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Bruce Springsteen — Jungleland
Album: Born To Run
Avg rating:
7.2

Your rating:
Total ratings: 2144









Released: 1975
Length: 9:29
Plays (last 30 days): 0
The rangers had a homecoming
In Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine
Over the Jersey state line

Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town, rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance and disappear down Flamingo Lane

Well, the Maximum Lawman run down Flamingo
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl
And the kids around here look just like shadows
Always quiet, holding hands

From the churches to the jails
Tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand
Down in Jungleland

The midnight gangs assembled
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign
That brings this fair city light

Man, there's an opera out on the Turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cop's cherry top
Rips this holy night

The street's alive as secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they vanished unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switchblades
Hustling for the record machine

The hungry and the hunted
Explode into rock 'n' roll bands
That faced off against each other out in the street
Down in Jungleland

In the parking lot
The visionaries dress in the latest rage
Inside, the backstreet girls
Are dancing to the records that the DJ plays

Lonely hearted lovers struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on
With just one look and a whisper
They're gone

Beneath the city, two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender
In a bedroom locked, in whispers of soft
Refusal, and then surrender

In the tunnels uptown,
The Rat's own dream guns him down
The shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light

Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
And the poets down here don't write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be

And in the quick of the night, they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland
Comments (503)add comment
Still gives me chills listening to this 48 years later....
Captures/freezes 9 minutes of my day and transports me to many memorable times.  

Wonderful piece of music/poetry
The big man takes center stage.  So well earned, his solo just breaks my heart every time.  Lyrically this is Springsteen at the top of his game.  A true masterwork.

 
Just the poor man's Bob Seger (ducks incoming projectiles).
This man's music changed my life - for the better. 
Red_Dragon wrote:
THE best sax solo EVER.

Shmelo wrote:
You need to listen to Coltrane.

Or Bird.  Or Dewey Redmond...but Clarence is still pretty good here and on other Boss tunes.   And he would step out and take charge in concert, believe me. 
9 minutes and 29 seconds of pure Brucy brilliance. Never get tired of this track no matter how many times I hear it. Absolute Class from all the band but that Sax  just cuts through  the air like samurai sword through paper.

Grab a beer, turn down the lights, turn up the volume and drift away to The Boss!
Goosebumps from Clarence, every time.....
BC went into jab adds and seemed to be un-humanised unfortunately what makes his old music kind of odd and opportunistic to me
The epitomy of Rock'n'Roll, my friends.  

Let it wash over you, and take you away... 
Damn,,,,, just damn. From being a 12 year old Boston kid to a 58 year old Boston guy this music still makes me fall in love with the Boss all over again. This album was an awakening.
One of the greatest rock and roll songs ever.  Just utterly sublime.
 stevesaw wrote:

Saw him in a gymnasium in the early 70s. Didn't know his music at the time and I don't own any of his albums, but it was, by far, the best concert I've ever been to, and I've been to many (including Hendrix, Cream, etc.). The energy was indescribable.


I’m envious!
 DanFHiggins wrote:

Shady Grove Music Fair

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

October 1974

Third Row - Theater in the Round

Magical




I was there too! Opening act? Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furniture in your Living Room . lol 
on an early morning sometime in the summer of 1980, a friend and me took a couple of cans of black krylon spray-paint to the over-pass of the East-West Expressway over Lake Underhill in Orlando, Florida, and wrote the most poignant lyrics of this song in 15 inch letters:  "....and the poets down here don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be....."
yep, yep, yep ... 
 DanFHiggins wrote:

Shady Grove Music Fair

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

October 1974

Third Row - Theater in the Round

Magical



Shady Grove Austin?
 h8rhater wrote:

Make it "those first four", and include Darkness On the Edge of Town, and I'm in agreement. 

Well,... maybe The River. 

Hmmm... Nebraska is pretty good. 

Born in the USA?... loaded with iconic tracks. 

The Rising, Bruce's response to 9/11, is maybe the best artistic response to the tragedy. 

I'll take the Boss from any era without qualification.



Tunnel of Love (the song) is an often overlooked masterpiece
Well, as Jersey kids we chairdanced to Rosalita many times, loved - still do - Incident on 57th Street and New York City Serenade, but but but

Jungleland is the essence of Springsteen... and of teen life and dreams in 1970's NY Metro  
It's a great 6-minute song.
It's gonna be near 100 today

As a Jersey kid, who spent summers at the beach...this was the soundtrack to countless parties in shorts and sweatshirts with the ocean off in the distance.

He is world-famous... but he will always belong to us.
 Shmelo wrote:

You need to listen to Coltrane.


or the end of Lou Reed's 'Walk on the wild side'
Back in '84 at Texas Tech Univ, I was taking a Philosophy course, Existentialism and Phenomenology, in which the prof asked us for our explanation of the line:  "And the poets down here don't write nothing at all, they just stand back and let it all be...."
I couldn't explain it then, and probably couldn't explain it now, but it did give me pause to look at Springsteen's work in a different light.  

This is, in my opinion, the APEX of his song-writing. 
Of course a solid 10. need to listen the whole record again on the turntable…
The big man made his bones on this one.  Legendary sax solo.

RIP Clarence.
 Wardleader wrote:

... If you play it, come to Philly and I will buy you a steak the size of toilet seat.   It would mean that much to me.


Maybe a better choice of metaphor would sound more appealing?

 melzabutch wrote:
Image result for bruce springsteen clarence clemons born to run


This Song closed out the High Water Mark of the previous 10 years of  Rock and Roll Music.
WTF!!!  This is a R & R classic!!!   Anything less than a 10 is an insult!

I remember taking a Philosophy course back in '84, "Existentialism and Phenomenology" where we spent 2 weeks discussing the line, "...and the poets down here don't write nuthin' at all, they just stand back and let it all be..."

....still don't know exactly what he was saying.....
How could this be anything but a 10?....awesome....
 greenbuilding wrote:

I'm sorry. I loved Bruce. Right up until the Super Bowl commercial. Reunite? Really? Christians are the embodiment of hipocrite and Bruce with all the crossess and churches. Offically taken off my machine and boycotted.


Music: easy 10. Downvote: easy 1 (would do another if I could) 
 robspeds wrote:

If this song just had Clarence's solo it would be a 10. 



If only the solo would go for 10 minutes. The shivers would overcome us.
If this song just had Clarence's solo it would be a 10. 
Goosebumps.
How could this be anything but a 10?
I'm sorry. I loved Bruce. Right up until the Super Bowl commercial. Reunite? Really? Christians are the embodiment of hipocrite and Bruce with all the crossess and churches. Offically taken off my machine and boycotted.
Wow!  To me this is so mind-blowing good and yet the song only has a 7.2 rating.

Indeed, tastes are beyond dispute.  
Finished his autobiography a little while ago, and it gave me a whole new appreciation and insight into him and the music he made.  Recommended quarantine reading for sure!
Shady Grove Music Fair

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

October 1974

Third Row - Theater in the Round

Magical
Oh, I already rated this 10. Well, at least I'm consistent. 
Saw him in a gymnasium in the early 70s. Didn't know his music at the time and I don't own any of his albums, but it was, by far, the best concert I've ever been to, and I've been to many (including Hendrix, Cream, etc.). The energy was indescribable.

 Shmelo wrote:

You need to listen to Coltrane.
 

Or Gerry Lafferty's Baker Street.
This song switches up a gear when the sax comes into play. Awesome blowing
 jgpineau wrote:
9 and not even a huge Springsteen fan but oooh that sax!
 

Same. Also the dynamics of this song get me every time.  
9 and not even a huge Springsteen fan but oooh that sax!
Epic lyrics.  Shakespeare take a seat ...
first time ever I heard strains of Pachelbel's canon there in the string intro.. maybe it was just the neighbours.
All hail Clarence!
 LPCity wrote:

Pete Townshend would like a word.
 
So would Elton John - try following this with Tiny Dancer off  Madman Across The Water!
 Imkirok wrote:
Nobody could convey teen angst like the Boss in his early years.  The insecurities, the fears, the hopes, the dreams, the longing for something bigger and better in life, all viewed through the lens of a high school kid trying to impress a high school girl.  Brilliant, sometimes sad, sometimes energizing, sometimes hopeful, but still poignant and relevant to this day.
 
 
Pete Townshend would like a word.
This song still stops me from what I'm doing after all these years.  The emotion is attention getting.
 Shmelo wrote:

You need to listen to Coltrane.
Maybe this solo is less technical than those of John Coltrane but it is infinitely more moving than all the free jazz. 

 catmandu wrote:
First comment.

So I first got into loving all that was Bruce and this song in particular in '79.  I stopped everything when this came on RP just now, closed my eyes, and went back in my mind to that magical time.  I wonder if my parents did the same in '79 when stuff from '39 came on the radio. (Actually, looking at the Billboard Top 60 for '39 on the Google Machine, quite possible they did.  Some good stuff on that list).
 
I had this exact same thought about a different song from 1979 last night. Not a massive Bruce fan personally but my cousins are from NJ, so it’s definitely  tied to them and our teens. 
Sometimes I forget how beautiful Bruce Springsteen's work could be.  Then I hear something like this.  Made me look up and feel the wonder.  Thanks, Bill!  
One night stoned out of my mind I played this so loud in my Boston dorm room at 1 a.m. that the residents almost called the cops. So high and ear blasted that I didn't hear my fellow dormers pounding on the door. Was I right or wrong? Because I myself thought I was previewing some earthly version of a heavenly gate. 
 Wardleader wrote:
Well, I am certainly pleased that Bruce made it here.   May I suggest from "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" album,  NEW YORK CITY SERENADE.   So many of the listeners at RP may be shocked into some sort of higher consciousness upon hearing it.   And for the picky eaters here there is always your fancy whatchmacallit button to skip it if need be.   Please, so much more than JUNGLELAND,  the epic city poem from the rust coast.  If you play it, come to Philly and I will buy you a steak the size of toilet seat.   It would mean that much to me.
 
Darn.  Just returned from same.  If only I had known.
 Kaisersosay wrote:
Damn, its summer , 1975,,,, in my room, 12 years old,  trying to figure out this song. My older brother spinning it on a giant magnavox stereo console, the house shaking ,, for as much as a giant magnavox stereo console can shake it. 
I love how this song, this album stays , plays, and means so much ...... 
 
I recall it so vividly, same age, same Magnavox model I'm sure.....a lifetime ago, yet I recall it like yesterday.  This song is burned into my soul like no other; I carry it with me like a best friend, hope, broken dreams and all that it represents.
Quite possibly one of the greatest American rock and roll narratives ever told.  Many will disagree, though I would challenge anyone to provide a better example of a musical narrative of late 1970's NE American dreams and life realities.   Well at least those of us born into the struggling middle class....I have no idea what the other side of those tracks looked like.


MrStatenIsle wrote:
Quite possibly his best song.
 
Quite possibly his best song.
I've always loved the piano in this.
Damn, its summer , 1975,,,, in my room, 12 years old,  trying to figure out this song. My older brother spinning it on a giant magnavox stereo console, the house shaking ,, for as much as a giant magnavox stereo console can shake it. 
I love how this song, this album stays , plays, and means so much ...... 
 h8rhater wrote:
Red_Dragon wrote:
THE best sax solo EVER.

  Shmelo wrote:

You need to listen to Coltrane.

 
Or perhaps this instead: "If you like this solo, you might enjoy listening to Coltrane".

 
Well-phrased, h8r. CC is a saxgod in the rock world. I never tire of listening to him. Gone way too early.
 
Along with 'Trane, there was this other cat worth checking out that was fair on the sax, name of Bird.
First comment.

So I first got into loving all that was Bruce and this song in particular in '79.  I stopped everything when this came on RP just now, closed my eyes, and went back in my mind to that magical time.  I wonder if my parents did the same in '79 when stuff from '39 came on the radio. (Actually, looking at the Billboard Top 60 for '39 on the Google Machine, quite possible they did.  Some good stuff on that list).
this is one of the songs where I remember where I was the first time I heard it. is 11 possible. For a young teen growing up on the east coast in 70's it hit me like waves on the beach during a noreaster.
A little Bruce no song is less then an 8
BRUCCCEEEE
The first CD I ever bought in 1983, and still the best sounding version of B2R.
Sony/Columbia 35DP-21
Also some of the Japan for US of Columbia CK-33795 are exactly the same.
And Japan for Europe - CBS CDCBS-80959 also the same.
If you rip it - it has Pre-Emphasis so apply a 24bit De-Emphasis to it.
It will Sound Awesome!
 
It's Friday. It's 3:30 p.m.  It's already looking dark outside.

This is just the thing to get me through until the weekend.
This is the finest from Bruce. I swear you will never hear Dancing In The Dark on RP

But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland

For me 9  - O U T S T A N D I N G   TY Bruce   TY RP
This one still causes frissons.    Had me floating over southern Patagonia in Argentina.

In 1979, I heard this one a truck driver's radio at 11:30 PM as I hitch-hiked away from a coal mine on the Chilean border. 

Prior to that I had just spent 5 days hiking around the Paine Towers (Los Torres del Paine) in Chile.  Did not see a soul for 3 days.  It was magnificent.


You see the advantage of brutal military dictatorships is the following:  few or no tourists.

I did hang the first evening out with 4 Israeli soldiers.   Chile under Pinochet was one of the few countries friendly to Israeli tourists.  Incidentally, one of the lads gave me a lift in a Mercedes Benz out of Santiago a month or so later as I headed back to the Argentinian coast with the objective of finding a freighter to Africa. 
As much of a Bruce fan as I am (saw him on the Darkness and River tours and then a half dozen times since), I gained a lot more appreciation for an artist and his craft by listening to him read his autobiography.
For instance, his Super Bowl three song selection wasn't random - there was a distinct idea behind the sequence.

Strong recommendation.
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
 Businessgypsy wrote:
westslope wrote:
John Steinbeck had that "go west young man" quality. Everybody read Travels with Charlie?
"Go west young man" was publisher Horace Greeley's 1865 admonition to embrace Manifest Destiny, the idea that the European immigrants that had become the citizens of the United States had a Divine right to populate and govern the continent all the way to the Pacific Ocean, no matter what country flew their flag or what Native people had lived there for generations. Sold a lot of papers. Hardly attributable to New Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen, and Steinbeck was post western expansionism.

Did enjoy Travels with Charley, 'tho. A great dog book well before the mushy Marley tripe. Springsteen? Not so much.
 
I enjoyed the comment BG.  Thanks even if it is 8 years later.
Wow still emotional for me after 40 years.  The big man on the horn and the poetry...
We don't hear alot of Bruce out here. That's fine.

I increase from 8 to 9  - O U T S T A N D I N G  


No kidding this one is the first time for me and I just love it. 
Thanks RP and listeners for the upload!  
 Wardleader wrote:
Well, I am certainly pleased that Bruce made it here.   May I suggest from "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" album,  NEW YORK CITY SERENADE.   So many of the listeners at RP may be shocked into some sort of higher consciousness upon hearing it.   And for the picky eaters here there is always your fancy whatchmacallit button to skip it if need be.   Please, so much more than JUNGLELAND,  the epic city poem from the rust coast.  If you play it, come to Philly and I will buy you a steak the size of toilet seat.   It would mean that much to me.

 
The entire second side of that album is nothing short of a masterpiece. Incident on 57th Street, Rosalita and New York City Serenade, the last being my favorite Springsteen song. And I’ve got a lot of close competitors. 
 Wardleader wrote:
Well, I am certainly pleased that Bruce made it here.   May I suggest from "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" album,  NEW YORK CITY SERENADE.   So many of the listeners at RP may be shocked into some sort of higher consciousness upon hearing it.   And for the picky eaters here there is always your fancy whatchmacallit button to skip it if need be.   Please, so much more than JUNGLELAND,  the epic city poem from the rust coast.  If you play it, come to Philly and I will buy you a steak the size of toilet seat.   It would mean that much to me.

 
The entire second side of that album is nothing short of a masterpiece. Incident on 57th Street, Rosalina and New York City Serenade, the last being my favorite Springsteen song. And I’ve got a lot of close competitors. 
I read all the comments here and love the various opinions. Some comments force me to remember certain aspects of songs that I have not thought of in years. Did I feel the same when I first heard this song so many years ago? Who was I thinking of when I listened to it? What relationship was I trying to chase when I was a young teenager? 
Then I go deeper and remember listening to it at certain times and where I was. I have said this before here, but I am amazed how sounds and smells can bring one person so close to another space and time...    
Pantheon worthy.
Well, I am certainly pleased that Bruce made it here.   May I suggest from "The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" album,  NEW YORK CITY SERENADE.   So many of the listeners at RP may be shocked into some sort of higher consciousness upon hearing it.   And for the picky eaters here there is always your fancy whatchmacallit button to skip it if need be.   Please, so much more than JUNGLELAND,  the epic city poem from the rust coast.  If you play it, come to Philly and I will buy you a steak the size of toilet seat.   It would mean that much to me.
I'd like to dedicate this one to Gov. Christie and the New Jersey legislature. 
Red_Dragon wrote:
THE best sax solo EVER.

  Shmelo wrote:

You need to listen to Coltrane.

 
Or perhaps this instead: "If you like this solo, you might enjoy listening to Coltrane".
This giant Exxon sign reminds me of the horror of filling up in the Summer of 2008.

 Related image
I rated this an 8, that being said during the college years I grew to dislike a lot of what he did just because it was constantly over played.  I have mellowed as the years have gone by.
 
 treatment_bound wrote:

Nope—Here's some mid-70's bad high school music.  Unfortunately, I'd seen Bruce on the cover of Time & Newsweek, but never actually heard the Born To Run album until I got to college 2 years after it was released.  Radio fed us a steady diet of Styx/Boston/Kansas out in "fly-over country", and we hadn't gotten hip to the big Jersey Shore sound at that point.

   
 
Bruce saved Rock and Roll in the 70's.
When I first heard Born to Run on the radio, I thought... finally!
Great Album! Hey Bill! How about playing some John Wetton/King Crimson in memory of the late great bass player/singer-songwriter...
 Red_Dragon wrote:
THE best sax solo EVER.

 
You need to listen to Coltrane.
 RabbitEars wrote:
fantastic. those first three albums were so good... nothing later can touch them. 

 

 
Make it "those first four", and include Darkness On the Edge of Town, and I'm in agreement. 

Well,... maybe The River. 

Hmmm... Nebraska is pretty good. 

Born in the USA?... loaded with iconic tracks. 

The Rising, Bruce's response to 9/11, is maybe the best artistic response to the tragedy. 

I'll take the Boss from any era without qualification.

12
EPIC passion. 
Look for the 1982/83 Pre-Emphasis CD version.
It is the BEST Mastering of B2R in ANY Format.

Japan - Sony/Columbia 35DP 21
USA - Columbia CK 33795 (not all under this number - just the first few years)
Eur - CBS CDCBS 80959 (DIDP 21)
Makes me want to lock myself in my bedroom, turn out the lights, put on the headphones, crank this album up as loud as it will go, and relive what it was like to be a teenage boy.  Wait, maybe I don't want to do that to myself now that I think about it.  But this song really captures those feelings.
That's what I was thinking. Way to go, Bill.
{#Biggrin} 

passsion8 wrote:
Coming off of the full 43-minute Tubular Bells track, this strikes me as another grand musical opus.

 


Coming off of the full 43-minute Tubular Bells track, this strikes me as another grand musical opus.
OH. my heart 
 

melzabutch wrote:
Image result for bruce springsteen clarence clemons born to run

 


Image result for bruce springsteen clarence clemons born to run
 Red_Dragon wrote:
THE best sax solo EVER.

 
oh, yes....was gonna say fuck yeah, but that seemed rude.
 Red_Dragon wrote:
THE best sax solo EVER.

 
RIP Big Man!


THE best sax solo EVER.
The Rat's own dream guns him down.
Just saw "Born to Run" on a list of greatest third albums.  No argument there.  The album, and this song, changed my music tastes (in a good way) forever.
Nobody could convey teen angst like the Boss in his early years.  The insecurities, the fears, the hopes, the dreams, the longing for something bigger and better in life, all viewed through the lens of a high school kid trying to impress a high school girl.  Brilliant, sometimes sad, sometimes energizing, sometimes hopeful, but still poignant and relevant to this day.
 
Never liked this one from Bruce. :P
fantastic. those first three albums were so good... nothing later can touch them. 

 
 rotten wrote:
Bad High School music

 
Bad high school experience?
 rotten wrote:
Bad High School music
 
Nope—Here's some mid-70's bad high school music.  Unfortunately, I'd seen Bruce on the cover of Time & Newsweek, but never actually heard the Born To Run album until I got to college 2 years after it was released.  Radio fed us a steady diet of Styx/Boston/Kansas out in "fly-over country", and we hadn't gotten hip to the big Jersey Shore sound at that point.

   

Bad High School music
Love the primal wailing at the end of this piece!
 Cynaera wrote:

{#Clap} "Jungleland" was one of the first songs I'd ever heard by Springsteen. Those lyrics painted such a clear, dark picture in my mind, and it stayed true and became a muse for me whenever I needed to call upon stark desperation and objectivity to make a point in my writing. I couldn't separate the song from the inspiration, so I have Springsteen on my shoulder all the time, metaphorically.

Which might explain, to some small degree, why I'm such a bitch most of the time. {#Confused}
 

Dang it, I miss you, you marvelous woman...  well said...  love this song...
Just masterful. Artist at his zenith. Guernica. Henry V. The Fifth Symphony.
Earlier Bruce; so ambitious, a touch melodramatic, over wrought, even as we LOVE HIM SO !!
Wonderful.   Bill, you have impeccable taste is music.

This has solicited a ton of comments and ratings over the years on RP.   That says something.  Not sure what.

 

Tonight in j u n g l e llllaaannnddd......!

P.S. Dear Mr Rove, newsflash from Fux News - you lost! Now... crawl back into your hole! Sorry, off point, just read the article about the shallow minded turd and couldn't resist.


Amazing song from an awesome album!!
Bleughhh hairy chest ,smell of B/O .....yawn
 xtalman wrote:
Love hate relationship with this.  I like the song, great musicianship....WAAAYYYY overplayed when I was in college all those years ago.
 
Which is why I didn't see him back then
I've lived in NJ for over half my life.....right next to Freehold(Bruce's hometown)and have never seen him live.Now 40 plus years later I'll see him in KC.....looking forward to it!
I love Bruce's early stuff!!  Love it!!