Springsteen's Born to Run best song ever?

Bryan Price, over at Blog Critics magazine pens an interesting article about the beauty of Born to Run and asks the question "is Born to Run the best song ever?"

He describes BTR:

"Both lyrically and sonically, "Born to Run" is a masterpiece; it is the most economical four and a half minutes of rock and roll that I will ever hear. Like any great writer, Bruce Springsteen created an alternate universe — in this case an almost futuristic past that is narrowly drawn and beautifully rendered."

Interesting take -- it certainly is His most orchestrated song. If you've seen the documentary about the making of the album you know how driven Springsteen was to realize his vision of this album (keeping Clemons in the recording booth for hours to get that sax solo just right). As a fan, you also know Springsteen as a band leader that won't stop until the sound he was searching for has been found. So, while this is an absolutely incredible song, live or studio, it may not be the best of all time, in fact I don't think it is the best Springsteen song of all time (don't ask me to choose as I would say "yes" to most of them).

The one thing I have issue with is the tone of Price's article while referencing the relevancy of Springsteen today. Of course he hasn't written another "Born to Run" -- who could? The fact that Price has the gall to call Springsteen a "corporate entity unto himself" is infuriating and really shows how little he knows about Springsteen. He is at a point in his musical career where he does take risks DESPITE his studio's interests -- think Seeger Sessions or when his fans are pleading for an E Street album he releases D&D and tours solo.

I would ask that Price show me a single artist that has been able to follow-up their master works with similar efforts -- the hunger is gone, the great song written. Will Elton John ever write another Tiny Dancer (egad) or Billy Joel another Piano Man? What about Mellencamp writing another Jack & Diane? The Who another Pinball Wizard or Baba O'reilly? The Stones, another Sympathy (face it, the Stones have released CRAP since 1981!).

I think the thing to focus on is the longevity of the career and thus the artists' portfolio and lifetime impact, not an individual song which is a snippet of time and out of context when that time is over.

Tell me this isn't relevant:



Rant done.