Darkness On the Edge of Town

Many of Springsteen's earlier songs, particularly on his 1975 Born To Run album, deal with hopes, dreams, and escape from the mundane. "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" is when harsh reality sets in. The guy in the song has been beaten down - he's lost his money and his wife - but he's resilient, still making a go of it out where most folks don't venture.

As with many songs he wrote at the time, Springsteen came up with the title for this one first. He said: "I had that title and said, 'Well, I'd better come up with something that deserves that title.' That's what I was always very, very good at - I didn't have any problem thinking really hard about what I was doing."

This is the title track to Springsteen's fourth album, and the last one on the tracklist. It's a very somber album, inspired in part by conversations Bruce had with friends and relatives in New Jersey - he picked up on a lot of suffering with a faint hope for the future. As for Springsteen, his wildest dreams came true when Born To Run caught fire in 1975, but just a year later, he found himself embroiled in a legal squabble with his first manager, Mike Appel, that kept him from recording. So he had fame and money, but he didn't have the freedom to do what he loved - something many of us struggle with in some form. When he finally settled the lawsuits and started recording again in 1977, he set out to express this dismay, leaving just flickers of light in the darkness. He made sure the whole album fit this theme and even gave away two hits he could have included: "Because The Night," which went to Patti Smith, and "Fire," which The Pointer Sisters recorded.