Tag: bruce springsteen

Paul McCartney Carries that Weight at 2012 Grammys

Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl Grammys

One of the highlights of this year’s Grammy Awards was Paul McCartney closing the show by singing the Beatles’ classic “Golden Slumbers”/”Carry That Weight”/”The End” set from Abbey Road (1969). Sir Paul also had some help on vocals and guitar from some other great artists, including Joe Walsh, Bruce Springsteen, and Grammy-winning Foo Fighter Dave Grohl.

The guitar work at the end is a treat, but the best part is the final strains of the lyrics where Grohl is standing behind McCartney singing. Grohl has no microphone, but with a smile on his face he sings anyway for the joy of it, the way many of us have done in our bedrooms as kids listening to the album. But Grohl gets to do it onstage with a look on his face that shows he is thinking, “I can’t believe I’m playing with Paul McCartney!” On a night tinged with sad tributes to Whitney Houston and Glen Campbell (who gave his final Grammy performance on stage as he succombs to Alzheimer’s disease), that image of Grohl captures perfectly the point that host LL Cool J made at the opening of the show: It’s all about the music.

“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

[February 2013 Update: The entire performance is no longer available.]

What did you think of last night’s Grammy Awards show and this closing set? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    New Video for Springsteen’s “We Take Care of Our Own”

    We previously wrote about Bruce Springsteen’s new single, “We Take Care of Our Own” from his upcoming album, Wrecking Ball, due to be released March 6. Today, an official video for the song was released. The video for the song addressing society’s economic hard times shows Springsteen by himself playing his guitar in what appears to be an abandoned house, intercut with scenes of us common folk, beginning in black and white and ending in color with a little ray of hope. Or as Clint Eastwood would sum up, “It’s halftime in America.”

    What do you think of the new video? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    New E Street Band Sax Player: Eddie Manion?

    southside johnny Yesterday, in The Record, Southside Johnny talked about his friendship with Bruce Springsteen, adding, “He’s stealing my saxophone players to replace Clarence, so we steal from each other’s bands occasionally.” Southside did not mention a saxophone player by name — and he did use the plural “players” unless that was a misprint. But one may assume that the theft at least includes Eddie “Kingfish” Manion. Manion played with Springsteen as part of The Sessions Band when Springsteen was touring to promote The Seeger Sessions. In addition to being an original member of Southside’s Asbury Jukes, Manion also played with The Miami Horns and Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. He also was part of the backing horns when Springsteen played the Super Bowl halftime in 2009, and he played baritone sax with the E Street Band in the Carousel House video shoot for songs from The Promise in December 2010. So, considering the long relationship, the rumor seems like it could be true. [Feb. 9, 2012 Update: As noted below, it has been confirmed now that Manion will be playing saxophone on the upcoming tour — with another saxophonist.

    Assuming Manion is part of the tour, it is unclear whether Manion will be a full-fledged permanent member of the E Street Band or whether he is just filling in for the upcoming tour or whether he will be one part of a larger horn section. Of course, Southside’s comment is not official and Springsteen has not made any announcements yet. Nobody can replace Clarence and those are some mighty big shoes to fill, but the music must go on. Welcome, Kingfish.

    Update: Blogness on the Edge of Town speculates on the addition of a horn section while noting that we may not know the makeup of the touring band until the first rehearsal show.

    Update 2 (Feb. 9, 2012): Bruce Springsteen’s website has now confirmed that Eddie Manion will be playing saxophone on the new tour along with another saxophonist, Jake Clemons — the nephew of Clarence. The tour will also feature singers Cindy Mizelle and Curtis King, trombonist Clark Gayton, and trumpeters Curt Ramm and Barry Danielian.

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    New Springsteen Single: We Take Care of Our Own

    bruce springsteen we take care of our own

    Bruce Springsteen released a new single today, “We Take Care of Our Own” from his forthcoming album Wrecking Ball, due to be released March 6. The new album reportedly addresses tough economic times and has been described as an angry album.

    The song combines common Springsteen themes of anger about recent events (“From the shotgun shack to the Superdome / We yelled ‘help’ but the cavalry stayed home”) to questions about recent economic hard times (“Where’s the work that’ll set my hands, my soul free?”) to a possible reference to the Springsteen canon (“Where’s the promise, from sea to shining sea?”) to a final hopeful chorus aching to be misused by a presidential candidate (“Wherever this flag is flown / We take care of our own”). Blogness on the Edge of Town has its own take on the anthem quality of the song.

    Here’s the track list for the new album:

    1. We Take Care of Our Own
    2. Easy Money
    3. Shackled and Drawn
    4. Jack of All Trades
    5. Death to My Hometown
    6. This Depression
    7. Wrecking Ball
    8. You’ve Got It
    9. Rocky Ground
    10. Land of Hope and Dreams
    11. We Are Alive

    What do you think of the new song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Dion Has the Blues

    Dion Bronx in Blue Dion Dimucci has made some wonderful music since the dawn of the rock and roll era. His song “Runaround Sue” is one of my favorite all-time songs, and I love other songs he made with the Belmonts and solo.

    For a long time through the late 1980s and 1990s, though, I assumed he was not around anymore because I had not heard anything about him since those days. And then one night at a Bruce Springsteen concert, Springsteen told how he reworked his own “If I Fall Behind” from his Tunnel of Love album after hearing Dion cover it. It is a beautiful song that Springsteen has played in a variety of ways, including an excellent Irish music version with the Seeger Session band. But his Dion doo wop version of “If I Fall Behind” was a revelation because it made me realize Dion was still around. Being a Springsteen fan and loving old Dion music, I had to track down Dion’s recording, which Dion later put on the album Deja Nu (2000). I liked the album a lot, and I’ve been keeping up with Dion’s new releases ever since.

    Some of his most amazing recent work is on two blues CD’s of classic covers with a few originals: Bronx in Blue (2006) and Son of Skip James (2007). I bought the first one because I had read good reviews of it and saw it on sale at a store. It might first seem odd that Dion is singing blues songs, but he grew up listening to blues music in the Bronx. The albums are excellent. There are not videos for most of the songs, but I did find this one of “Worried Blues”:

    Below is Dion’s take on Howlin’ Wolf’s “Built for Comfort,” which appears on Bronx in Blue:

    His third blues CD, Tank Full of Blues, is due out January 24. This week Rolling Stone premiered one of the songs off the CD, “I Read It (in the Rolling Stone).” Finally, one other thing I love about Dion is that he seems to write his own updates on his Facebook page. And he still writes using 1950s slang. The cat is cool. Give him a “Like.” For crying out loud, he is a legend and has been making music for seven decades. You can at least press a button for the guy.

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