Nebraska — 40 Years On…
When Bruce Springsteen began recording home demos on a 4-track recorder fourty years ago, he surely never expected the songs to become the finished album Nebraska. The songs resonated with space and sparsity. They contained the most personal lyrics, and vulnerable, exposed vocals. It is commonly believed to be his most personal piece of work, although 1987's Tunnel of Love album had some equally personal songs contained within.
Springsteen took the songs into the studio with the E Street band with the intention to ‘rock’ them up a bit. After careful consideration Springsteen and his manager Jon Landau decided the songs could not be improved by electrifying them.
There are bootleg recordings of these sessions out in the ether. The sessions provided the basis for the successive, and majestic Born in the USA album. Nebraska was the calm before the storm in that sense.
The album featured some of the most stark and beautiful music of Springsteen’s career. Haunting melodies drift through the music. One could almost feel the desert winds and see the tumbleweed of the Big Country roll by upon hearing the album.
Springsteen sang and played everything on the album, including Guitar, Harmonica, Mandolin, Glockenspiel, Tambourine, and Organ/Synth.
Track Listing
The title track documents the true story of Charles Starkweather and his teenage girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate. A 19-year-old Starkweather murdered eleven people on a killing spree between December 1957 and January 1958 in Nebraska and Wyoming. His 14-year-old girlfriend Fugate assisted him with the slayings. Starkweather received the death penalty. He was executed by electric chair 17 months later. Fugate received a sentence of 17 years in prison. The track sets the tone for the rest of the album with songs like Johnny 99 (a tale of a laid off factory worker who shoots someone in drunken despair), and Highway Patrolman (a story of a policeman who lets his brother escape after he has shot someone).
There is a constantly dark mood to the album, but it carries a beauty in its bleakness which led to the album being critically acclaimed throughout the music world. Rolling Stone magazine went on to list it as the 43rd best album of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980’s. In the UK the popular music magazine Q listed the album 13th in its list of the best 40 albums of the 80’s. It charted top 5 in the USA and the UK with similar sales across the world.
Bruce Springsteen has recently announced the re-release of Nebraska to celebrate its 40th anniversary. It is believed that it will be released in vinyl format only.
The folk stories on Nebraska further sealed Springsteen’s reputation as a gifted storyteller with a guitar. Since the album’s release the Boss (along with the E Street Band) has gone on to forge a vast catalogue of fine music.
Long may he run!