“Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” – Bruce Springsteen
(Words/music: Bruce Springsteen, available on The Wild, The Innocent, & the E-Street Shuffle, Columbia Records 1973)

Earlier tonight at the Super Bowl, we saw Popular Bruce, as the E-Street band tore through abbreviated versions of “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Born to Run,” “Working on a Dream,” and a crowd pleasing version of “Glory Days.”  Sure, there were other songs I wanted to hear (most of which would have tipped the running time over the twelve allotted minutes, as there were still thirty minutes of football) but I understood the selection.  Tonight’s set served as an introduction to the uninitiated or alternately, as Springsteen said this afternoon – “a twelve minute party” (and a twelve minute commercial for his new album and forthcoming tour).  It served its purpose – it was a fun set and a worth halftime show – a reward for those who stuck with the game through halftime.

While Springsteen has enjoyed wild amount of popularity, his more important (and more resonating) role is as Populist Bruce.  Some of this reputation comes from the E-Street Band’s lengthy tours and marathon concerts, but ultimately the show matters little without substance.  Springsteen’s best songs read like melodic short stories – he crafts characters with an eye for detail and empathy that most authors would kill for – so much so that many have lifted these characters from their songs and gave them their own stories.  For example, I just recently came across a book titled Meeting Across the River – a collection of stories that are all based on the short song at the end of Born to Run.  After halftime, I pulled Bruce Springsteen’s America: The People Listening, A Poet Singing off my shelf and flipped through it (remembering that I started but never finished it).  Robert Coles collected ten stories of Americans from many walks of life connecting with different songs in Springsteen’s catalogue.  Even searching Amazon for links to those two books brought up plenty more books that I haven’t seen – many of which go beyond the tired biographical route that gluts up the music section at Barnes & Noble.  These songs, and ultimately these characters, stick with so many people, myself included, because they seem real.  We know Mary and Sandy and the narrator in “Thunder Road” or the guy described in “Glory Days.”

Still, to me, “Rosalita” embodies all of the qualities I love about Bruce Springsteen’s catalog. Musically it’s seven minutes of unadulterated fun – all saxophone, Hammond organ, and the kind of drums I’d play after drinking an entire pot of coffee.  Lyrically, Springsteen describes a lover desperately trying to court a woman who’s out of his league (at least socially, as her parents try to keep them apart).  The arc is as old as time – Romeo & Juliet, Great Expectations, hell, even Slumdog Millionaire are all tales of unrequited or inaccessible love – but Springsteen puts his twist on it by casting himself in the song (or, at least drawing on his own experience as a struggling, working class rocker).  The last two verses – including that flawless call and response section with his background singers – rank among Springsteen’s best vocal performances.  At this point, he merges the youthful exuberance on his first two albums with desperation and passion that foreshadowed the creative leap he’d take on Born to Run.  It’s the Young Boss singing for sure – he wants Rosie to come on out and have a good time, but never loses his charm when faced with adversity.

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