Western Stars

Bruce Springsteen has just put out his 19th studio album, and is almost 70 years old. While most of the classic-rock era stars who are still alive and kicking are releasing so-so material or worse, he is still doing top-drawer stuff. Western Stars is a gorgeous album, and the title track is one of the best songs he's written, period.

Let me start by analyzing that song, which is sung from the point of view of a washed-up actor of Westerns. As with many of the songs on this album, it has lush orchestrations, which are putting off some from this record. But I love orchestral rock, and in fitting with the theme of this record, makes it sound like something from a score to the great Western epics like The Magnificent Seven or The Big Country.

The melody is haunting and instantly memorable, as it has been running through my head for the last couple of days. But even more so, Springsteen the poet shows off his stuff. As he does in many other songs ("One Step Up", for example), "Western Stars" uses the double meaning of words, in this case, stars. The song refers not only to the stars in the sky, but to the stars of old Western movies.

"Once I was shot by John Wayne, yeah it was towards the end
That one scene's bought me a thousand drinks, set me up and I'll tell it for you, friend
Here's to the cowboys, the riders in the whirlwind
Tonight the western stars are shining bright again"

Springsteen has always written about the working man, and it's no exception here. Sticking to the movie business he has a song about stunt men, "Drive Fast (The Stuntman)," which includes these lines:

"I got two pins in my ankle and a busted collarbone
A steel rod in my leg, but it walks me home
At nine, I climbed high into the boughs of our neighborhood's tallest tree
I don't remember the fear, just the breeze"

He also writes about a guy whose job is rounding up wild horses for the BLM: Needless to say, "Chasin' Wild Horses" is a metaphor.

There are two songs about men constantly on the movie, "Hitch Hikin'" and "The Wayfarer." From the latter:

"You start out slow in a sweet little bungalow, something two can call home
Then rain comes falling, the blues come calling, and you're left with a heart of stone
Some folks are inspired sitting by the fire, slippers tucked under the bed
But when I go to sleep I can't count sheep for the white lines in my head"

I'd also like to comment on Springsteen's vocals. I don't think anyone has ever said his singing was one of his greatest strengths, but I was struck by how, at his age, he's still able to hit the high notes. This is best shown on "There Goes My Miracle," in which his voice soars.

Springsteen grew up in Freehold, New Jersey, but has always curiously sounded as if he were raised on a ranch on in Montana. Western Stars amplifies that.

If another rock star ever wins a Nobel Prize for Literature, it should be him. Here, from "Moonlight Motel."

"Now the pool's filled with empty, eight-foot deep
Got dandelions growing up through the cracks in the concrete
Chain-link fence half-rusted away
Got a sign says "Children be careful how you play"
Your lipstick taste and your whispered secret I promised I'd never tell
A half-drunk beer and your breath in my ear
At the Moonlight Motel"