Hopes and Dreams

It's Thursday!

Today's theme song is one that never fails to makes me feel bright and hopeful. Friends who know me well are thinking, "I can't believe it took you 3 songs to get to Springsteen,"--but please note, there is no order of ranking on Theme Song Thursdays.

Yes, I could write--in fact, have written--a great deal about Springsteen's song writing. He's the sort who takes the time to develop a metaphor and make the music match the point of the words. There are not too many rock n' roll songs that could stand alone as worthwhile poetry without the music, but a lot of Springsteen's can.

Two things to note about this one:

1. It's a great example of the E Street Band's "wall of sound." So many instruments at work here, all of them perfect.

2. Listen for the band's vocals towards the end. It's not a chorus. Not well-trained enough to sound like one. It's a group of friends crooning. Perfectly.

And it's pretty obvious how I personalize these lyrics.

The first is a better audio recording that someone put up on Youtube with the lyrics.

The second is the recording from The E Street Band's concert in Barcelona. Not as good of an audio, but it's fun to see the band, and at about 4.30 into the song, you can see the crooning I'm talking about.

On this train, dreams will not be thwarted
This train, faith will be rewarded
This train, steels wheels sing
This train, bells of freedom will ring