Oftentimes my birthday puts me in a bit of a reflective mood. I tend to weigh the good and the bad of the last year and hope that the scales are tipped in my favor. They usually are. In the spirit of this reflective mood, I thought I’d compile a list of 10 Bruce lyrics that have helped me grow, helped me love, helped me laugh, and helped me cry. Lyrics that have shaped the person I am today.

10. Well so much has happened to me that I don’t understand

       All I can think of is being five years old following behind you at the beach

      Tracing your footprints in the sand

     Trying to walk like a man.  –“Walk Like A Man”

My father was my first hero. There’s a fine line between being a parent and being a friend and nobody walked that line better than he did. Never pushed too hard, but always made sure I had the guidance I needed to navigate this world that seemed increasingly hell-bent on beating you down. I remember being on the beach, following his footprints in the sand. And I remember wanting nothing more than to be like him.

9. When I lost you honey, sometimes I think I lost my guts too

      And I wish God would send me a word

     Send me something I’m afraid to lose. –“Drive All Night”

Everyone has experienced a break up. In hindsight, some were more devastating than others, but they all felt the same at the time. It really did feel like your guts had been ripped from your body and you were left with nothing. You were dying inside, just waiting for something to make you whole again. I no longer have anything that I’m afraid to lose, you took all that when you left. We like to think of every love as everlasting, and it hurts when we realize that sometimes it’s not.

8. Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk. –“Thunder Road”

I got my first guitar when I was in high school. It was a black Fender acoustic that my parents bought for me from Luca Music in North Providence, RI. My old man had taught me a few chords already, so I wasn’t a complete stranger to the instrument. But it wasn’t until I got my very own that I started to find my voice, both literally and figuratively. To this day, I am a different person when I pick up a guitar; lost in a world that no one else can go to but me.

7. I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd

     But when they said sit down I stood up. –“Growin’ Up”

I spent a lot of time in the “clouded wrath of the crowd” growing up. I had a tendency to blend in more than I stood out. But there was always a place a bit deeper inside of me that was drawn to the anti-authority, rebellious youth. Sometimes I would stand up when they told me to sit down. This song always reminds me to let your freak flag fly every now and then. Don’t always conform. Dye your hair, get a tattoo, and quit your shitty job. It feels good sometimes.

6. Now you hung with me when all the others turned away, turned up their nose

    We liked the same music, we liked the same bands, we liked the same clothes…

   And I’m just calling one last time not to change your mind

   But just to say I miss you baby, good luck, goodbye, Bobby Jean. –“Bobby Jean”

I have a good number of friends who have moved to all different parts of the country. I miss them. The memories of the good times are so real, and they never cease to make me smile. They have all carved out great lives for themselves, and I would certainly never ask them to change their mind. But I would like to just say that I miss them. Good luck, goodbye.

5. Now judge, judge I had debts no honest man could pay

     The bank was holdin’ my mortgage and they was takin’ my house away

     Now I ain’t sayin’ that makes me an innocent man

    But it was more than all this that put that gun in my hand.-“Johnny 99”

We are all just a “pink slip” away from having our worlds turned upside down. This song always reminds me not to judge those whose shoes I have not walked in, for I know not where they’ve been. It also reminds me that no matter how bad it gets, I must keep my head together, for the sake of myself and my family. Poverty leads to destitution which leads to crime which leads to prison. It’s a slippery slope that anyone could find themselves sliding down.

4. So tell me what I see, when I look in your eyes

    Is that you baby, or just a brilliant disguise? –“Brilliant Disguise”

We all wear masks. Finding love is about removing those masks. When I first started dating my wife, we both wore some brilliant disguises. It takes a long time to let someone all the way in. Now, 20 years later, we’re as naked as can be. What you see is what you get- warts and all. And I couldn’t be happier.

3. Whenever somebody’s fighting for a place to stand

   Or a decent job or a helping hand

   Wherever somebody’s struggling to be free

   Look in their eyes, ma, you’ll see me. –“The Ghost Of Tom Joad”

I’ve always had an interest in the quest for social justice in an unjust world. We sometimes give in to the mindset that all poor people must be lazy and all rich people must work so hard. Though sometimes there may be shards of truth in this thinking, the reality is that it is never that simple. Not by a long shot. “Boot straps” alone are not enough, everyone needs a little help now and then. Bruce likes to write about the gap between “the American Dream and the American Reality.” This song might be his best work on the subject.

2. We busted out of class, had to get away from those fools

    We learned more from a three minute record baby

    Than we ever learned in school. –“No Surrender”

I’ll admit it; I wasn’t the greatest student as a teenager. I knew what I had to do to get by and I did just that. To this day, I’m still not exactly sure why I need to know the hypotenuse of anything. My education was formed more by Exile On Main Street, Synchronicity, and Darkness On the Edge of Town than it was by Trigonometry, Physics, and World Civ. From Bruce’s music alone, I learned about faith, hope, love, despair, anger, tolerance, work ethic, crime, punishment, optimism, pessimism, values, and love for your fellow man. I don’t remember seeing that in a Math book.

1. For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside

    That it ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive. –“Badlands”

This one lyric may have taught me more about life than anything. It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive. Have your morning coffee out on the deck. Take a hike in the mountains. Put on your favorite album and crank the shit out of it and dance and sing and smile. Laugh at a corny joke. Put on Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and sit by a fire. Do a shot of whiskey every now and then; it cleans your insides out a little bit. Stay awake until the sun comes up. Sleep until noon. Hug your kids until you almost break their ribs. Kiss your wife, your husband, your boyfriend, your girlfriend but dammit, kiss someone. Because life is too short. The last things you want are regrets on your deathbed. Live life to the fullest every day, every minute, every second. And always remember: It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive.