All the hard things I found out

The new Springsteen album makes me sad.

I’m sure it’s at least partially because the past and mortality hover over many of the tracks. It’s also because he, in spite of the usual ebullience of the E Street Band, now spends more time looking backward than ahead. And the album's closer, the wonderful “I’ll See You in my Dreams,” sounds like a goodbye – to old friends, bandmates and even his fans.

And while the album overall is quite remarkable, the three oldest songs – “If I Was the Priest,” Janey Needs a Shooter” and Song for Orphans,” are clearly the best things here – and they are nearly 50-years-old. And it reminds me that he’ll very likely never approach that greatness again. These are Dylan-drenched dense throwbacks, newly recorded, and sublime. And to think, he thought they weren’t good enough to release earlier. That’s the mark of a great catalog of songs to choose from. 

And that saddens me to think that his prime – and mine – are long gone. While, of course, he's still hitting some high notes (something I never really did in any respect), his thoughts of mortality call to mind my own – many regrets, poor choices and advancing years.

So I am trying hard to remember those old times, specifically the ones Springsteen-related: My first show in 1975, 117 more shows all over the U.S and even Great Britain, friends that I shared those shows with. Hours upon hours of listening to this music and dreaming. Thinking of the days when Rosie – and me as well – really were jumping a little higher. 

Exposing Jack to this music and getting in his car for a drive, and he immediately cranks up “The Promised Land.”

And, amidst the sadness, I sit back and smile.