Counting Down Bruce Springsteen: His 100 Finest Songs
Best-of lists most often say more about the author than the topic, but that’s why they’re so entertaining and infuriating. Beviglia admits straightaway that he is a big Springsteen fan. He admires both the singer’s legendary live performances and his recorded output. Beviglia’s self-imposed task—impossible but fun—is to choose Springsteen’s best 100 songs, which are described in short essays in order of merit, which are followed by an additional list of 100 more. Many of Springsteen’s most popular songs are here, and rightly so, but so are just as many of his obscure ones. It is heartening to see, for example, such less well-known compositions as A Good Man Is Hard to Find (Pittsburgh), Straight Time, and the great eulogy, Terry’s Song. Like all song-list books, the experience allows readers and listeners to revisit, reconsider, and rediscover an artist’s canon. Of course, Springsteen fans will shake their collective heads in disagreement at times, but that’s part of the fun. --June Sawyers