I’ve Entered The Tunnel Of Love, I May Not Survive The Day
It’s totally 11’s fucking fault. He’s gone on for y-e-a-r-s about how Tunnel is a masterpiece. I’ve always liked a few songs from it, but never fully embraced it as a record. As I’ve aged, additional songs have come to make more sense to me. As I’ve aged, I’ve not been so adamant that all homilies come in shiny musical wrapping paper.
For example, I didn’t like The Ghost of Tom Joad at first. It’s mastered so quietly you have to crank it to hear it and when you do it’s a little light on melodies. I still think both of those things, but when I shut up long enough to learn the stories of these songs I realized I’d missed the point. Bruce should remaster the disc so I can fucking hear it, but he ought not touch a song or a note. It’s a great record, but it demanded more of me than I be present. Same with Tunnel of Love.
Sonically, Tunnel is a bit all over the map and is, in come cases, a disaster. Some of the songs sound very dated (the keyboards on this album are slightly awful) and thin. Nebraska’s lo-fi sound was intentional. These songs sound like they were supposed to sound good, but they often don’t; a fact that kept me at arm’s length for a very long time.
I thought, when I started this post, I’d be able to say what I had to say about the album quickly. That’s obviously not going to happen, so I’ll stop now saying only that this album is doing its best to ruin my life. I’ll have to write a series of lamentations about these songs and this album…
Filed under: Tags: Bruce Springsteen
i have nothing to say here.
ah, what the hey…worst Springsteen album.
Normally I would delete a comment as silly as that, but I’d like to leave it out there for all the world to ridicule.
You and “Pony Boy” have a good time. I’ll be weeping at the wonders of “One Step Up” and crawling on the pavement as “Walk Like a Man” follows behind me at a safe distance, taunting me.
You just can’t say silly things like that or people might believe you!
i was being dead serious. with the exceptions of “Ain’t Got You” and “Spare Parts”, i find the rest of the album to be musically very, very boring.
Just because you’re serious about it doesn’t mean it’s not silly.
“Spare Parts” belongs on “Human Touch” with some of the other swings-n-misses. “Ain’t Got You” is a good one.
Tunnel of Love is a lyrics record above all else, and it’s great. 11 and I are going to collaborate on a track-by-track appreciation and lamentation of this album.
yeah, i know it’s a lyrics album…so my rule that lyrics can’t save dull music applies here.
Great lyrics don’t have to save dull music, they stand on their own.
great, so i’ll buy a book of them. just don’t expect me to sit through that dull music.
In addition to the great lyrics, there are some great vocals on this record. The music on ToL may not be as exciting or interesting as some of his other records, but the lyrics and vocals are great. To read the words is to miss the vocal presentation. ToL demands you to give a little more effort and attention. It’s not casual listening filled with big noise and obvious hooks but it’s no less rewarding to listen to than anything else he’s ever done. In fact, these words and ideas and emotions stick with you long after the record is done.
i’m not arguing that you shouldn’t like it, just that it never stuck with me….and believe me, i’ve tried.
i do think that much of the music is similar too, which also adds to my dislike of it.
But you are arguing that it’s Springsteen’s worst album, and that I’m taking issue with. I’m okay with you not liking it, too.
I also disagree that too much of the music is similar. You have the lyrically vapid but almost rockin’ “Spare Parts.” You have the stripped, spare acoustic songs like “Cautious Man,” “One Step Up,” and “Valentine’s Day.” You’ve got the pop of “Tunnel of Love” and “Brilliant Disguise.”
You’ve got some songs with a little more production, you’ve got some songs that are stripped like Nebraska but recorded in a studio rather than a bedroom.
As you’ll soon read when 11 and I get started, I don’t think every song on the album is a winner from a musical standpoint. From a strictly musical standpoint, this one is not his most distinguished effort, but the lyrics and vocals more than make up for that.
i’m not going to argue the point any more except to say again that for some reason, the music on this album just does nothinig for me. nothing….so the words are completely irrelevant.
completely.
I guess I don’t understand how the words to a song can be completely irrelevant. They’re part of the song. You can have a great instrumental song — words aren’t necessary — but if they’re there, they’re part of the equation. I don’t understand compartmentalizing to the point where the lyrics don’t matter at all.
I don’t understand how, because the music does nothing for you, the lyrics become irrelevant. I just don’t get it.
you don’t get it because you’re a lyrics guy.
i’m not really doing anything active here, i just don’t pay attention to the words.
this is especially true for me the first several times i listen to something. i heard none of the words…this was true for Magic.
if the music never latches on, then the words might as well have never been there.
I don’t think of myself as a lyrics guy. Maybe I’m in denial about it. I’m almost always attracted to the music first. To me, the great songs have both. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, they shouldn’t be. There are exceptions to this, but the song is best when the lyrics and the music serve one another.
There are some artists I listen to for the sounds because I know they’re not apt to say anything. I can appreciate the music on a sonic level and let the words go as long as they’re not just insultingly stupid.
Bruce is the flipside of that. I always assume he’s going to say something, so if the lyrics are insipid — “Pony Boy,” “Factory,” “Spare Parts” — I feel cheated. If the music doesn’t grab me, I still believe there is something there for me so I’ll try to dig deeper. It doesn’t always happen, but I make the effort to make that connection.
face it son, you’re a lyrics guy.
Only to the extent that they’re PART OF THE SONG, he screamed at his monitor, veins in his head popping like the ones on Bruce’s neck at the end of “If I Should Fall Behind.”
obviously, a lot of this stuff is subjective…you’ve said in the past that “Factory” is an embarrassment, and i just don’t see that either.
“I’ve got a job, I’ve got a car, every day I go to my job in that car, on the way I get an egg salad sandwich, but I only eat half of it, I scratch my ass in a counterclockwise motion. It’s the working, working, working life!”
Musically, there’s nothing more going on here than there is in any song on ToL, but the words are stupid. Okay, you get the piano and organ playing at the same time. There’s nothing special in the music and those lyrics are banal to the point of being embarrassing. You just can’t have that.
banal in your opinion. it’s a song about the daily routine of work draining the life out of people. it’s about his dad.
look dude, we’ve already established that you can’t be right twice in the same day so you better just give in.
Tougher Than The Rest has always been a favorite of mine. Ditto for the title track. Definitely NOT his worst Mark. But we’ll save that conversation for another day…
-Glen