JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum North Of Nashville

Bruce's new album, it's very somber and sad, I've been waiting for a rock album for over decade, i guess its not coming. Im not really digging it, but he does what his muse tells him to do, not trying to top the charts.

But this struck me funny one of the most successful artists of our time, writing about not making it in Nashville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3_D4PVlF8&list=PLgaFNC_I_Zkl8-i8LlshlDggge3sejrXM&index=9

Somewhere North Of Nashville

Came into town with a pocketful of songs
I made the rounds
But I didn't last long
Now I'm out on this highway
With a bone-cold chill
Somewhere north of Nashville

I lie awake in the middle of the night
Makin' a list of things that I didn't do right
With you at the top of a long page filled
Here, somewhere north of Nashville

For the deal I made, the price was strong
I traded you for this song
We woke each morning with hearts filled
Bluebird of love on the windowsill
Now the heart's unsteady, and the night is still
All I've got's this melody, and time to kill

Here, somewhere north of Nashville
Here, somewhere north of Nashville
Here, somewhere north of Nashville

That's a lame lyric.

And?

It's a self-contained statement.

Well, I didnt think much of the song, and/or lyrics, lyrics are not songs, which you dont understand.

But now that you mention it, i'm liking the lyric more now.

Yer killin' me here, man.


Regards,


Bob

on the topic of lyrics from a successful songwriter not making it in Nashville; a similar song is 'stuck in Lodi again' sung by CCR. I have been through Lodi, CA and can sympathize with any one stuck there.

I read somewhere that many highly successful people have a nagging feeling that it all will fall down and the world will realize what a fraud they are.

Yes, there's also the looking back and wondering "if I hadn't got this break, or that break", it may have been very different. While not one of his best songs, it does articulate his own struggles. You can be a workaholic like him, but you still need breaks and luck still goes a long way. Fear of failure looms large in all of us.

The album didn't have that many highlights for me, but Id say that recognition was one. There is a strangely different song called "There goes my miracle" which sounds like Sinatra and Glen Campbell. That was a pretty good listen. Nice melody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbDKBcPsmoQ

Wow, one of the most successful rock and pop musicians in history, writing a song about not being accepted in Nashville. Hmm. Not long ago he played the Ryman (the most prestigious performance venue in Nashville and one of the most famous in the world, to sold out and raving crowds) has played the Arena here and done quite well. I missed the part where he was broken down with no one paying attention to his songs. And this song sounds pretty much like over half the songs played on any writers night on any one night.

Sorry that he had such a bad, humiliating experience. Guess he can add on to Kristofferson, Willie, and all those others who were never embraced by such a heartless place. I guess I feel very sorry for him.

Not. Write what you know. This ain't one of Bruce's best.

MAB

Well, it wasnt meant to be a pop hit. It's only 1:50 seconds long.

He also went from selling out football stadiums to small venues playing for dinner crowds, by choice, not by necessity, sveral times over in his career. He enjoys pairing it down.

The amount of country artists who have covered his songs is staggering.

I agree it's ironic, but I also think he probably knows alot about failing. He once said that he and Little Steven where the only two misfits left standing in the New Jersey music scene. Everybody else who had a chance to do something else, went and did it

Im sure he knows plenty of people who didnt make it.

https://www.popmatters.com/161371-bruce-springsteen-country-music-idol-2495828937.html

Springsteen may have been speaking about himself in the lyric, but it shouldn't be an assumption we make, since he often writes in a fictive way. He was probably channeling/feeling empathy for all the poor schmucks who never make it there.

And "self-containment" isn't necessarily bad. All songs don't have to read like stories or movies. Some can be more like paintings--something frozen in time, like a mood.

Moosesong, yes, you are referring to "imposter syndrome" --and many folks in the entertainment industry get at least a touch of that--actors get it the worst, and if you think about it, that makes sense..

I just don't like the cheesy strings on the song but can imagine this lyric is the story of many guys and gals that arrive on a Greyhound and last..not too long.."I didn't last long" certainly couldn't have been Springsteen's actual experience in Nashville, not unless he went there on an un-documented trip in his early teens..

By Marc's own description of the TV series, this would have been perfect for "Nashville" as they were looking for songs not over-written and not "too good."

MIke

He writes mixed biographies. Some is you, some is somebody else, some is made up.

Yeah, I guess he's 70 years old, I guess writing stuff like this to him, is more authentic than writing youthful music(rock)

I guess he's earned the right to do what he wants to do, and people still pay attention. Strings and all...

Id say his decisions have been pretty damn good throughout his career.

Some folks wish they could suck that bad.

Do any of you guys buy songs ??? or is it just free listening on YOU TUBE

Some Folks Wish They Could Suck That Bad , that sums it all up for me

nicely put Fdemetrio " There Goes My Miracle " that's a great Hook

and a great song I hear it by a Singer Like Orbison or Sinatra as someone else

has stated ----- Its not the kinda song Bruce would have written the young side of

forty ; But his early songs were nothing short of brilliant , Mc Cartney did an album

about nine years ago , but it was well short of the earlier songs written Solo and with Lennon

He ended up giving the Album away with a Well Known Sunday Paper in the U K

Will this be Springstien 's last Latest Album ?? Probably, but does it matter ? I wish Clay / Ali had

packed it in Five years before he started being beat by younger boxers ? Did he need the money

and does Bruce ???? I doubt it . Sinatra went on another ten years too many --

his voice was shot and it was a sad end for me

A couple of weeks ago I met the guy who was Sinatra's pianist for many years. He told me about Ol' Blue Eyes' declining years. It was pretty sad, as you say.

Of course, Bruce doesn't need to write another song in one sense, but in another, I guess he needs to keep on doing it.

Whazzat?
Do any of you guys buy music or just listen on youtube? Yez! I was too young to buy any 78's but we did at home. I have a stack of 45's I bought over the years and a bunch of LP's I also bought. Also a cabinet full of CD's. I prefer to own hard copies.

There Goes My Miracle is growing on me, It doesnt sound like a Bruce song, but it is catchy and beautifully done. He's had a few songs like that over the past two decades, that sound like classic pop, nothing that would be played on the radio, but tasteful pop.

No, I dont buy songs any more. I stopped around the time when Itunes lost its popularity, im saying somewhere in the mid to late 2000's. I used to buy music and give itunes cards as gifts. I also have many cards i havent used yet.

From a listeners point of view, it makes no sense to buy music. Records still have value, but mp3s will never have any value cause they really dont exist in the first place, they are invisible units of data.

I used to buy cds, but the world has changed, those cds and records took up so much space, and any time you try to keep it neat, it just gets messy once you listen to a few.

I have listened to more music after the internet than i ever could before the internet and having to buy it all.

Now, you can say...whats this group? Greta Van Fleet...? Well let me listen to them, before you had to buy it unless one song was on the radio.

Its great for indies today because of that, they can be seen or heard by so many more people.

Its nice to support artists, but you cant support everybody, spotify, if they could fix the low profits is the best thing for music. itunes may have been the worst thing.

Then again, nobody is going to buy a rotary phone, or a tape recorder, or a type writer just to keep those companies in business.

And, nobody is going to shell out money for my music, im lucky if they would listen for free, which is hard enough, aside from sites like this.

it is what it is, sink or swim!