That's What I Say, Born In The U.S.A.

[filkertom]

It's the birthday of both Ray Charles and Bruce Springsteen.

So, do you have any favorites by these two? Or, like me, do you just pretty much love most of their catalogs? (If I have to get specific, I can narrow it down to maybe ten Springsteen songs, but that's pushing it. I don't even bother with Brother Ray.)

Comments

[catalana.livejournal.com]

I really like "Born in the USA" - I remember when it used to get played at fourth of july a lot! But unfortunately these days it's viewed as a political statement (particularly in the SW, where there is a high latino/a population), so it doesn't seem to get played much. Which is too bad, because I like the song! (Although they replace it with "Coming to America," which is also a fine song. *grin*)

I think I'd probably go with you and vote for all of the above; it's way too hard to pick favorites.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder if half the people who say they love "Born In The USA" have ever bothered to listen to the lyrics.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

*wryly* Oh, I didn't say that there wasn't something *strange* about playing the song on Fourth of July. But I like protest songs...and it always struck me as fitting to celebrate freedom with a song that is an indictment of a particular portion of US history.

But I suspect your point is correct about most people and popular music. C.f. "Every Breath You Take."

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

And also C.F. "Political Science" by Randy Newman (AKA "Let's Drop the Big One"), of which Newman says his audiences always cheer in all the wrong places.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Bruce? Well, let me put it this way... I think "Born To Run" would be a great song if someone else were singing it.

Brother Ray? Nobody... but NOBODY... does a better rendition of "America The Beutiful"!

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

Even better: he sings the third verse, first, so it's hearing a new version of it. (Ray Charles and "America the Beautiful.")

Not a big fan of Bruce's music, but a big fan of him as a human being.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

For Ray, "Shake A Tail Feather" from the Blues Brothers soundtrack.

Springsteen? Hard choice, but I'm going to go with a recent favorite: "Pay Me My Money Down" from the Seegar Sessions.

[sifractusfortis.livejournal.com]

Ray's last studio CD, Thanks For Bringing Love Around Again, is WONDERFUL -- and not too many people heard it.

I'm not a huge Bruce fan at all -- something about his voice bugs me. But I will still turn up the radio VERY loud for "Tenth Avenue Freezeout".

[sifractusfortis.livejournal.com]

An addendum: "Tunnel Of Love" and "Brilliant Disguise". BRILLIANT songwriting.

[gan-chan.livejournal.com]

Man, I gotta be honest, I was never a big Springsteen fan, back in the days when everybody was talking about him. But I absolutely love We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, especially John Henry and O Mary Don't You Weep. I might have to go back and look at the older stuff again.

[bchbum-98.livejournal.com]

Bruce: "The Streets of Philadelphia"
Ray: "Georgia on my Mind"

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Go ahead, hold a gun to my head to make me choose favorites. Especially Bruce. One rule: I'll take practically any live rendition over anything in the studio, because both of these men can bring it onstage.

Bruce: "Thunder Road", "Johnny 99", "O Mary Don't You Weep", "Paradise By the C", to start with. Givbe me three hours of Bruce live, and I'm happy (until I realize it's over :-)

Ray: "Georgia" (okay, practically any song he does with "Georgia" in the title, also including "Georgia on My Mind" and "Sweet Georgia Brown". The man should be the state's official musical representative :-)

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

He is; "Georgia On My Mind" was voted by the Legislature to be the official state song some while back.

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

...Which I always thought was a little silly, as the "Georgia" in the song is a woman, not the state

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Heh. They could have done much worse, though; at least they selected a good song and a great version

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Cool. A legislature does something (even small) worth doing. Who'a'thunk it? :-)

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

I'd rather watch Springstein (and especially the band with Clemons) than actually hear him, except for a few things like "Glory Days", "Rosalita".... He sure wrote some decent Manfred Mann tunes, though.

[hvideo.livejournal.com]

For Ray, give me Georgia On My Mind, Busted, and America The Beautiful.

Not as big a fan of Bruce as a performer, so let me toss in Fire, a hit for The Pointer Sisters that he wrote.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

My favorite Ray Charles song, bar none, is his rendition of "America the Beautiful." Even when it's not the Fourth of July, it can make me tear up. And the Boss is at his best for me in "My Hometown." (I can't listen to "Born in the USA" anymore without hearing the parody lyrics from "Cheech" Marin's "Born in East L.A.")

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

Not all that familiar with the works of Mr. Charles.

Bruce, however:

1. Thunder Road (my favorite non-Steinman epic of a guy talking a girl into wink-wink nudge-nudge.)
2. The River (just amazing storytelling...this was the song that got me into Springsteen in the first place)
3. Sherry Darling (catchy as hell, fun at karaoke, unique and amusing subject matter...where else are you gonna find a song about somebody driving their girlfriend's mother to the unemployment office? And "there's girls meltin' on the beach" is such a gloriously horny line.)
4. Badlands (Just rocks.)
5. Worlds Apart (the sudden transition from the Arabic-tinged beginning to balls-out rockitude was something I didn't know the Boss had in him...particularly in 2002.)

-=ShoEboX=-

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Georgia on My Mind and Thunder Road.

[opalcorn.livejournal.com]

For Bruce, almost anything, but I think my absolute favorite is 'She's the One'from Born to Run. Rochndil just recently got The Seeger Sessions CD. He's gotten pretty much everything the Boss has ever done at this point.
For Ray Charles, anything, the man's voice was magic.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Hmm...for Springsteen, "Thunder Road," "Dancing in the Dark," and "Atlantic City." Oh, and "The Rising" for sheer musical spectacle.

Ray Charles...oh...oof...tough...umm..."Georgia on My Mind," "What'd I Say?," and "American the Beautiful."

And it cracks me up when politicians (or advertisers, or anyone else for that matter) use only the snippets of songs that they want...when they used "Fortunate Son" in a few campaigns and commericals a few years back, they all used the lyric, "Some folks were born, made to raise the flag, ooh, the red, white and blue..." I wonder how many of them bothered to listen to the next line...

"And when the band plays 'Hail to the Chief," ooh, they point the cannon at you..."

[shaharazad.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge Bruce fan so picking a favorite is tough. Pretty much the entire Darkness on the Edge of Town album rocks my world.

Also really love his version of "John Henry" from The Seeger Sessions.

I have a great deal of respect for Ray Charles' music, but I really haven't listened to enough of it to pick a favorite.

[tomreedtoon.livejournal.com]

Okay, most of the young 'uns have no Ray Charles favorites. Says something about the crappy state of musical education in this country. Besides "Georgia," I loved his rendition of "Shake a Tail Feather" sung with Aykroyd and Belushi in "The Blues Brothers." And his follow-up performance of "Wha' I Say" on "Saturday Night Live," after the song was performed by the cast members as "The Young Caucasians."

[darrenzieger.livejournal.com]

Springsteen: My favorites are a few oddball choices: I love "Blinded by the Light" (though Bruce's version never gets airplay, in favor of the Manfred Mann version, which is also terrific). There's the title tune from his 1987 album, "Tunnel of Love," which also doesn't get near enough airplay.

Actually about the only Springsteen material I don't like is 1984's "Born in the USA" album, in it's entirety. I appreciate the protest of the title tune, but as a piece of music, and as a recording, I find it unlistenable. None of the other singles from the album do anything for me, and none of the rest of the cuts made much of an impression.

I've only heard a few tunes from the Seeger Sessions album, but I'm mightily impressed. "Mary Don't You Weep" is a treasure.

As for Ray...wow..."Baby, It's Cold Outside," "What'd I Say," "I Got a Woman," "Georgia on My Mind" of course, "Hit the Road Jack," all the obvious ones...

His recording of "America the Beautiful" has special significance to me. As a musician and songwriter, I've always been more focused on the material than on performance. I'd always considered performance as a lesser art than composition. I knew I had a mediocre voice, but it didn't bother me.

But years ago, probably on the 4th of July or some other holiday, I caught "America the Beautiful" on the radio, and my jaw dropped, and I wept - seriously...and I _never_ get misty over patriotic songs. There was so much ragged soul in that voice, such incredible phrasing. Coming from Ray, it wasn't just a song of praise for the landscape; there was hope, and yearning, and sadness. It's a prayer -- which it never was for me before, despite the "God shed His grace on thee" bit.

Ever since then, aside from Ray Charles fan to Ray Charles worshiper, I've regretted that my genes didn't provide me with a better or more distinctive instrument, and I've concentrated much more on the nuances of vocal performance and interpretation. I've improved, but I'll never have a great voice. And now I actually care.

Thanks, Ray ;)

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

Agreed on the unlistenableness of Born In The U.S.A. - it's just a mind-numbingly dull record. What's the point of having the E Street Band at your disposal if for each song you just give Max Weinberg rhythms that would bore a Casio and have the rest of the band just repeat 4 friggin' chords over and over? Bloody hell, even the Ramones switched to different progressions on the choruses. :)

Decent lyrics, still, but bleagh.

-=ShoEboX=-

[danruk.livejournal.com]

Ray Charles: Two come to mind. The soundtrack Blues Brothers "Shake a tailfeather" (as stated above) and one that nobody's targeted yet: A duet he did with Kermit the Frog on "Bein' Green" I think it was a television holiday special of some sort. He also did a 'cover version' solo without the frog too if Memory serves. (someone wanna back me up on these memories?)

Springsteen: Um.. err. uhrr.. Umm? *weak smiles* I guess 'born to run' is good. I really don't know much of Springsteen other than what plays as "classic rock" on the radio nowadays.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

"It's Not Easy Being Green" (the duet) is wonderful. I think I have it on a compilation of the Muppets dueting with all sorts of musicians; I'll have to dig it up, as it's been a while.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Ray Charles... oooo... maybe "Georgia on my Mind." As for Springsteen, I honestly don't like his voice. To me he always sounds like he's in pain.