Downbound Train
| "Downbound Train" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bruce Springsteen from the album Born in the U.S.A. | |
| Released | June 4, 1984 |
| Recorded | March - April 1982 at The Power Station in New York |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 3:35 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Writer | Bruce Springsteen |
| Producer | Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt |
| Born in the U.S.A. track listing | |
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"Downbound Train" is a song that appears on the 1984 Bruce Springsteen album Born in the U.S.A. The song is a lament to a lost spouse, and takes on a melancholy tone.[1][2] Author Christopher Sandford described the song as beginning "like a Keith Richards' riff" that ultimately moves to "one of those great country busted-heart lines, 'Now I work down at the car wash/where all it ever does is rain.'"[3]
The song was recorded in March or April of 1982 at the Power Station in one of the first sessions for the Born in the U.S.A. album.[4][3] Like several other Born in the U.S.A. songs, including "Working on the Highway" and the title track, a solo acoustic version of "Downbound Train" was originally recorded on the demo that eventually became the Nebraska album.[1][5]
Though it was not one of the seven singles released from the album, the song nevertheless gained some album-oriented rock radio airplay and was featured fairly regularly on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour. It has been performed sporadically in tours since. Overall, the song has been played in concert about 130 times through 2008. Author Robert Kirkpatrick contended that "Downbound Train" "might be the best song on the album",[1] and Debby Bull called it "the saddest song [Springsteen]'s ever written."[1] But Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh, writing in Glory Days, did not agree, calling "Downbound Train" "the weakest song [Springsteen]'s released since the second album, ... incredibly sloppy ... The protagonist's three jobs in five verses are only symptomatic of its problems."[6][5] Other observers analysed it in retrospect as a harbinger, with naturalistic imagery lacing the song throughout in an approach that Springsteen would return to heavily in his Dylan-"Series of Dreams"-influenced early 1990s.
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[edit] Cover
Kurt Vile included a cover of "Downbound Train" on the deluxe edition of his 2011 album Smoke Ring For My Halo.[7][8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Kirkpatrick, R. (2007). The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 82, 97-98. ISBN 9780275989385.
- ^ Masur, L.P. (2010). Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 9781608191017.
- ^ a b Sandford, C. (1999). Springsteen: Point Blank. Da Capo Press. pp. 194, 226. ISBN 9780306809217.
- ^ Brucebase, On The Tracks: Born In The USA
- ^ a b Marsh, D. (2004). Two Hearts. Psychology Press. pp. 341, 426.
- ^ Marsh, D. (1996). Glory Days. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560251018.
- ^ "Smoke Ring For My Halo Deluxe Edition". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/smoke-ring-for-my-halo-deluxe-edition-r2300619. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ^ Monger, J.C.. "Smoke Ring For My Halo". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/smoke-ring-for-my-halo-r2121561/review. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
