‘It’s a song about yearning for something better, something that’s just out of reach. It’s a song about racing through the night to find that little bit of hope.‘
– Bruce Springsteen from Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness Sessions
Oh, good golly how this song transports me straight back to my early teenhood! It’s befitting Racing in the Street inaugurates the 56 songs starting with ‘R’ in my music library project. It captured that search of meaning in life that I was so longing. Released on his iconic album Darkness on the Edge of Town in 1978 Racing in the Street stood out for me for its emotional depth and Bruce’s unrivalled storytelling prowess. It threw me headfirst into the story of blue-collar workers finding solace and escape in the thrill of street racing amidst the mundane struggles of everyday life. It unlocks a plethora of emotions like hope, despair, and the human desire for freedom and purpose.
Springsteen has said that this song commemorates the racing in the street that occurred on a little fire road outside his home base of Asbury Park, New Jersey. It is one of a number of Springsteen songs from the 1970s, such as Born to Run and Thunder Road, that celebrate American men’s desire for freedom from responsibility, as symbolized by the ability to drive to freedom in a fast car.
[Verse 1]
I got a ’69 Chevy with a three-ninety-six
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She’s waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the 7-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money, got no strings attached
We shut ’em up and then we shut ’em down
[Chorus]
Tonight, tonight the strip’s just right
I wanna blow ’em off in my first heat
Summer’s here and the time is right
For racin’ in the street
[Verse 2]
We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the northeast states
When the strip shuts down, we run ’em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Now, some guys, they just give up livin’
And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
Then go racin’ in the street (Read the remainder here)
The following is cherry – picked from the Wikipedia article below:
Springsteen started writing Racing in the Street, shortly after the New Year’s Eve 1975 show at the Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, along with Darkness on the Edge of Town and The Promise. However, due to legal proceedings with his former manager, recording sessions for his fourth album did not begin until June 1, 1977. According to a song list from May 1977, included in the notebook provided with The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story box set, it was one of the “new songs” for his next album.
According to studio records at both Atlantic and the Record Plant, eight days were devoted to Racing in the Street during August 1977, and with a final total of seventeen, the most spent working on any song during the sessions.
The song contains two clear homages: the title and chorus refer to Martha and the Vandellas’ 1964 hit Dancing in the Street, while the instrumental break after the second verse and chorus is an allusion to the Beach Boys’ 1964 song Don’t Worry Baby, itself about the emotional aspects of drag racing.
While romanticization of the ordinary, anonymous Americans found in “Racing in the Street” is common in rock, Springsteen’s detailed depiction of them in this song shows real understanding and compassion, perhaps due to his having lived among them.
– Dave Marsh Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story
Racing in the Street has been called Springsteen’s best song by several commentators, including the authors of The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. On the flip-side some detractors have also referred to the song as plodding, especially in comparison to the dynamism of the prior Born to Run album.
References:
1. Racing in the Street – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Totally respect your appreciation of Springsteen; obviously he is adored by many. I love the E Street Band but I just can’t get into Bruce. I’ve tried and it’s never gonna happen but I can see why others are so into him.
I was surprised to read of your dislike for Bruce’s music. So you don’t like any of it? When I published the article, I thought it would have been a given that Nancy was into Springsteen. Haha.
In fact you are the first person that has told me they didn’t like him and I don’t mean that pejoratively. I presumed he was one of the most universally admired singer-songwriters in contemporary music history. But having said that, I imagine there are many popular music performers who I don’t share people’s adulation towards.
If you have time I’ll point you to 3 songs by Bruce which is more atypical Bruce and could resonate with you:
‘With Every Wish’,
‘Happy’ and
‘Loose Change’.
What I appreciate above all Nancy is your transparency and ability to express your ‘truth’ .
If I may, let me expand on my dislike of Springsteen. I think his music is fantastic and I really dig his band. The band, IMO, is what makes the group so great and Springsteen so popular. He is an enthusiastic entertainer and a good enough guitar player; I’ll not take that away from him. But without his band to cover his many flaws, I wonder just how popular he would be. It’s his voice; he sounds like rusty chains being pulled over loose gravel, once again IMO, and he is consistently 1/2 note flat. Consistently. Many people don’t notice or care but I pick upon that and it sticks in my ear like a swarm of bees. Can you just imagine Graham Bonnet or Mick Jagger Axl Rose and the E Street Band? I sure can! So I don’t dislike the entire group or the music or any of the songs and certainly not the energy. It’s Bruce’s voice which is, IMO, dreadful.
I’ll be happy to listen to those three songs when I have a moment; babysitting today so this is a quickie reply!
Thanks, Matt
This is a lot to take in, since I haven’t heard of any of those criticisms about Bruce before. I don’t want to insinuate they are unsound, but I must challenge you on a few of your assertions.
Firstly, I cannot imagine another artist with the E Street Band. To me they are so entwined; comparable to just about no other singer songwriter and his band. Funnily enough, the songs I recommended to you are Bruce minus the E Street Band. And I love them as much (or more so) as his adored mainstream hits with the E Street band.
Also, I could find holes (knit-pick) about the method and delivery of just about any voice which isn’t classically-trained ie You could ‘go to town’ on Dylan’s voice, but no one can / could replicate his inflection, tone and timbre of voice (in conjunction with the lyric and music) to accentuate a certain meaning and muster indescribable emotion/s in the listener.
In essence, the appreciation and opinion of ‘Music’ as in ‘art’ is mostly subjective and confined to the eyes (or ears in this case) of the beholder.
Once again, I thank you Nancy from the bottom of my heart for being so candid in expanding upon your sense of ‘dislike’ for Bruce. Honesty of this kind is sorely lacking.
OK. Here goes. You sound exactly like I used to when I’d find out someone didn’t like the Beatles. I was appalled and stunned. I would morph into a TV evangelist and try to convert the offending party into Beatles religion, usually to no avail. Either you love them or you don’t. It still bothers me that people don’t get them but I let it go thinking “their loss”.
I would never demean your passion for Springsteen; I applaud it. Music makes us feel deeply but there’s a caveat with that … not everyone feels that intensity and, as hard as it is to believe and accept, that’s just the way it is.
When I mentioned those other front men, I wasn’t seriously suggesting anything; it was my way of saying I would enjoy any of them with the E Street Band instead of Springsteen. I just don’t like his voice and I don’t see that changing.
You made a valid point about Dylan; who I do like. I won’t even try to explain or defend why I like Dylan and not Springsteen; it’s the equivalent of explaining why I like blueberries but not raspberries. Why do I like Pavarotti and Domingo but not Carreras? How can I explain that, as an Italian, I can’t stand grated cheese on my pasta? People stare at me as if I told them I like getting root canals. “But you’re Italian!” they exclaim. So what? That’s just the way it is.
I listened to all three of the songs you recommended. I listened to each one in its entirety. I tried going in with no bias …. not an easy thing to do when it’s not a blind taste test but I gave it my best shot. I found all three to be interchangeable, one-dimensional and rather monotonous. Springsteen’s voice on all three was nasal, twangy, pitchy and annoying (which is something people can say – and have – about Dylan). I was not impressed but appreciate you taking the time to recommend the songs.
I will be a Springsteen fan and you will never understand how that can be. It just is. I’ll never be a Bon Jovi, Kiss, Alice Cooper or Van Halen fan either. To each his own, as the old song goes.
Keep on feeling as deeply as you do, Matt, about all things that inspire you, and allow yourself to accept that we can’t paint with a wide brush when discussing music.
Thanks! I admire your determination and passion.
Hi Nancy, I spent more than half an hour drafting a response to your illuminating message above and then in the blink of a powercut to my laptop I lost everything. And I have yielded to a state of resignation, but rest assured I will try again in the not too distant future. I hope you have a lovely Saturday.
What a drag that is!
Take it as a sign, Matt. As our dear George says so wonderfully:
You can take a horse to the water
But you can’t make him drink
Have a glorious weekend!
Ok, I will try again to respond to your illuminating response. It’s destined we won’t see ‘ear to ear’ for most part and that’s fine. I hope I didn’t appear like a TV evangelist towards my siding with Bruce. I’m choosing a different tact this time than the attempt I made in my previous ‘lost message’. Oh, by the way I share your opinion about ‘the other guy’ in the three tenors. As Elaine said, ‘so it’s really you’? haha
A lot of what may make me so partial towards Bruce’s output comes down to my personal backstory and connection with his lyrics and sentiments, not to mention the melody. Take for example his song ‘With Every Wish’ off his maligned Human Touch record. You remarked after having heard it in its entirety as ‘one-dimensional and rather monotonous’ in conjunction with the other songs I sent.
Allow me to digress. I recall my first ‘real’ girlfriend who I fell deeply in love – A Yorkshire lass by the name of Louise who I have written about before in another article. This song ‘With Every Wish’ encapsulates better than I could ever attempt to do in so few verses and song what I went through meeting her and how I failed to win her heart due mainly to my shortcomings and inability to hold it together. We have spoken before about our vices right, well I was falling prey to some at the wrong time. Springsteen couldn’t have struck more of a chord with me than he did here:
I fell in love with beautiful Doreen
She was the prettiest thing this old town’d ever seen
I courted her and I made her mine
But I grew jealous whenever another man’d
Come walkin’ down the line
And my jealousy made me treat her mean and cruel
She sighed, “Bobby oh Bobby you’re such a fool
Don’t you know before you choose your wish
You’d better think first
‘Cause with every wish there comes a curse”
These days I sit around and laugh
At the many rivers I’ve crossed
But on the far banks there’s always another forest
Where a man can get lost
Well there in the high trees love’s bluebird glides
Guiding us ‘cross to another river on the other side
And there someone is waitin’ with a look in her eyes
And though my heart’s grown weary
And more than a little bit shy
Tonight I’ll drink from her waters to quench my thirst
And leave the angels to worry
With every wish…
Those two verses are about the most illuminating and beautifully written verses I have heard from him (or anyone for that matter) and remains one of my favourite Springsteen songs. It continues to make the hairs on my arms stand up on end. On a broader note it taught me so much and continues to do so about how I can take a step back and realise my own shortcomings and make radical adjustments about my outlook and behaviour. The same could be said about a whole host of songs from him as I was growing up (and without a fixed mentor or moral compass), which I could swear he had some clairvoyant vision of my life. Of course he didn’t, but his music like Dylan’s facilitated my awakening to the real world and enabled me to meet life’s challenges head-on. So when it’s all said and done – it’s personal. You are correct that we can’t paint with a wide brush our likes of music, but we can sure as hell give it a go if we have our own personal experiences to fall back on.
I took so much from your berries metaphor regarding Springsteen and Dylan. Like you I’ll never be a Bon Jovi, Kiss, Alice Cooper or Van Halen fan either.
This has been more than an interesting dialogue as far as wordpress comments go, to say the least. I knew from the outset that through our differences we would learn from each other, and also learn about ourselves, which is more than I could have asked for when I started down this road.
Hey, Matt. So good to hear from you and to read your extremely illuminating comments.
I’m so very glad you wrote all that you did and especially happy that you provided the lyric’s to With Every Wish. I will freely admit to you that I did Springsteen a dis-service by not recognizing the poet residing in his body. I’m sure my dislike of his voice turned off and tuned out his words and that, as I’ve told all anti Beatle people, is a grievous error. I need to practice what I preach! How many times have I told people to “listen to the words AND the music; they go together”! My big mistake. Mea culpa.
Bruce speaks to you; I see that very clearly now. And it’s all so understandable why you feel as strongly about him as you do. That was a powerful story about you and Louise; thank you for sharing such a personal message with me.
I am going to take a leap of faith and make both you and myself a promise: I will not immediately turn off the radio or change what’s streaming when a Springsteen song comes on and I’ll try to listen to what he’s saying. Furthermore, I will listen to those three songs again and concentrate on the words; it might not be easy and I may not have instant success but I will give it a go. More than that, I cannot promise (except I will not extend the same courtesy to Bon Jovi, Kiss, Alice Cooper or Van Halen, LOL).
I’m very pleased to have met you and started this incredible dialogue. I agree …. it is paramount that we learn from others; in that way we continue to learn about ourselves. Ignorance is not a blissful state of mind.
Thanks, my friend. I may never become a Springsteen fan but you have given me much to think about. And I never break a promise if humanly possible. ~ Nancy
PS – Seinfeld! I love every episode.
PPS – Listening to Billy Joel’s Piano Man yet again. Now there’s a damn fine poet.
To quote that menacing guy: ‘I will be Backkk’
In the meantime, I’ll leave you this to stew over:
My husband wandered into the bedroom, a bewildered look on his face, and asked “Are you listening to Springsteen? You hate Springsteen!” He knows me so well!
Every Springsteen song needs captions; he has a tendency to swallow is words, making them difficult to understand. And that’s a shame because these words, along with the music, are quite poignant.
I enjoyed this number a lot, Matt. Thanks for the share; your backstory was quite touching.
Oh man, did this make me laugh Nancy:
“Are you listening to Springsteen? You hate Springsteen!”
Hello again Nancy. I was delighted you were able to get past your aversion of Bruce’s voice to accommodate and process the lyrics. You were right explaining how sometimes you just need to get past the surface layer which causes the disdain and see what’s beneath. That’s what I did when I was pondering whether to post on Tom Waits ‘Raised Right Man’. After I read the lyrics in conjunction with the ‘bone crushing instrumentals’, I was sold although it didn’t get any love here. I too would not extend the same courtesy (of digging deeper) to Bon Jovi, Kiss, Alice Cooper or Van Halen.
You are a good friend Nancy and I have enjoyed this conversation and I thanks you for at least listening to my Bruce recommendations and pondering his lyrics and my emotional connection to them. That’s so kind of you.
Oh by the way, I have to tell my kids to stop watching Seinfeld such is their obsession with it.
Also my best friend was a Billy Joel fan and he dragged me to his Stormfront concert. it was pretty good.
We used to have it out, because my musical tastes were oriented towards Elton John and his Billy. I remember when Elton John’s song ‘Kiss the Bride‘ came out and he would chastise me singing the chorus, ‘I want to kiss the bridegroom‘!
Bye bye for now
PS – I’m glad you liked ‘Happy’ and reading my connection with it.
I love this song, especially when I hear it live, with Roy Bittan’s terrific piano outro.
One of my greatest musical regrets is not seeing Bruce live. I had the chance but didn’t take it with both hands. I salute you for sharing your experience here.
Great song great album as well. It wasn’t as commercial as his previous but great.
This album, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle and Born to Run are my favourites up to BITUSA. I know you have a penchant for Greetings, River and Nebraska. At the end of day, it all Bruuuuuce.
Nice choice. I love that phase of Springsteen. I would put “Darkness On the Edge of Town” among my top 5 albums by the Boss, along with “Born to Run”, “The River”, “Born in the U.S.A.” and “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.” Springsteen has the great ability to tell stories about blue collar worker, which make you believe he lived them himself, even though he never held any blue collar job himself.
That is an astute observation Christian. Thanks for sharing it.