Belated happy birthday

The Boss turned 60 last Wednesday. Meant to update then, but got waylaid by drinking too much while watching Times New Viking. It's pretty incredible that this guy is already that far along - he's released two albums in the last two years alone, and while his voice did seem to give out more than it did in the eighties when I saw him play Hyde Park this year, I never felt like watching a relict.

My first memory of listening to Springsteen is my dad telling my brother that "Born in the U.S.A." was about him (my brother was born in upstate NY) when it came on the radio when we were little, about 8 or 9. My dad had the Greatest Hits album and used to play it a fair bit, and when I got my first CD player I didn't have any CDs, so I nicked that one and listened to it upstairs in my dad's office. We were doing English at school by then, so I took out the lyric sheet and got stuck in. I didn't know what a courthouse or a porch was, but I think I did realise that this guy sang about life, normal, shitty, occasionally bearable life, and that he meant it. "Thunder Road" was my favourite song (still is one of them), and "Secret Garden" (ok, that one isn't) was the soundtrack to me crying man-tears over a girl I liked over a summer or two.

When we moved to London, my dad took us all to see him play Crystal Palace, and after that I was, as they say, converted. I've seen him twice since and loved every cheesy, loud, overblown, beautiful, sincere and sweaty minute of it. The fact that "Working On a Dream" was, by and large, rubbish, doesn't really worry me. I am worried that I'll never get to see him play "Land Of Hope & Dreams". But considering I still haven't gotten bored of his back catalogue, I think I'll live if I don't. Long may he continue to be awesome.

I've been mildly obsessed with this video today.





P.S.: I finally, FINALLY beat my housemate on penalties tonight. This might be a decent week.