Glory Days is the big rock stomping, jukebox hit on Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA album. It was the fifth single released from the record. As evident in its official music video, nowhere does Bruce Springsteen showcase and embrace this hometown, blue-collar image more than in this song. A cynic may now find it cheesy, but watching the video still brings a wide smile to my face. Glory Days and Dancing in the Dark were among the first songs I introduced to my kids from Bruce Springsteen’s vast catalogue, as I thought their catchy, upbeat appeal would be the perfect way to get someone so young interested in his music. I’ll admit my appreciation of the Born in the USA album has dissipated over the years in preference for other music from his lesser-known records, but I can’t help but sometimes think about….Glory Days!
The song was written initially as a trilogy – a friend (1st verse), a girl (2nd verse) and a father (the “missing verse”). These were three persons that impacted him significantly and tied him to his hometown. The American songwriter reference below purports how Glory Days was inspired by a chance meeting with an old high school friend as depicted in the 1st verse:
The verse recounts an event that happened on the Jersey Shore in 1973. Springsteen was leaving the Headliner in Neptune when he crossed paths with an old friend from high school. They returned to the bar and reminisced about their earlier adventures playing baseball. They had been seatmates in seventh grade at St. Rose of Lima High School in Freehold. The speedballer in question was named Joe DePugh, and he played on the same Babe Ruth League baseball team. DePugh excelled on the mound, while Springsteen played right field and earned the nickname “Saddie.”
Springsteen had released his second album and recently opened an arena show for The Beach Boys. Springsteen’s group, who would go on to be named The E Street Band, was building a strong reputation from their live shows, and the duo stayed at the bar until it closed, looking back on their “glory days.”
…..His friend Scott Wright first heard “Glory Days” and recognized the situation from DePugh’s story. In 2011, DePugh told Kevin Coyne of The New York Times, “He told me, ‘Springsteen has a new album out, and there’s a song on there about you. It’s exactly the story you told me.’ DePugh didn’t believe him, so Wright requested the song on a Montpelier, Vermont radio station. “My wife starts bawling,” DePugh said. “That’s how I knew exactly that it was me.”
Bruce decided to emit the father verse (you can read it below) from the official version because he realized that it did not fit with the song’s storyline. Perhaps it strayed too far from the youth themes and that the ‘dead-end’ future sombered the tone. Also he had written about his Dad on other songs heard on the Darkness on the Edge of Town record.
Glory Days peaked at No 5 on the Billboard in the summer of 1985. It was the fifth of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A.
[Verse 1]
I had a friend was a big baseball player
Back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you
Make you look like a fool, boy
Saw him the other night at this roadside bar
I was walking in, he was walking out
We went back inside, sat down, had a few drinks
But all he kept talking about was
[Chorus]
Glory days
Well they’ll pass you by, glory days
In the wink of a young girl’s eye, glory days
Glory days (Alright)
[Verse 2]
Well, there’s a girl that lives up the block
Back in school, she could turn all the boys’ heads
Sometimes on a Friday, I’ll stop by and have a few drinks
After she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband, Bobby, well they split up
I guess it’s two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times
She says when she feels like crying, she starts laughing, thinking ’bout
[Chorus]
[Missing Verse]
My old man worked twenty years on the line
And they let him go
Now everywhere he goes out looking for work
They just tell him that he’s too old
I was nine-years old and he was working
At the Metuchen Ford plant assembly line
Now he just sits on a stool down at the Legion Hall
But I can tell what’s on his mind
[Verse 3]
I think I’m going down to the well tonight
And I’m gonna drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it
But I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back, trying to recapture
A little of the glory, yeah
Well, time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister
But boring stories of…
References:
1. Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen song) – Wikipedia
2. The Story Behind “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen – American Songwriter
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Nice post 🌺🌺
Thank you.
I used to dance to this in a tight red dress & red pumps. Back in the 80s I made 60 grand a year, that was real money in those days. Those were my glory days. Every time I hear this song I think about that.
Ok, you got my attention! 60 thousand back in the 80’s is a sweet sum. Woh! Can I ask what you did?
I was an exotic dancer.
Nice!
I never saw that other verse…yea it didn’t really go with the story…It’s a great song and man it is true for all of us.
I never knew of the missing verse until researching the song. I believe he played it on occasion during live performances.
It is indeed a great song. I love Stevie’s vocals in this too.
Oh yes and that mandolin at the end as well that he plays into the mic. I remember this song from my 1985 spring trip to Florida when I graduated…I related (somehow) to the song then…I was graduating…little did I know I would REALLY relate to it later on.
I think I remember you posting on that road trip to Florida. I can listen to ‘Glory Days’ intermittently, although back in the day I probably obsessed over it. Yes, the mandolin is very cool, but Steve’s high vocals over Bruce’s really does it for me towards the end.
I can’t disagree with you there. The reason I thought of that is because after they recorded it when Van Zandt left the band people thought Bruce erased his tracks which would have been stupid. You cannot erase something out of the lead vocal mic he is singing and that’s where the mandolin is.
“Born in the U.S.A.” finally brought Bruce Springsteen on my radar screen in 1984, and while I now prefer some of his other albums, I think it will always have a special place in my heart. If I would be asked to pick one song off the album today, I would probably go with “Bobby Jean” or “No Surrender.” That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate “Glory Days” – just not as much.
Bobby Jean and No Surrender are good songs. I like nearly all of the songs on the record. I still listen a lot to Downbound Train, I’m Going Down and the title track live. I too prefer some of his other albums.
I like “Downbound Train” and “I’m Going Down” as well. Some of the songs like the title track, “Dancing in the Dark” and “I’m on Fire” were heavily exposed on the radio in Germany back at the time. But I can even still listen to these tracks.
Let there be no doubt: “Born in the U.S.A” is a solid album. I would put it in my top 5, together with “Born to Run”, “Darkness on the Edge of Town”, “The River” and “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.”
I love the title track live in that era. I think it’s much better than the studio version. I agree on Dancing in the Dark and I’m on Fire.
Solid top 5 albums there. Mine are Born to Run, Best of Human Touch and Lucky Town, The Wild, the Innocent, BITUSA and The Rising / Darkness are a toss-up.