In honor of his 70^th birthday, I wanted to pay tribute to Bruce Springsteen by listing my top 20 favorite Springsteen songs.  I couldn’t do just 10.  There were too many.  And I actually could have done way more than 20 but I figured 20 was a good number.  It was difficult to narrow them down but I managed to do so.

Here goes:

20. “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” – Don’t get on me about this one.  In my opinion, it’s the best version there is.  I love to hear it any time of year.  In fact, I just had the opportunity to hear it the other day on E Street Radio when they were playing a live concert from 9/20/78 that was done in Passaic, NJ and Bruce sang the song for the audience as a “surprise”.  I was in my glory!  Bruce and Christmas.  You can’t go wrong.

19. “Light of Day” – It may be a more obscure Bruce song, one many may not know about.  If you’ve ever seen the Michael J. Fox/Joan Jett movie of the same name, you’ll know the song.  They sing the song in the movie.

18. and 17.  “Human Touch” and “Better Days” – Both resonate for me because they were songs I played when I was with my first boyfriend.  He bought me the cassettes.

16. “Rosalita”  – I remember seeing a video of a live performance of this song on a compilation VHS tape I had of Springsteen videos.  I thought it was comical when the girls kept sneaking up on the stage.

15. “Fire” – It’s just a good song.  Even the Pointer Sisters sang it well.

14. “Blinded By The Light” – Another underrated one.  And Bruce’s only #1.  Only as a songwriter.

13. “Growin’ Up” – You can hear this at the end of “Big Daddy” and well done on Broadway.

12. “Streets of Philadelphia” – From the movie of the same name.  Tom Hanks.  Bruce.  Can’t get any better than that.

11. “The Rising” – Bruce knew we’d need this song and album after 9/11

10. “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” – There is a private joke in my family about this song.  All because of E Street Radio and how during a recent vacation, whenever we turned on E Street Radio, this song seemed to be playing.  But it would be a different version.  One time you may get a live version done on December 6, 1980 in England, another time it may be from July 17, 2016 at Gillette.  You never knew.  A great song.  Especially since it pays great tribute to Clarence Clemons.

9. “Tunnel of Love” – It’s such a picturesque song.  I had to analyze it in my junior year creative writing class.  The whole album means a great deal to me.  The “Tunne of Love Express Tour” was the first time I saw Bruce live.

8. “Hungry Heart” – To me Bruce’s first commercial success.  Can be heard in “Risky Business”.

7. “Badlands” – Just a great opening to the “Darkness” album

6. “The Promised Land” – Another great one from “Darkness”

5. “The River” – The song that really made me recognize Bruce as a storyteller.

4. “Thunder Road” – Who wouldn’t want to ride out tonight to case the promised land? Especially while listening to Bruce.

3. “Dancing In The Dark” – Bruce’s highest charting song.  And the world’s introduction to Courtney Cox.

2. “Born In The USA” – My first real exposure to Bruce where I actually began paying attention.  The song reveals the plight of the Vietnam vet and what they experienced, especially upon returning home. It is a great song to listen to while on the Music Express at the amusement park.  I know because I have. The song is incredible.  The entire album is phenomenal.

1.”Born To Run” – I cannot say enough about this song.  It is my all-time favorite song EVER, by ANY artist.  There is nothing that surpasses it.  Nothing ever will.  If I am alone in the car (or anywhere for that matter) and this song is playing (either on the radio, CD, whatever), that volume is going up FULL CRANK and I am belting it out!  AND. I. DO. NOT. CARE!  This is the album that put Bruce on the map.  It is extremely well-done and considering the amount of time I’ve heard they put into recording it, it should be.