Racing In The Street (track)
by Bruce Springsteen

"Tonight tonight the strips just right, I wanna blow 'em all out of their seats, so come out now everyone And we'll go racing in the street,"

Not just Bruce’s greatest ballad but his greatest song with the most beautiful piano intro from Roy Bittan.

The song, with its narrative about a guy in a dead-end job whose outlet is racing his car and winning money gambling on the outcome, fits seamlessly into the Springsteen narrative of the people that he grew up with. He writes and sings from the heart and about things that he understands.

Springsteen has said that this song commemorates the racing in the street that occurred outside Asbury Park, New Jersey. Springsteen songs from the 1970s often celebrated the car, another great track being Thunder Road, There seems to be something in the American male psyche that celebrate the car or the freedom that having a car affords you.

What can get lost on the narrative of this song is the part played by the girlfriend. There’s a lot of sympathy and understanding for the protagonists girlfriend in this song, which again, is a trait of Springsteen in his writing.

I love this song because it sounds “true”. It’s authentic and real and brilliantly, understatedly performed. The perfect Springsteen song. Hell, just a perfect song.

Bruce could really tell a romantic story when he tried. Another slow burner that displays the Boss's songwriting prowess over seven carefully metered minutes. Oh, and some gorgeous piano as well. Definitely a highlight from this record.

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The rest of this album is pretty standard Springsteen crowd pleasing fare, and I got bored of it pretty quickly. However, this track, a ballad, is outstanding, and I finally got to hear it on the radio-twice in fact, on planet rock, on their amps off programme. I salute you Planet Rock for playing this brilliant track that all other radio stations have chosen to ignore. Oh, and needless to say, it does not appear on any best of compilations, as far as I know. With the exception of 'Born to Run', I think this is Springsteen's greatest track.

This is the outstanding track on tis album and my 2nd favourite Springsteen track (after born to run) of all time. I waited over 30 years(!) to hear this on the radio: Nicky Horne I salute you. He played it on Planet rock on their amps off programme on a Sunday night. Needless to say, this track does not appear on any 'best of' compilation. People think that all BS songs have to be out and out rockers. This is not, it is a ballad and simply beautiful, and perfectly suited to his voice. Other radio stations: wake up and look around-there are some great songs out there which you continually choose to ignore. This is one of the best of them.