Top Ten 1975 Songs: Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out (#7)

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Controversy time! Of course, it’s not intentional. I like to bring a little happiness to the day, not anger and hostility. So if this offends you, tough. Kidding. How can something 50 years old be controversial now? Let’s find out. #7: Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out - Bruce Springsteen Here’s something that’s funny but not funny. A Bruce Springsteen TRIBUTE BAND, called No Surrender (after one of Springsteen’s songs), was slated to play a bar next weekend in Tom’s River, New Jersey. After Springsteen’s comments on his European tour (and I’ll tell him the same thing I said about the Dixie Chicks: say it HERE, not there!), the owner of the bar they were going to play at decided he didn’t want the cover band. The COVER BAND. THEY didn’t say anything, they just play the music. And they’re the ones who got fired over the real Bruce’s comments. Enough of that. Let’s talk about this terrific song, the autobiography of the E Street Band. “Bad Scooter” is Springsteen, and we all know who the Big Man was. (Funny story: the first time I saw Springsteen was the day before Clarence Clemons’ birthday, and someone had a sign hanging up that said, “Happy birthday, Clarence. SAX gets better with age.” ) I thought he’d stop playing this song live after Clemons died. Oh, no: he turned it into a celebration of Clemons’ music. (There’s a long video on YouTube of the first performance of this song after Clemons’ death, and it’s amazing…heartbreaking and joyous simultaneously.) As for the title, Springsteen said in a documentary, “I still have no idea what it means.” Tenth Avenue, in Belmar, NJ, intersects with E Street, the latter being the name of Springsteen’s band. They did bust the city in half. And the world, for that matter. Fun fact: part of the extra horns on the song were the Brecker Brothers, Michael on sax and Randy on trumpet. David Sanborn also added a little extra sax magic. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out Written by Bruce Springsteen Recorded by Bruce Springsteen From Born to Run, 1975 All the little pretties raise their hands: