Jungleland

Amazing song. Perhaps.. no not perhaps, clearly, the best rock lyrics ever written. Springsteen, sadly, was never able to recreate the lyrical genius evident in Jungleland and Thunder Road.

I'm an English major, I've read Tennessee Williams, and Faulkner, and Shakespear. I've read the poetry of Wordsworth, Dyland Thomas and Samuel Taylor Colleridge. And this work can stand with them.

This song, IMHO.. is a statement of the struggle for young people living the streets to find some moments of joy. Close enough to spit at the affluent beachtowns of Long Island and Manhattan, the Magic Rat and the Barefoot girl find themselves in a whole different world.. and still there are moments of happiness for them.

But that happiness is fleeting, and, by the end, the Rat is gone, and...

" No one watches when the ambulance pulls away Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light".

This is the essence of Springsteen at his best, evident in his early Albums right up until Born in the U.S.A., where he sort of lost his way, I think.

It's the struggle that neither Ronald Regan, nor Barack Obama understand.. it's a world where no one asks for a handout, where no one expects there to be a silver lining, where hope is fleeting.. but where you struggle on, with pride and occasional moments of joy, drinking a warm beer in the soft summer rain.. or, in another song, just racing in the street..

There is no grand message. No "moral" to the story. Only a glimpse into the lives of so many young people who grow up in worlds far removed from most of us.. and who find something like love, for a moment, as they disappear down flamingo lane.

But.

At the end.

They're left wounded. Not even dead.

(I just had a shiver. I've heard the song a thousand times, and it still moves me.)

Funny, I played this song on my "ghetto-blaster" on a caleche ride in Old Montreal, on my first date with a beautiful young lady named Donna, back in May of 1984. We had tickets to see The Boss in August (Born in the USA), and I wanted to introduce her to Bruce in an intimate and memorable setting. I think we both teared (and hugged) listening to the song - one of those unexpected yet understandable emotional reactions to the sounds and poetic verses of a man you know is prophetic. Riding around beatiful Montreal on a horse-drawn carriage at night with the proclaiming and stirring sounds of Bruce Springsteen all seemed so cool and so right! So, on the night I proposed I borrowed a "limo" (my mom's Civic!) and drove down to Old Montreal. I played Jungleland on the car's cassette deck (pretending to play the local radio). Well that just set the mood, along with a chain of events which would end up with Donna saying, "yes"! That was back in 1991. We've had 3 kids and 2 dogs since, and last summer we were lucky enough to see Bruce (again!) in Montreal; he closed with Jungleland, and we embraced as we smiled and cheered (and wept).

if you haven't seen or heard the Live in NYC version of this song, you are missing out big time. My favorite all-time Bruce song

RIP Clarence "big man" Clemons... :( the soul of E-Street and the soul of rock'n'roll. You will be greatly missed. I never got to see this song live... but I'll be satisfied with bowing my head and blasting it from my room, in tribute.

This song is classic bruce. It touches on young love, lust, cars, driving, sex, drugs, mistakes, and hitting the ultimate low: wounded but not even dead. I love this song...it was the first Bruce song I ever heard, and I absolutely love the Live in NYC version. "barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a dodge drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain" it's beautiful

the big man's guitar solo changed my life

Reminds me allooot of West Side Story

this is kinda like Springsteen's "Desolation Row" -- the place where it all happens for him

Some of the best lyrics in any song: "And the poets down here don't write nothin' at all / They just stand back and let it all be."

Man there's an opera out on the Turnpike There's a ballet being fought out in the alley

The best lines of the whole song. Bruce uses such poetic wordplay to describe life. The song touches on all classic Bruce ~ girls, cars, life in general. But this time, in this ballad, something is different as he comes at you in a much more personal level. Putting you right into the story with "The Magic Rat". He makes you want to listen to everything that you've heard time and time again. The way the song flows from the soft ballad into the last verse where he really drives it home "Outside the streets on fire in a real death waltz" is phenomenal.

This is a far too underrated song in general. Nine and a half minutes of greatness. Personal favorite song, too bad you almost never hear it.

After 30years of enjoying this song, it still knocks me off of my feet and the sax solo DOES make me cry. As mentioned above, I too think of a connection to West Side Story when I hear it to an extent. I'm not saying that’s what the song is about but I have to wonder if there wasn't a connection as Bruce admittedly refers to a lot of movies for song ideas, "Thunder Road" (old B-grade flick) probably being one of the best well known. Jungleland is without a doubt my favorite song, Born to Run is awesome but it doesn’t ‘hit’ me like this song does. Clarence Clemons should be canonized as a saint for the Sax solo. There is nothing better in the world then a nice spring/summer evening in the car with the top down with this song going.