Kind of a rambling, jumbled mess of a column, but not too bad.
That said, Springsteen isn't worthy to be mentioned in the same paragraph with Cash.
Like a friend of mine says, Spingsteen belongs in that class of musicians who had one or two good songs 20-30 years ago, and have been milking and stretching it out for all it`s worth ever since. 3 good songs and the rest are fillers.. It`s like blah blah blah...then he plays Born to run, then blah blah blah..then he plays 10th avenue freeze out...then blah blah blah..Thunder road (which I think sucks just as much as a filler song) .All the other songs are fillers for those 2 or 3 good ones, and in his mind that gives him the right and mental superiority above everyone to dictate national politics.
I agree, minus the "but not too bad" part. His thoughts on Stringspreen, Young, and Cash are bunk in my book. Neil Young was such a drug addict, Stringspreen hasn't made good music since the 70's, and Cash ...... well ...... not every great voice writes their own material. He got it right on Syd and No-brain, though.
Ok, let's see, most of Johnny Cash's hits were written by other artists or June Carter. Whereas Bruce Springsteen wrote EVERY ONE of his songs. BTW, in many peoples opinions, Bruce's political philosophies aside, Cash couldn't hold a candle to Springsteen.
> That said, Springsteen isn't worthy to be mentioned in the same paragraph with Cash.
Disagree. Springsteen "The Boss" speaks right to the gut-wrenching heart of all of us who grew up Blue Collar and are unashamedly so.
His private, lunatic-Lefty side of his life is a separate matter, which I ignore. Otherwise I'd have to destroy all his CDs in my collection, and I'd rather not do that!
Johnny Cash, the same. He will always be the Man in Black: aspects of his private life are best kept separate, to one side and ignored.
Never confuse the Legend with the Man. You will be surely disappointed if you do.