I can see the ambiguity in this song, but I don't believe it was initially written about a male friendship. Bruce may use a bit of revisionist history today when discussing the song, but even he has said his songs take on new and different meanings as they age. The reasons I think the song is about a relationship with a woman is because while it may be questionable in the finished version we have here, the genesis of the song was clearly about a relationship with a woman.
During the early days of the Born to Run sessions, Bruce was singing a longer more drawn out version of Shes the One, which contained the early seeds of what would become Backstreets. Bruce was streamlining his wordiness during this period, and you can see the streamlining that took place from his earlier records to Born to Run, and progressed even further into Darkness.
Obviously Shes the One is about a girl, I think we can all agree upon that, so...
From Early versions of Shes the One:
Most of all I hated that town and what they did,
I hated the way they made us live,
I hated him and his fancy ways,
and I hated you when you went away
And of course Backstreets:
There was nothing left to say but I hated him
and I hated you when you went away
From Backstreets:
Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
(By the way, just how does this imagery project to a platonic male friendship?)
Similar imagery from Shes the One:
Now you're back and you're huddled in a corner
Where you hated me baby just like a child.
From Shes the One:
Remember all those movies, baby,
all those movies that we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk tough, talk rough
Just like those heroes we thought we had to be.
And of Course Backstreets:
Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like heroes we thought we had to be
Furthermore when he would play Backstreets in concert in 78, he would slow it down and go into a free word version of Sad Eyes, which would later become Drive All Night released on the River album. Sad Eyes, like Drive All Night, was clearly about a woman, and her coming back into his life much like the last verse of Backstreets. Now of course you can say that Sad Eyes was just a new song idea he was trying out, but then why stick it in the middle of a song about male friendship?
@chrisg19 Re: <<"Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness" (By the way, just how does this imagery project to a platonic male friendship?) >> It doesn't apply to a platonic male relationship, it's a homoerotic one. A man can still be a tramp, an angel, whatever. BTW: I've never seen the couple actually together in that line: it's the memory of his lost friend on his chest/heart, as he lays alone in the dark.)
@chrisg19 Re: <<"Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness" (By the way, just how does this imagery project to a platonic male friendship?) >> It doesn't apply to a platonic male relationship, it's a homoerotic one. A man can still be a tramp, an angel, whatever. BTW: I've never seen the couple actually together in that line: it's the memory of his lost friend on his chest/heart, as he lays alone in the dark.)
I can see the ambiguity in this song, but I don't believe it was initially written about a male friendship. Bruce may use a bit of revisionist history today when discussing the song, but even he has said his songs take on new and different meanings as they age. The reasons I think the song is about a relationship with a woman is because while it may be questionable in the finished version we have here, the genesis of the song was clearly about a relationship with a woman.
During the early days of the Born to Run sessions, Bruce was singing a longer more drawn out version of Shes the One, which contained the early seeds of what would become Backstreets. Bruce was streamlining his wordiness during this period, and you can see the streamlining that took place from his earlier records to Born to Run, and progressed even further into Darkness.
Obviously Shes the One is about a girl, I think we can all agree upon that, so...
From Early versions of Shes the One:
Most of all I hated that town and what they did, I hated the way they made us live, I hated him and his fancy ways, and I hated you when you went away
And of course Backstreets:
There was nothing left to say but I hated him and I hated you when you went away
From Backstreets:
Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness
(By the way, just how does this imagery project to a platonic male friendship?)
Similar imagery from Shes the One:
Now you're back and you're huddled in a corner Where you hated me baby just like a child.
From Shes the One:
Remember all those movies, baby, all those movies that we'd go see Trying to learn how to walk tough, talk rough Just like those heroes we thought we had to be.
And of Course Backstreets:
Remember all the movies, Terry, we'd go see Trying to learn how to walk like heroes we thought we had to be
Furthermore when he would play Backstreets in concert in 78, he would slow it down and go into a free word version of Sad Eyes, which would later become Drive All Night released on the River album. Sad Eyes, like Drive All Night, was clearly about a woman, and her coming back into his life much like the last verse of Backstreets. Now of course you can say that Sad Eyes was just a new song idea he was trying out, but then why stick it in the middle of a song about male friendship?
@chrisg19 Re: <<"Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness" (By the way, just how does this imagery project to a platonic male friendship?) >> It doesn't apply to a platonic male relationship, it's a homoerotic one. A man can still be a tramp, an angel, whatever. BTW: I've never seen the couple actually together in that line: it's the memory of his lost friend on his chest/heart, as he lays alone in the dark.)
@chrisg19 Re: <<"Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness" (By the way, just how does this imagery project to a platonic male friendship?) >> It doesn't apply to a platonic male relationship, it's a homoerotic one. A man can still be a tramp, an angel, whatever. BTW: I've never seen the couple actually together in that line: it's the memory of his lost friend on his chest/heart, as he lays alone in the dark.)