Wreck on the Highway

Infobox Song
Name = Wreck on the Highway


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 =
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"Wreck on the Highway" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It was originally released as the final track on his fifth album, "The River". The version released on "The River" was recorded at The Power Station in New York in March-April 1980. [ [http://www.brucebase.org.uk/8.htm BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - ON THE TRACKS V4 ] ]

A melancholic song with a false ending, "Wreck on the Highway" features prominent organ and acoustic guitar parts. The lyric describes a man who witnesses a hit-and-run auto accident on a rainy, isolated highway, and subsequently haunted by the vision and unable to sleep.cite book | last=Marsh | first=Dave | authorlink=Dave Marsh | title=Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s | publisher=Pantheon Books | year=1987 | isbn=0-394-54668-7 |pages=95–96] It is directly inspired by Roy Acuff's country song of the same name and similar theme from the 1940s. While Springsteen's song has elements of a country arrangement, its music is more haunted and less sentimental.

Along with the title track, "Independence Day" and "Point Blank", it is one of the verse-chorus songs on "The River" that was essentially a short story or character sketch. [cite book|title=The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll|page=931|id=ISBN 0743201205] "Wreck on the Highway", and a few other songs on "The River", such as the title track and "Stolen Car", 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|publisher=Allmusic |title=The River |accessdate=2008-06-25] as well as a turn towards pessimism in Springsteen's overall artistic and personal world-view. Bruce Springsteen himself has noted that "Wreck on the Highway" 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]

A slow-tempo song, "Wreck on the Highway" has not been particularly common in concert, with 100 performances in Bruce Springsteen concerts through 2005. Nearly all of those performances having occurred during the 1980–1981 River Tour; [ [http://www.brucesetlists.com/townlist.php The Bruce Springsteen Setlist Page ] ] the song was revived occasionally for electric piano performances on the 2005 solo Devils & Dust Tour. [ [http://www.backstreets.com/setlists2005.html Backstreets.com: 2005 Setlists ] ]

External links

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

References