J Geils Band "Land Of A Thousand Dances"

I always felt like "Land Of A Thousand Dances" was a bit of false advertising.

Really, they only mention about 10 dances. (At least, that's what happens in the J. Geils version, which is the first version of the song I ever owned)

That's a long way from 1000.

Around the time that I was reaching 500 posts on this blog, I decided that my goal would be to reach 1000 posts.  I wasn't sure I had that many songs with stories to match, but it seemed like a good goal.  It seemed like I could get closer to 1000 than the Geils Band did.

So here we are at blog post number 1000.  I made it.  I thought maybe you'd enjoy a few "Every Day I Write The Blog" statistics.

My very first post was on July 1st, 2009 and today's post arrives 1155 days later (so I only skipped 155 days, most of them were in that first year).

An average day has about 50 people clicking on the blog, which isn't much, but nearly 30,000 people have visited at least once over the last 3 years.

Bruce Springsteen wins, for the artist with the most songs written about, with 19.

The Beatles are mentioned in 46 posts, though only 9 posts are specifically about Beatles songs.

I tell stories about my wife in over 40 posts, and mention her in over 100.

There are 9 different girlfriends that I've written about, in 20-plus posts.

Sixteen posts contain the word "Chicken" (which is 13 more times than that word appears in Bob Dylan songs).

I had some great guest posters who wrote about their areas of expertise, including coffee, Cape Cod, record promotion, Father/Son relations, motivation, Bruce Springsteen and celebrity sightings at the hippest ice cream stand in Nashville.

In October 2010, I started doing "Weekend Posts" to include some quick posts about songs that didn't have big stories, but were worth remembering.  I've knocked out 108 of them since.

I wrote far too many eulogies for artists I care deeply about, including remembrances of Vic Chesnutt, Doc Watson, Levon Helm, Clarence Clemons and Alex Chilton.

And wrote some very personal remembrances on the passing of my college roommate, my youngest sister, and even the family fish.

I also wrote more than a couple of posts about my daughter, that she is going to be verrrry embarassed and upset about, when she learns to read.

A handful of songs were written about twice, including "Badlands," "Free Me" and "Angel From Montgomery."

And a few were likely never listened to more than once.

There were posts where no one got the joke or at least received no comment (I posted this on my 41st birthday).  And posts that attracted some truly bizarre comments.

The most viewed post was during Bob Dylan's birthday week, when I wrote about the awful video for "Tight Connection To My Heart."  Someone put a link to my blog on a very popular Bob Dylan web-forum, and to date the page has had something like 1,800 unique visitors, making it twice as popular as the 2nd most viewed post.

As far as I can tell, the least read post is this Weekend Post about Sebadoh, which, according to Google Analytics, has only had one person look at it, for a total of :23 seconds, since the day after it was originally posted.

So there you have it.  Thanks for reading.  Whether you've just checked in once or twice, or you follow along regularly.

I still have a handful of stories I'd like to tell, so I'll keep going for awhile.  But don't expect a Pretenders-related post titled "2000 Miles" . . . 


Hear the song on Youtube.

Bruce Springsteen "Living Proof"

PJ is taking some time off for the birth of his second child. Friend of mvyradio Susan McDonald and singer-songwriter and former Fresh Produce Artist, Phil Ayoub, both major Springsteen Fans, fill in.

Five Great Bruce Springsteen Songs About Fathers And Sons.

“Living Proof,” from the Lucky Town album is the final song in our series of “5 great Springsteen songs about fathers and sons”.

The beauty of these lines opens the song, and sets it apart as an emotional, almost heart-wrenching parent/child portrait:

Well now on a summer night in a dusky room
Come a little piece of the Lord’s undying light
Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon
In his mother’s arms was all the beauty I could take…

The Madonna and child image is touching, and he continues, giving religion a significant role:

Like the missing words to some prayer that I could never make
In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused
Searching for a little bit of God's mercy
I found living proof

They say one common characteristic of musicians and rock stars is that many of them had issues and problems with one or both of their parents when they were growing up. If you were to do a psychological study, you might learn than many of them also turned to rock ‘n roll in their search for a purpose or a place in life, or to change themselves or find out who they themselves are. If taken as somewhat autobiographical, “Living Proof” appears to touch on this notion, as these lines from the second verse show:

I put my heart and soul I put 'em high upon a shelf
Right next to the faith the faith that I'd lost in myself
I went down into the desert city
Just tryin' so hard to shed my skin
I crawled deep into some kind of darkness
Lookin' to burn out every trace of who I'd been

Bruce goes on in the song to talk about the boy’s mother, and how she rescued him from himself (“to show me that my prison was just an open cage”), but he returns to the beautiful intimate image of the family:

Tonight let’s lie beneath the eves,
Just a close band of happy thieves

He captures perfectly the feeling of being a new family: the wonder, the safety, security and timelessness…”looking for a little bit of God’s mercy, I found living proof”



“Living Proof “ as performed in Milwaukee on November 15, 2009. It was a “sign request”, and you can see Bruce cueing the E Street Band with hand signals:

Bruce Springsteen “Long Time Comin’”

PJ is taking some time off for the birth of his second child. Friend of mvyradio Susan McDonald and singer-songwriter and former Fresh Produce Artist, Phil Ayoub, both major Springsteen Fans, fill in.

Five Great Bruce Springsteen Songs About Fathers And Sons.

In Long Time Comin’, from the Devils and Dust album, Bruce’s writing shifts from the perspective of the child to that of the father. “Long Time Comin’” is a great song about trying, messing up and trying some more. As he says in the performance linked below: “This is for the mothers and fathers out there, struggling to do the right thing.”

Set outdoors in an evening by a campfire, in a time that could be present day or 150 years ago (who makes their own map nowadays?), “Long Time Comin’” paints a picture of a father who has been deserted by his own dad and is determined not to repeat the scenario. As he so eloquently states “I ain’t gonna fuck it up this time.” He offers this hope for his children: “If I had one wish in this god-forsaken world, kids, it’s that your mistakes would be your own. Yeah, your sins would be your own.” His enthusiastic pledge and promise is to be a better father.

Any parent who has gone through rough times, and has seen their kids go through rough times as a result, can relate to this dad’s hope. As much as it’s hard to go through hardship yourself, it’s worse to think you’re putting your kids through it. Parents make mistakes, but no parent wants their child to suffer as a result. There’s a good bit of parenting wisdom in those lines.

The nature imagery in this song is great-—“beneath the arms of Cassiopeia, where the sword of Orion sweeps” is a pretty masterful description of a big, clear night sky. His symbolic goodbye to his old self is memorable, as well: “Tonight I'm gonna get birth naked and bury my old soul, and dance on its grave”.

A favorite part of the song, though, is the Neil Diamond nod: “it’s me and you, Rosie, cracklin’ like crossed wires”. After all, how can “cracklin’” and “Rosie” used together not be a Neil Diamond reference?



“Long Time Comin’” performed as part of the Devils and Dust tour, in Dusseldorf on June 16, 2005:

Bruce Springsteen "The Wish"

PJ is taking some time off for the birth of his second child. Friend of mvyradio Susan McDonald and singer-songwriter and former Fresh Produce Artist, Phil Ayoub, both major Springsteen Fans, fill in.

Five Great Bruce Springsteen Songs About Fathers And Sons.

In a very broad interpretation of “great Springsteen songs about fathers and sons,” today’s entry focuses on “The Wish,” a pure, irresistibly cute love song to his mom, from the Tracks box set.

In “The Wish”, Bruce pays tribute to the sacrifices his mother made for him while he was growing up, but especially the one that fulfilled a little boy’s wish: “a brand new Japanese guitar” for Christmas. The details in the song create poignant little vignettes (scroll down to the first youtube link and have a listen…): little Bruce and his mom in the cold, looking in the music store window at the guitar; and a family scene in the living room: “Well, it was me in my Beatles boots, you in pink curlers and matador pants, pullin’ me up on the couch to do the twist for my uncles and aunts.” You get the feeling that she not only bought him his first guitar, but nurtured his creativity and confidence by encouraging him to perform for his uncles and aunts as a child.

This comes as a clear and sharp contrast to the feelings of his father, who Bruce has painted in a much less supportive role. Although it’s a light song, it gets a bit haunting when he talks about his dad: “If Pa’s eyes were windows into a world so deadly and true, you couldn’t stop me from looking, but you kept me from crawling through.” It hints at his mother, the proud provider and protector; his father, a darker presence in the house. She was perhaps an example to him of how the world didn’t have to be the dark, scary, hurtful place he saw his father live in.

Consciously or not, she protected his idealism and encouraged and maybe even enabled him to chase his dream. These lines are a brushstroke that brings the whole family dynamic into sharper relief.

And, as they “all sat around laughing at the things that guitar brought us”, they count the blessings that came from that guitar; that wish and that sacrifice.

Punctuated by the twangy sound of his telecaster, Bruce offers his mother his best gift in return—-a song.

On the rare occasions he performs this song live, Springsteen dedicates it to his mom (of course!) and also sometimes mentions how dangerous it is to a rock star’s public image to write and sing songs about their mother (unless you’re a rapper, as Bruce uses 2Pac as an example!)



Here’s a cool performance of “The Wish” from the Christic Benefit show, November 17, 1990:


and here’s a sweet and awesome video of Bruce dancing with his mom, October 20, 2009 in Philadelphia…the things that guitar brought us, indeed:

Bruce Springsteen “Walk Like A Man”

PJ is taking some time off for the birth of his second child. Friend of mvyradio Susan McDonald and singer-songwriter and former Fresh Produce Artist, Phil Ayoub, both major Springsteen Fans, fill in.

Five Great Bruce Springsteen Songs About Fathers And Sons.

Much has been made of Bruce Springsteen’s stormy relationship with his dad in the early years, and he has perpetuated the image in his storytelling in live performances. It’s never been quite clear how much of that was for art’s sake, and how much of it was real. But Bruce was 37 when he wrote “Walk Like A Man”, and although he claims the songs on Tunnel of Love are not autobiographical, it’s almost reassuring to find a sweet and loving tribute to a dad. There’s a hint of admiration for his dad and maybe some understanding of what he went through as a father, as Bruce seemingly began to shift his focus from looking back to looking ahead to his own house and family.

There are many types of relationships on display at a wedding. But in “Walk Like A Man” Springsteen explores a relationship that is often overlooked on a wedding day…that of a father and son. “I remember how rough your hand felt on mine, on my wedding day.” Bruce begins with those small details that convey so much—the emotion between father and son, the comfort of the physical touch, and the feeling of a hand toughened from a life filled with hard work and pain. And, as he moves through the bigger story of the love-as-a-dark-ride theme of much of Tunnel of Love, he frames it with that father/son bond.

All I can think of is being five years old
Following behind you at the beach
Tracing your footprints in the sand
Trying to walk like a man

These are wonderful lines that perfectly portray the beginnings of that bond—-the beach, the little boy and his father, and the wordplay of “walk like a man”. And as he traces this relationship through both their lives, there’s a tender acknowledgment that maybe his father didn’t live the life that he had intended to when he sings “I saw your best steps stolen away from you” near the end of the song, and “I’ll do what I can, I’ll walk like a man.” One can’t help but think that his father might have often told him to walk or act like a man at different times in his life.

“And I’ll keep on walkin’.”



“Walk Like A Man” has only been performed twice since the Tunnel of Love tour. This is from the Devils and Dust tour, August 1, 2005 in Cleveland, Ohio

Bruce Springsteen “Independence Day”

PJ is taking some time off for the birth of his second child. Friend of mvyradio Susan McDonald and singer-songwriter and former Fresh Produce Artist, Phil Ayoub, both major Springsteen Fans, fill in.

Five Great Bruce Springsteen Songs About Fathers And Sons.

Early in his career, Bruce Springsteen wrote about “growin’ up,” often with words and music filled with anger and bravado. In “Independence Day,” it all seems to mellow to a quiet, resigned declaration of independence. It is a poignant narrative of a son breaking free from his father and most likely draws on a lot of real life experience from Springsteen.

The opening organ strains and the lyrics hint at the bittersweet nature of this independence. There doesn’t seem to be any joy in it; this is no “pulling out of here to win,” but rather a story of leaving because your old man is driving you crazy, the town you live in has left him beaten down and defeated, and that’s not going to happen to you. At the heart of the song is the sad realization that his own happiness can only be found by leaving his father behind.

Still, there’s an acceptance of some of the blame (“we were just too much of the same kind”), and a tender tone created by the role-reversal of lines like “Papa go to bed now, it’s getting late” and “so say goodbye, it’s Independence Day.” (Springsteen walks dangerously close to the line of obvious cliché with the “Independence Day” double meaning, but he is skilled enough not to cross that line.)

The song ends with the lines “Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say…I swear I never meant to take those things away.” And yet, he’s “leaving in the morning from Saint Mary’s Gate,” most likely taking many of those things with him (and, yes, Bruce does manage to work “Mary” into yet another song!).

All that being said, this is a song whose impact is not just lyrical. The organ, the sax solo, the tempo, and the lyrics, combine to create a whole that is more than the sum of its parts—stirring, emotional, tender, painful and sad, but very real.


“Independence Day”, November 8, 2009 at Madison Square Garden. It was played as part of a performance of the entire album of "The River":