the rix mix

I heard Bruce Springsteen's "Racing In the Streets" twice this week, which was two times too many. I appreciate & enjoy a lot of Springsteen's music but this one seems to contain & sum up just about everything I don't like; the funereal moroseness signifying a statement; the stolen hooks displayed like museum artifacts; his indifference toward original melody or even tweaking the generic phrases he uses; his "acting" of a narrative that reveals a debt to Broadway musicals; the faceless fictional working class woman whose "dreams are torn" (no clear reason given), so after "rumbling through the promised land" they need to "wash these sins off our hands," presumably by driving to Asbury Park for a late night dip. That's still his idea of strong religious imagery. His fans love this stuff so much that Springsteen's been recycling the various parts of the same old gas guzzler for over 30 years. In fact, it's more central than ever to his schtick. But its charm evades me completely.