Born to Write: Bruce Springsteen's Top 20 Character Studies

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I HAVE YET to see the movie "The Wrestler."

But because of Bruce Springsteen's song from the film, I feel like I've almost seen it.

The tune is a simple one — even a rudimentary guitarist could figure out the chords in seconds — but its lyrics are as evocative as a painting, giving listeners a brilliant portrait of a battered man.

Of course, "The Wrestler" is just the latest in a long line of great character studies Springsteen has written about those on the dark side of the tracks, desperate couples looking to get out of town, and the loser who wants just one more chance to win ... or lose.

In an attempt to name Springsteen's top five character-driven tunes, I came up with 20 — easily. And I'm sure someone from "Backstreets," the Bruuuuuce fanzine, will leave a comment calling me a dufus for missing "[insert song title]" — and I welcome that input and advice, because I'll admit to not being a deep-tracks guy with Springsteen. But that doesn't mean I don't love a lot of his music, or that I don't tune into E Street Radio on Sirius Satellite nearly every time I climb into my ride.

In grabbing videos for this top 20 list, I tried to find acoustic versions for the rockier songs — better to let the words carry the tune rather than the energy of the E Street Band. I've also ordered the songs from the newest to the oldest — no disrespect to Rosie intended — not in order of preference.

» "The Wrestler" (2008) from "The Wrestler" soundtrack and "Working on a Dream"

» Description: List songs are perhaps the easiest to write, and Springsteen's questions and statements in the choruses and verses are all built on the verb "seen." But there's so much power in this song's simplicity, repetition and focus.
» Sample Lyrics: " ... bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor / Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?" [full lyrics]

» "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" (2007) from "Magic"

» Description: This could be a Magnetic Fields song. From the descriptive, sad-sack lyrics and the lower-register vocal melody to the wall-of-sound production and rigid drum beat, it's a Stephin Merritt song masquerading as a Boss tune. Go listen to Magnetic Fields, then listen to this song. 'Nuff sed.
» Sample Lyrics: "In the cool of the evening light / The girls in their summer clothes, pass me by" [full lyrics]

» "Devils & Dust" (2005) from "Devils & Dust"

» Description: Written in 2003 from the perspective of a soldier in the Iraq War debating the morality of the situation with God.
» Sample Lyrics: "I've got my finger on the trigger / And tonight faith just ain't enough / When I look inside my heart / There's just devils and dust" [full lyrics]

» "My City of Ruins" (2002) from "The Rising"

» Description: Originally written about the depressed beach town of Asbury Park, N.J., and/or Freehold Borough, N.J. (Springsteen's hometown), the song came to represent New York City after 9/11. The version presented here, from the 9/11 telethon, is so chill-inducing that you might want to grab a blanket before playing it.
» Sample Lyrics: "Now the sweet bells of mercy / Drift through the evening trees / Young men on the corner / Like scattered leaves / The boarded up windows / The empty streets / While my brother's down on his knees / My city of ruins / My city of ruins / Come on, rise up! Come on, rise up!" [full lyrics]

» "The Rising" (2002) from "The Rising"

» Description: Directly inspired by the fireman of 9/11, this version is from an Obama rally. As the son and the brother of firefighters, this song makes me so chilly I have to don a snowmobile suit to listen to it.
» Sample Lyrics: "Lost track of how far I've gone / How far I've gone, how high I've climbed / On my back's a 60-pound stone / On my shoulder a half mile line" [full lyrics]

» "Streets of Philadelphia" (1993) from "Philadelphia" soundtrack and "Greatest Hits"

» Description: The movie was a landmark for the simple reason is that it showed AIDS victims with the dignity they deserved — hard to imagine that in 1993, it was still considered a "gay" disease — and because A-lister Tom Hanks (not to mention Denzel Washington) put his neck on the line to portray things that middle America still hadn't accepted. But Springsteen's contribution was even bigger in some ways because it was New Jersey's favorite son singing in the first-person voice of a dying AIDS patient. Even the shark-tooth-necklaced homophobes in the Garden State couldn't deny the power of this simple song.
» Sample Lyrics: "Ain't no angel gonna greet me / It's just you and I my friend / And my clothes don't fit me no more / I walked a thousand miles / Just to slip this skin" [full lyrics ]

» "Born in the U.S.A." (1984) from "Born in the U.S.A."

» Description: This acoustic-blues version rescues the song from the right-wing yahoos who misinterpreted the original version of the tune because of its rousing chorus.
» Sample Lyrics: "Born down in a dead man's town / The first kick I took was when I hit the ground / You end up like a dog that's been beat too much / Till you spend half your life just covering up" [full lyrics]

» "My Hometown" from (1984) from "Born in the U.S.A."

» Description: Another dark song inspired by the racial and economic violence from Springsteen's roots.
» Sample Lyrics: "Last night me and Kate we laid in bed / Talking about getting out / Packing up our bags maybe heading south / I'm 35 we got a boy of our own now / Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around / This is your hometown" [full lyrics]

» "Atlantic City" (1982) from "Nebraska"

» Description: This whole record could be on this list, but this track is just as amazing live and rocked up by the E Street Band as it is intimate on this album version. A desperate composition about a couple whose luck has died and whose love has gone cold, but they want one more shot in America's then-latest gambling-friendly city.
» Sample Lyrics: "Well now, everything dies baby that's a fact / But maybe everything that dies someday comes back / Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty / And meet me tonight in Atlantic City" [full lyrics]

» "Stolen Car" (1980) from "The River"

» Description: A man evaluates his failed romance behind the wheel of a ride he thieved.
» Sample Lyrics: "I met a little girl and I settled down / In a little house out on the edge of town / We got married, and swore we'd never part / Then little by little we drifted from each other's heart" [full lyrics]

» "Wreck on the Highway" (1980) from "The River"

» Description: The life of a driver passes him by as he imagines his own family dead from the car crash he just witnessed.
» Sample Lyrics: "Sometimes I sit up in the darkness / And I watch my baby as she sleeps / Then I climb in bed and I hold her tight / I just lay there awake in the middle of the night / Thinking 'bout the wreck on the highway" [full lyrics]

» "The River" (1980) from "The River"

» Description: The grand hopes and dreams of a working-class couple are dashed when they make an "oopsie."
» Sample Lyrics: "Then I got Mary pregnant / And man that was all she wrote / And for my 19th birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat" [full lyrics]

» "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (1978) from "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

» Description: A man races cars in the pitch black of the night, trying to earn respect, cash and love.
» Sample Lyrics: "Some folks are born into a good life / Other folks get it anyway, anyhow / I lost my money and I lost my wife / Them things don't seem to matter much to me now" [full lyrics]

» "The Promised Land" (1978) from "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

» Description: A guy wants to escape the drudgery of his days, dreaming of a better place — be it Heaven or some other promised land.
» Sample Lyrics: "Working all day in my daddy's garage / Driving all night chasing some mirage" [full lyrics]

» "Badlands" (1978) from "Darkness on the Edge of Town"

» Description: See above. Desperate dude wants to get the hell out.
» Sample Lyrics: "Badlands, you gotta live it everyday / Let the broken hearts stand / As the price you've gotta pay" [full lyrics]

» "Born to Run" (1975) from "Born to Run"

» Description: See above. Bruce really had his mind on getting out during this period. (Sidenote: Also respectable, Frankie Goes to Hollywood's cover version.)
» Sample Lyrics: "Baby, this town rips the bones from your back / It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap / We gotta get out while we're young / 'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run" [full lyrics]

» "Thunder Road" (1975) from "Born to Run"

» Description: See above. Man, ol' B was restless! Dude wanted two lanes to take him anywhere.
» Sample Lyrics: "Show a little faith, there's magic in the night / You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're all right" [full lyrics]

» "Meeting Across the River" (1975) from "Born to Run"

» Description: Chronicles one last chance of a low-level criminal who's desperate to make a score. The song even inspired the short-story collection "Meeting Across the River: Stories Inspired by the Haunting Bruce Springsteen Song."
» Sample Lyrics: "Hey Eddie, this guy, he's the real thing / So if you want to come along / You gotta promise you won't say anything / 'Cause this guy don't dance / And the word's been passed this is our last chance" [full lyrics]

» "Jungleland" (1975) from "Born to Run"

» Description: The suburbs are killing Bruce. Another tale of pock-marked pavement and dreams left for dead.
» Sample Lyrics: "In the parking lot the visionaries dress in the latest rage / Inside the backstreet girls are dancing to the records that the D.J. plays / Lonely-hearted lovers struggle in dark corners / Desperate as the night moves on, just a look and a whisper, and they're gone" [full lyrics]

» "Rosalita" (1973) from "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle"

» Description: Dreaming of love, loss and rock 'n' roll in the swamps of New Jersey.
» Sample Lyrics: "So Rosie, come out tonight, baby come out tonight / Windows are for cheaters, chimneys for the poor / Closets are for hangers, winners use the door" [full lyrics]