I have Bobby Jean in my project more for what it holds on a sentimental level now. I still like to hear it on occasion, but my fondness for it isn’t what it once was. Bruce was easily the most popular music artist among our small league of friends at high school, and one of the very few whose music had a big impact on my adolescence.
I’d consider Bobby Jean a lower-tier Born in the U.S.A. (BITUSA) track – but as we know, a lower-tier BITUSA song is better than 95% of the stuff out there. The album had seven Top 10 singles, for heaven’s sake. Where would you rank it on the record? Every song bar one will be presented here from the album (a great majority already have). If you can guess which one I left off, you get a virtual high-five and on the flip-side.
Although not released as a single, Bobby Jean reached number 36 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. I always thought it was one of the most personal songs on the album, and that it was about a girl the narrator had missed – hence, “I miss you, baby / Good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean.”
But many suggest (as in the articles below) that it’s actually a tribute from Bruce Springsteen to his long-time friend Steven Van Zandt. How “baby” comes into the mix – I have no idea. Wikipedia notes that when the song is played live, close-ups of Van Zandt are often shown on the big screens. Also, the song is one of Springsteen’s more popular concert staples, with well over 700 performances through 2024.
Van Zandt and Springsteen met in 1966; he played in Bruce’s early bands Steel Mill and the Bruce Springsteen Band. He officially joined the E Street Band on the 1975 Born to Run tour. Van Zandt would leave the E Street Band in 1984 to work on solo material. Springsteen later disbanded the E Street Band in 1989 after recording Tunnel of Love largely on his own. They came back in 1999 for the Reunion tour.
Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh suggests that Springsteen was not just singing a farewell to Van Zandt, but also to his own Nebraska-era self. To me, that does seem a bit of a stretch.
[Verse 1]
Well, I came by your house the other day
Your mother said you went away
She said there was nothing that I could have done
There was nothing nobody could say
Now, me and you, we’ve known each other
Yeah, ever since we were sixteen
I wished I would have known, I wished I could have called you
Just to say “Goodbye, Bobby Jean”
[Verse 2]
Now, you hung with me when all the others
Turned away, turned up their nose
We liked the same music, we liked the same bands
We liked the same clothes
Yeah, we told each other that we were the wildest
The wildest things we’d ever seen
Now I wish you would have told me, I wish I could have talked to you
Just to say “Goodbye, Bobby Jean”
[Bridge]
Now, we went walking in the rain
Talking about the pain from the world we hid
Now, there ain’t nobody, nowhere, nohow
Gonna ever understand me the way you did
[Verse 3]
Well, maybe you’ll be out there on that road somewhere
In some bus or train traveling along
In some motel room there’ll be a radio playing
And you’ll hear me sing this song
Well, if you do, you’ll know I’m thinking of you
And all the miles in between
And I’m just calling one last time, not to change your mind
But just to say “I miss you, baby
Good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean”
References:
1. Who Is Bruce Springsteen’s “Bobby Jean”? – Culture Sonar
2. Bobby Jean – Wikipedia
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