My dad asked me what song I was going to do this week for the blog and I told him I was working on The Pretenders “Don’t Get Me Wrong.” He scoffed and said that song is “fluff” and proceeded to tell me three Beatles songs I should do instead. I promised I’d do a Beatles song soon, but there’s just so many of them.
Anyway, it threw me off and when I went back to work on the Pretenders’ song, I got discouraged and thought it was sounding like crap. So, I unearthed this older cover that I was never totally happy with. It’s “Downbound Train” from Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The U.S.A. album.
I really like the Boss’ original version, but as Abraham said at the last Baby Teeth practice “It’s no fun trying to sound like the E Street band.” My idea for the arrangement of this cover was to take the guitar part and make it into the bass line. I was kind of trying to emulate “Everything In Its Right Place” from Radiohead’s Kid A album; how the bass line is also the melodic center that everything else fluctuates around. Then I came up with a synthesizer part that uses the notes of the chord changes.
The thing that drew me into this song the first few times I heard it is that it paints a truly bleak portrait of a working man with a broken heart and a dismal blue collar future. For all of the Bruce Springsteen anthems that use these two themes, most of the famous songs put a tiger’s heart into the protagonist and a never-say-die attitude about life, love, adventure, and everything else. But “Downbound Train” has no happy ending and no better-luck-next-time message. “Now I work down at the car wash / where all it ever does is rain / don’t you feel like you’re a rider on a downbound train.” I love that image of the poor bastard covered in dirty water like a permanent dark cloud hangs over him.
Best, Peter (ACA)
love it. i like hearing you sing “now i swing a sledgehammer on a railroad gang.” it’s almost as if you wrote it yourself.!
I never knew the words, or story, to this song until now. Peter, I nearly cried. Thanks for sharing…
I can’t remember the last time I listened to Bruce. In fact, I can’t remember this song at all, which makes hearing your version of it all the more interesting. Well done my friend. Keep ‘em coming.
Yeah, it’s a tear jerker all right. I’m glad to hear that my version unveiled something new.
it’s true. nice to hear this with such clarity…that smoothy aca tone. well done.
and, your producing/mixing of this stuff is sounding great man.
Peter–this is one of my very favorite songs, and I even wanted to cover/sing it myself sometime. But you have done a fabulous job, and really captured the sadness in your own way. Thanks–I love all of these covers you do!