TRUST THE WIZARDS

Last year, I ran a countdown of my 100 favourite Bruce Springsteen songs on my Twitter account. I started it 100 days before my son & I went to see Bruce at Villa Park.

It’s now just a few weeks before we are seeing him again at Wembley, so I thought I’d post the Top 100 here as well.

I also made this YouTube playlist of some favourite live versions of the top 50 songs which is well worth 5 and half hours of your time.

The Wembley gig will be my 5th Bruce gig. I’ve heard 39% of the songs of my top 100 played live and I’ve noted where after each song. [C] = Coventry, [B] = Birmingham, [M1] & [M2] for the 2 times I’ve seen him in Manchester. 

There’s a Spotify playlist at the end of the page along with some nerdy statistics.

100 Open All Night (Nebraska)

99 One Way Street (The Promise)

98 Death To My Hometown (Wrecking Ball) [M1] [C]

97 Rendezvous (The Promise)

96 Matamoros Banks (Devils & Dust)

95 Cover Me (Born In The USA)

94 When You Need Me (Tracks)

93 Wreck on the Highway (The River)

92 Darlington County (Born In The USA) [M1] [M2]

91 Tougher Than The Rest (Tunnel of Love)

90 Galveston Bay (The Ghost Of Tom Joad)

89 The Wall (High Hopes)

88 Little White Lies (The Ties That Bind)

87 Hungry Heart (The River) [C] [M2]

86 Last Man Standing (Letter To You) [B]

85 Shut Out The Light (Tracks)

84 Brilliant Disguise (Tunnel of Love)

83 Stolen Car (The River)

82 My Beautiful Reward (Lucky Town)

81 The Ties That Bind (The River) [M2]

80 Prove It All Night (Darkness On The Edge Of Town) [M1] [B]

79 Youngstown (The Ghost Of Tom Joad)

78 4th July Asbury Park (Sandy) (The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle)

77 Atlantic City (Nebraska) [M1] [M2]

76 Adam Raised A Cain (Darkness On The Edge Of Town)

75 Independence Day (The River)

74 The Time That Never Was (The Ties That Bind)

73 Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (Born To Run) [M1] [C] [M2] [B]

72 Kingdom Of Days (Working On A Dream)

71 You’ll Be Coming Down (Magic)

70 Candy’s Room (Darkness On The Edge Of Town) [B]

69 I’ll See You In My Dreams (Letter To You) [B]

68 None But The Brave (The Essential)

67 Fade Away (The River)

66 Something In The Night (Darkness On The Edge Of Town)

65 We Are Alive (Wrecking Ball) [M1] [C]

64 Born In The USA (Born In The USA) [C] [B]

63 One Step Up (Tunnel of Love)

62 Blinded By The Light (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)

61 Blood Brothers (Greatest Hits)

60 Ain’t Good Enough For You (The Promise)

59 For You (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)

58 Rockaway The Days (Tracks)

57 Glory Days (Born In The USA) [M2] [B]

56 Breakaway (The Promise)

55 No Surrender (Born In The USA) [M1] [M2] [B]

54 Zero & Blind Terry (Tracks)

53 She’s The One (Born To Run) [C] [B]

52 Roulette (The Ties That Bind)

51 Promised Land (Darkness On The Edge Of Town) [M2] [B]

50 If I Should Fall Behind (Lucky Town)

49 Meet Me In The City (The Ties That Bind)

48 Valentines Day (Tunnel of Love)

47 My City In Ruins (The Rising) [M1]

46 Better Days (Lucky Town)

45 The Wish (Tracks)

44 Badlands (Darkness On The Edge Of Town) [M1] [C] [M2] [B]

43 Talk To Me (The Promise)

42 Real World (Human Touch)

41 My Hometown (Born In The USA) [B]

40 The Ghost Of Tom Joad (The Ghost Of Tom Joad) [C]

39 Thundercrack (Tracks)

38 Walk Like A Man (Tunnel of Love)

37 Cadillac Ranch (The River) [M1]

36 Johnny 99 (Nebraska) [M2]

35 The Man Who Got Away (The Ties That Bind)

34 Sherry Darling (The River) [M2]

33 My Love Will Not Let You Down (Tracks) [C]

32 Livin’ In The Future (Magic)

31 Growin’ Up (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)

30 The Price You Pay (The River)

29 Factory (Darkness On The Edge Of Town)

28 Iceman (The Promise)

27 Backstreets (Born To Run) [C] [M2] [B]

26 Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Darkness On The Edge Of Town) [M2]

25 Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)

24 Highway Patrolman (Nebraska)

23 Land Of Hope And Dreams (Wrecking Ball) [M1]

22 Lost In The Flood (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)

21 The Promise (The Promise) [M1]

20 Incident On 57th Street (The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle)

19 Racing In The Street (Darkness On The Edge Of Town)

18 Point Blank (The River) [M2]

17 This Hard Land (Tracks) [M2]

16 Because The Night (The Promise) [M2] [B]

15 Born To Run (Born To Run) [M1] [C] [M2] [B]

14 Jackson Cage (The River)

13 Further On (Up The Road) (The Rising)

12 Night (Born To Run) [C]

11 Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle)

10 The River (The River) [M1] [C] [M2] [B]

“𝑁𝑜𝑤 𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒.”

9 Bobby Jean (Born In The USA) [M1] [C] [M2] [B]

“𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘯’𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥”

8 It’s Hard To Be A Saint (In The City) (Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ)

“𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘢𝘳’𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘩”

7 Long Time Comin’ (Devils & Dust) [C]

“𝘖𝘶𝘵 ‘𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘪𝘢 w𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘴”

6 Out In The Street (The River)  [M1] [M2] [B]

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴, g𝘪𝘳𝘭, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴”

5 Downbound Train (Born In The USA)

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦”

4 Jungleland (Born To Run) [C]

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘌𝘹𝘹𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.”

3 Streets Of Fire (Darkness On The Edge Of Town)

“𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘦”

2 Wrecking Ball (Wrecking Ball) [M1] [C] [B]

“𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 ℎ𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴”

1 Thunder Road (Born To Run) [M1] [C] [M2] [B]

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐’𝘮 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯”

I heard and fell in love with the piano version of Thunder Road (on the Live 75-85 boxset) before I’d ever heard the original version from the Born To Run album. I’ve seen Bruce play it live as solo acoustic song & the full band version. A performance of the piano version at Wembley this month would complete the set! But then switch up to the full band version for the instrumental end section.

So here are some stats for you…..

Darkness On The Edge Of Town was the only album where every single song made my top 100. Prove It All Night was the lowest ranked song from that album (#80) and Streets Of Fire was the highest (#3)

All the Born To Run songs apart from Meeting Across The River were in my top 100 so that’s 7 out of 8 songs (88%)
Most of them were near the top and 4 from this album made it to top 15! (Born To Run, Night, Jungleland & Thunder Road which was #1)

My list included 6 of the 9 songs from Greetings (67%)
It’s Hard To Be A Saint (In The City) was the highest ranked of those (#8) followed by Lost In The Flood (#22) & Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (#25)

Born In The USA achieved an identical percentage to Greetings (67%) but with a few more songs (8 out of 12 songs made the list)
Bobby Jean (#9) & Downbound Train (#5) were the highest placed from this album. Dancing In The Dark, Working On The Highway, I’m Goin’ Down and the mystifyingly popular I’m On Fire were the songs that didn’t make it from Bruce’s biggest-selling album.

The album with the most songs in my top 100 is also the album with the most songs on it! 13 of The River’s 20 songs made it (65%) The highest ranked songs were Point Blank (#18) Jackson Cage (#14) The River (#10) & Out In The Street (#6)

My list included 3 out of 7 songs from this album.
4th July Asbury Park (Sandy) was fairly low at #78 but the other 2 were both near the top end: Incident On 57th Street (#20) & Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (#11)

5 out of 12 songs from “the divorce album” on my list. That’s 42% maths fans.
Valentines Day (#48) and Walk Like A Man (#38) are the highest placed, arguably the 2 saddest songs on the album?

Quite surprised that only 4 songs from Nebraska made my top 100. 🤷‍♂️
Open All Night #100 Atlantic City #77 Johnny 99 #36 and my favourite on this album, Highway Patrolman was #24. Such a great song they made a film of it! (The Indian Runner, directed by Sean Penn)

So the 8 albums with the highest percentage of songs in my top 100 are the first 8 albums he made.
Suggesting the fairly uncontroversial conclusion that Bruce in the 70s & 80s was generally better than Bruce in the 90s onwards.

So looking at those albums from the 90s onwards, the one that fared the best is Wrecking Ball, with 4 of its 13 songs (31%) in my top 100. Highest ranked were Land Of Hope & Dreams (#23) & Wrecking Ball (#2)

3 out of 10 (30%) of the songs from this often dismissed / ignored 90s album were in my top 100, My Beautiful Reward (#82) If I Should Fall Behind (#50) & Better Days (#46)

And here’s another 90s album with 3 songs that made the cut. 3 songs telling 3 different stories of the rundown & oppressed. I put Galveston Bay at #90, Youngstown at #79 & The Ghost Of Tom Joad at #40

These 3 albums released 1995-2005 each had 2 songs in my top 100.
Highest ranking song from each album…
Magic: Livin’ In The Future (#32)
The Rising: Further On (Up The Road) (#14)
Devils & Dust: Long Time Comin’ (#7)

Bruce’s most recent album of original material also had 2 songs on my list. Last Man Standing at #86 and I’ll See You In My Dreams #69. Both these songs are being played in solo acoustic form on the current tour. I’ll See You In My Dreams is a very appropriate show closer but the full band album version is just amazing. If I was re-making the list now it would definitely be higher!

1 song each from these 3 albums. They are The Wall (#89) from High Hopes, Kingdom Of Days (#72) from Working On A Dream and Real World (#42) from Human Touch. It goes to show that even Bruce’s less consistent albums still have some under the radar classics.

So that means the only album with no tracks in my 100 is Western Stars. A pity because There Goes My Miracle was on my longlist but didn’t quite make the cut. (I only considered original songs for the list for so the albums We Shall Overcome & Only The Strong Survive are ineligible. Maybe I’ll do another list of my favourite covers performed by Bruce further on up the road?)

Of course, lots of Bruce’s best songs don’t even make it onto the albums!
8 brilliant Darkness-era outtakes from The Promise were in my top 100.
Highest placed: Talk To Me #43 Iceman #28 The Promise #21 and Because The Night #16

Also in my list were 5 songs from The Ties That Bind (unreleased tracks from The River era)
Highest placed: The Time That Never Was #74 Roulette #52 Meet Me In The City #49 The Man That Got Away #35

That last one has NEVER been played live! Go on, put it in the setlist for Wembley Bruce!!

8 songs from the Tracks box set were in my list. The 2 highest placed were both Born In The USA era outtakes, My Love Will Not Let You Down #33 & This Hard Land #17. There’s apparently loads of unreleased Nebraska / Born In The USA-era stuff in the archive. Hopefully there’ll be a Ties That Bind / The Promise style official release of all that sometime soon.

And talking of non-album tracks, a couple more that made my top 100. #68 None But The Brave, first released on the 2003 compilation The Essential Bruce Springsteen and #61 Blood Brothers from 1995’s Greatest Hits.

There are 7 songs that Bruce has played every time I’ve seen him. 4 of those 7 have made it into the top end of my list (#15, #10, #9 and #1)  2 more are on the list but a bit lower down (#73 & #44)

There are 7 songs in my top 20 that I have never heard live before and I will be going absolutely bonkers if he plays any of those at Wembley. They are Streets Of Fire, Downbound Train, It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City, Rosalita, Further On Up The Road, Jackson Cage, Racing In The Street and Incident On 57th Street.

Most of those have been played at some point on this tour, so 🤞🤞🤞 you never know!!

Here’s a Spotify playlist of my top 100.

Lastly in no particular order here are the songs that were on my original list of 150 songs, but didn’t make the final 100…..

Two Hearts, Magic, Held Up Without A Gun, Jack Of All Trades, Seaside Bar Song, Be True, Long Walk Home, Santa Ana, Radio Nowhere, Someday (We’ll Be Together), The Rising, You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch), Hunter Of Invisible Game, There Goes My Miracle, All That Heaven Will Allow, Seeds, Cautious Man, Where The Bands Are, Mansion On The Hill, Brothers Under The Bridge, Waiting On A Sunny Day, Fire, We Take Care Of Our Own, Roll Of The Dice, From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come), Reason To Believe, Lonesome Day, Outside Looking In, Drive All Night, The E Street Shuffle, The Last Carnival, Spirit In The Night, My Father’s House, Shackled And Drawn, Living On The Edge Of The World, Your Own Worst Enemy, Tunnel Of Love, Straight Time, 57 Channels (And Nothin’ On), New York City Serenade, Mary’s Place, Wrong Side Of The Street, State Trooper, Happy, Don’t Look Back, Without You, Loose Ends, Kitty’s Back, Stand On It, 41 Shots (American Skin)

And remember people… “in the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins.”