Stolen Car (Bruce Springsteen song)

Infobox Song
Name = Stolen Car


Artist = Bruce Springsteen
Album = The River
B-side =
Released = October 1980
Format =
Recorded = January 1980 at The Power Station in New York
Genre = Rock
Length = 3:54
Label = Columbia Records
Writer = Bruce Springsteen
Producer = Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt
Chart position =
Reviews =
Last single =
This single =
Next single =

"Stolen Car" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It was originally released on his fifth album, "The River". The version released on "The River" was recorded at The Power Station in New York in January 1980.http://www.brucebase.org.uk/8.htm]

Themes

"Stolen Car", along with a few other songs on "The River" including the title track and "Wreck on the Highway", mark a new direction in Bruce Springsteen's songwriting. These ballads, imbued with a sense of hopelessness, anticipate his next album, "Nebraska".cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:h9fyxqu5ldde|title=All Music Guide "The River"] Like "The River", "Stolen Car" deals with a failing marriage. [cite book|title=Bruce Springsteen|author=Humphries,Patrick|page=42|year=1996|id=ISBN 0 7119 5304 X] The protaganist of "Stolen Car" is driven by his loneliness to car theft, hoping to get caught but fearing to just disappear.cite book|title=Glory Days:Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s|author=Marsh, Dave|authorlink=Dave Marsh|publisher=Pantheon Books|year=1987|page=95-96|isbn=0-394-54668-7]

The recording uses minimal backing, with soft piano and synthesizer punctuated by tympani-like drums. Springsteen's biographer Dave Marsh wrote that the recording fades away "without a nuance of reluctance. There is nothing more here—just a waste of life and a man brave or stupid enough to watch it trickle away." Bruce Springsteen himself has noted that "Stolen Car" is one of the songs reflecting a shift in his songwriting style, linking "The River" to "Nebraska". [cite book|title=The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z|author=Graff, Gary|year=2005|page=255|id=ISBN 1578591570]

"Stolen Car" and another song from "The River", "Drive All Night", played a key role in setting the tone of the 1997 film "Cop Land".cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118887/soundtrack|title=Internet Movie Database "Cop Land"]

A slow moving song, "Stolen Car" has not been particularly common in concert, with 51 performances in Bruce Springsteen concerts through 2005, with most of those performances having occurred during the 1980–1981 River Tour. [ [http://www.brucesetlists.com/townlist.php The Bruce Springsteen Setlist Page ] ]

Alternate version

An alternate version of the song exists that was released on the album "Tracks". This version, sometimes referred to as the "Son you may kiss the bride" version of the song [Graff, "The Ties That Bind", 379-380.] , was recorded at The Power Station in July 1979. This version was originally intended to be released on a single album that was to be released in 1979 and called "The Ties That Bind". [Graff, "The Ties That Bind", 304.] [cite book|title=Born to Run: The Bruce Sprinigsteen Story|author=Marsh, Dave|authorlink=Dave Marsh|year=1981|page=247|id=ISBN 0-440-10694-X] This album was eventually scrapped and expanded to become the double album "The River". In this process, "Stolen Car" was rerecorded in the version released on "The River".

The version of the song on "Tracks" has a different, less haunting, instrumentation and a somewhat quicker pace than "The River" version. But the main difference is the lyrics. The "Tracks" version includes three additional verses in which the protagonist recalls the good days of his marriage and regains hope. He renews his marriage vows but as he kisses his wife at the end of the ceremony, the feelings of hopelessness return and he resumes his desperate driving of stolen cars hoping to get caught. The lyrics of this version also include river imagery used in some other songs on "The River", including the title track and "Hungry Heart".

Other artists

A cover version of "Stolen Car" was recorded by Patty Griffin for her 2002 album, "1000 Kisses". [Graff, "The Ties That Bind", 174.] Another cover version was also recorded by Elliott Murphy. [Graff, "The Ties That Bind", 244.] The British band The Manhattan Love Suicides also did a cover.

External links

* [http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/StolenCar.html Lyrics & Audio clips from Brucespringsteen.net]

References