Dropkick Murphys "Peg O My Heart"

When a band cites Bruce Springsteen as an influence, it's most likely a songwriting thing--either lyrical or instrumental.

There are those artists who want to write like Bruce Springsteen. Epic street fables or working-class paeans. And that's a great height to aspire to.

And there are those artists who want to sound like Bruce Springsteen. Wide palettes. Pianos and saxophone and accordions, with multi-part movements. Part Phil Spector, part Motown, part Rock N Roll straight from its stem-cells.

But I appreciate it when artists who don't necessarily aspire to sound like Bruce in their writing or their instrumentation, aspire to Bruce's most appealing quality: his passion.

There isn't much about the general style/genre/sound of The Dropkick Murphy's Irish Punk that makes you think they'd been listening to "Born To Run" while making, say, "Shipping Up To Boston."

But it's the delivery of that tune that allows you to draw a straight line between their hark-back hardcore, and Springsteen.

So ultimately, it's surprisingly fitting when Springsteen adds his voice to the new song "Peg O My Heart."

His voice, his spirit, his passion---they were already there.


See the video on Youtube.


See the video on Youtube.


See the video on Youtube.

Bruce Springsteen “Jungleland”

Top 5 Songs found in mvyradio’s online auction . . .

With age comes perspective. You can see a moment of your past in a wide context, fit it in to a broader vision of yourself, and make some peace with it.

But with age and perspective, also comes a certain amount of forgetting.

I got the Bruce Springsteen “Born To Run” anniversary edition when it came out, and dove right into the accompanying DVD that provided some great behind the scenes, making of footage.

In one of the many remarkable sequences, the band members talked about the making of the epic, “Jungleland.” Much to the various musicians dismay, Bruce could not be satisified with an exact version of the song. Lyrics and solos and bridges were written, arranged, excised, rewritten, rearranged, built up and stripped down. At one point, a labored over musical intro was fully scrapped by Bruce, over protestations of the band.

Now in their 50s, the band members talk on the DVD about the making of the song. And Bruce himself hears the alternate, scrapped intro. And he kind of smiles and says that for the life of him, even HE doesn’t know what he thought was wrong with it.


The 30th Anniversary Package, which includes “Born To Run,” the making of DVD and a concert DVD from 1975, plus an autographed copy of Clarence Clemons new book are up for grabs in the Friends of mvyradio auction. Make a bid and support free streaming.