Dreaming of The Boss

What could The Boss still have left to dream about? If it’s another hit album, it’s safe to say he can stop dreaming.

Bruce Springsteen, who turns 60 in September, grew up on Main Street, U.S.A. The son of a bus driver and a secretary, he will undoubtedly leave part of his legacy in his lyrics, creating songs that even Joe the Plumber can relate to.

Since 1973, Springsteen has created numerous masterpieces. With lyrics full of plainspoken emotion sung to the R&B-ish, rock ‘n’ roll melodies of the E Street Band, Springsteen’s compositions frequently emerge as timeless, romanticized narratives, not catchy one-time hits.

His latest album, “Working On A Dream,” undoubtedly lives up to these expectations.
While Springsteen no longer sings about pink Cadillacs or the girls who ride in them, the old Bruce is still detectable in tracks like “Working On A Dream,” “Surprise, Surprise” and “My Lucky Day.”

Granted, a few of these tracks might run together or sound too much like older songs to be distinguishable.

However, it is a testament to Springsteen that the old Bruce is detectable in his recent works. “Working On a Dream” illustrates just how gracefully the rock singer has aged.

Rather than being doomed to an eternity as an ’80s has-been, Springsteen continues to be timeless. Just the title of the track “Queen of the Supermarket” shows the maturity of this visionary superstar.

He is still age-appropriate. It’s endearing. It crosses generational lines. It sells CDs.
When critic Jon Landau proclaimed, “I saw rock ‘n’ roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen,” he was right, and time has proved that.

“Working On a Dream” might include a few deja-vu moments, but after more than 30 years, there’s only so much originality that can be found.

Overall, this album illustrates the thoughtful, articulate superstar that is Bruce Springsteen.