Baseball related songs: “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen
In this episode, we pay attention to “Glory Days” sung by Bruce Springsteen. The song comes from the 1984 album “Born in the USA” and is about men who try to recapture youth again.
Even though “Glory Days” was recorded in 1982, the song appeared two years later on the Boss’ album “Born in the USA.” It was the fifth song that was released from that album. Even though the album went through several stages regarding songs that would be on it, “Glory Days” was one of the few songs that were a mainstay.
The song has a mix of styles and instruments. Springsteen’s biographer described it as “rinky-dink organ, honky-tonk piano, and garage-band guitar kicked along by an explosive tom-tom pattern.”
The single hit its highest ranking at the Billboard Hot 100 at no. 5 in 1985. The song is a partially serious and partially comical tale of a man who now remorsefully looks back on his so-called “glory days” and those of people he knew during high school. The lyrics to the first verse are autobiographical, as they are a recount of an encounter Springsteen had with former Little League baseball teammate Joe DePugh in the summer of 1973.
The video of the song was shot in May 1985 at various locations in New Jersey. The video shows Springsteen as the main character talking to his young son and pitching to a wooden backstop against an imaginary lineup. The video also shows several moments in which Dwight Gooden strikes out opponents in real game footage. The baseball field scene was shot at Miller Park Stadium in West New York, NJ. The field is inside a city block surrounded mostly by homes. Intercut with these were scenes of Springsteen and the E Street Band lip-synching the song in a bar. The bar performance scenes were filmed at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ.
The lyrics of the song are as follows:
I had a friend was a big baseball player
back in high school
He could throw that speedball by you
Make you look like a fool boy
Saw him the other night at this roadside bar
I was walking in, he was walking out
We went back inside sat down had a few drinks
but all he kept talking about was
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
Well there’s a girl that lives up the block
back in school she could turn all the boy’s heads
Sometimes on a Friday I’ll stop by
and have a few drinks after she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband Bobby well they split up
I guess it’s two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times,
she says when she feels like crying
she starts laughing thinking about
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
My old man worked 20 years on the line
and they let him go
Now everywhere he goes out looking for work
they just tell him that he’s too old
I was 9 nine years old and he was working at the
Metuchen Ford plant assembly line
Now he just sits on a stool down at the Legion hall
but I can tell what’s on his mind
Glory days yeah goin’ back
Glory days aw he ain’t never had
Glory days, glory days
Now I think I’m going down to the well tonight
and I’m going to drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don’t sit around thinking about it
but I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
a little of the glory of, well time slips away
and leaves you with nothing mister but
boring stories of glory days
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
Glory days well they’ll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl’s eye
Glory days, glory days
During concerts, Springsteen extends the number to ten minutes at times.
In the music video, Julianne Philips, then Springsteen’s wife, plays a part. Also the next Mrs. Springsteen, Patti Scialfa, plays a role in the video.