harmonica, but the harmonica holder around their neck.  Bruce utilizes the harmonica on Nebraska, as well as The Ghost of Tom Joad albums, but also on some random tracks here or there.  And, I’ll tell you, my favorite Springsteen harmonica solo is NOT from Thunder Road.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great, but it’s not my favorite.

My brother, when he got in to Bob Dylan, did so in college.  He is three and a half years older than me, and came home after his freshman year ecstatic about Dylan.  To me, the sound of Bob screeching his harmonica was too much. I was a country music fan, and the sounds of music I listened to were mostly just relaxing dulcet acoustic guitars and steady, easy drumbeats. My brother would play Dylan in his car, loudly, so the harmonica, when it reached redline on the master audio, would be grating to my ear.  I didn’t appreciate it at all.  Then, I got in to Bruce.  And I understood the attraction to the harmonica, as well as what it adds to a song.

When I went and saw Bruce in Buffalo on the Devils and Dust tour, I knew I was in for some heavy harmonica playing.  Little did I know, I was in for so much more.  The final song off of Bruce’s Nebraska album is a near blues ballad about the rationale some people have to maintain faith in the things that have let them down. It’s called “Reason to Believe” and I came up with that description just by thinking “what’s a way to say this song is about people’s reasons to believe without saying it’s about their reason to believe, because the name of the song is Reason to Believe?”  But, it’s accurate.  Man standing over a dead dog by a highway in the ditch, looking down at it, poking with a stick.  The man had obviously hit the dog, and was poking it, hoping it was alive, hoping it would get up and run. Then there’s the brief tale of Mary Lou and Johnny, and how she loved him, and he promised to work for her every day, and bring his money home to her.  One day, he left her, and ever since then, she waits at the end of the dirt road to their home for him to come back.  That’s her ritual.  Then, there’s the sun on a wedding, watching as the groom waits for his bride.  Smash cut to the preacher and congregation gone as the sunset blazes behind a willow tree, the groom stands along and watches the river roll on.  It’s a phenomenal song, and a great closer to the Nebraska album.  Erik and I knew that we were going to get a whole lot of Devils and Dust, Nebraska, and Tom Joad at this concert. We were right – 13 of the 25 songs were from those three albums.

The first song of the night was Prove it all Night, from Darkness on the Edge of Town. It’s a little different acoustic, in an echoey arena, without full band accompaniment, but still recognizable.  Then, Bruce put his acoustic guitar down, picked up a shiny chrome microphone, like the one you’d imagine the Big Bopper singing “Chantilly Lace” into, and walked to the front of the stage.  He took out his harmonica, and blew into it. A shrill, distorted sound filled the arena.  Bruce was using a Bullet mic.  He raised his left foot and brought his heavy work boot down. A resonant thump shook the woofers on the stage.  For the entire song, Bruce was going to play just harmonica, and the percussion stomp pad.  That makes this effectively an entire song featuring only the harmonica.

Let me first say, this song was kind of weird when I heard it. I didn’t recognize it until halfway through.  Erik and I were confused.  When we walked out, we both said, “That was a cool concert, and Reason to Believe was freaking WEIRD.”  Then, Erik got his hands on a bootleg copy of the show.  I went on eBay and got myself a copy.  Hearing it through the soundboard, I knew one thing: I needed to find other live versions of Nebraska album songs that I could put into a mix.  I eventually found an entire disc called “Nebraska Live” – it’s great, it filled in a few of the songs I was missing, but I knew I would always love the version of Reason to Believe from July 18th, 2005 for the harmonica solo through the bullet mic.

Tomorrow’s Challenge Topic: Favorite Big Man Sax Solo