Being a rock star has never taken away from Bruce Springsteen’s poetic side. Even though “The Boss” is well-known for his relentless touring schedule and hard-working attitude, every song he has ever released is as beautiful as a piece of prose when all the musical extravagance is removed. Bruce Springsteen believed that Bob Dylan was still producing artistic music in his later years. According to him, anyone who has attempted to be poetic in rock music has to start somewhere.
However, did you truly need an unidentified online stranger to inform you that Springsteen was influenced by Bob Dylan? Most likely not. Given that many of Springsteen’s lyrics are intricate narratives with mythical elements of melodrama, it appeared that he was a young Dylan, complete with a catchy band and a tuneful voice.
But if Springsteen only showed interested in taking advantage of Dylan, we wouldn’t be speaking of him with such quiet respect these days. Whereas Springsteen painted vivid pictures of life in average America, depicting heartache and the pursuit of dreams, Dylan sought to impart lessons in some of his songs. He explored themes of escaping mundane lives for the unknown, aiming to educate listeners through his music.
By the time Springsteen began working on albums such as Nebraska, you could hardly call him another artist. With Dylan still riding high from his born-again Christian conversion, Springsteen was reaching deep into his soul to write songs that illuminated the darker aspects of life a bit more.
Dylan taught Springsteen how to age gracefully as a rock star, even though by the 1990s he had developed into his own unique brand of songwriter. From Time Out of Mind onward, Dylan crafted songs with the skill of a seasoned artisan. He drew on his deep baritone voice for songs like “Make You Feel My Love.” Dylan used records like “Love and Theft” and “Modern Times” to help listeners overcome their grief.
Springsteen told Jann Wenner that he loved every song Dylan had written, even though he didn’t think he had the same revolutionary energy on the epic “Murder Most Foul.” I enjoy Rough and Unruly Ways and Modern Times. The production value and quality of the writing and playing are excellent. “Murder Most Foul” is a true classic Dylan song, a masterwork. That’s really amazing that he could still do that at 80 years old.
Furthermore, Dylan didn’t appear to be trying to skimp on the track. One of Dylan’s longest songs ever recorded, it takes the listener on a trip around the 1963 presidential assassination. Each verse boldly explores how the world changed, possibly growing colder after Kennedy’s murder that hot Texas afternoon.
Dylan also shows Springsteen’s influence. Dylan nearly adopted the same historical perspective that “The Boss” had when compiling albums such as The Rising. At Dylan’s age, most musicians would try to submit any old song they had in the works. However, “Murder Most Foul“ is an example of the older poet distilling all of those years into a single song.
