Bruce Springsteen And The E-Street Band And The Roots, "Because The Night"

Bruce Springsteen appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show last night, and played “Because the Night” with who-woulda-thunk-it backing from a supergroup combo of the E-Street Band the Roots. It was a little tepid in the beginning, but at the end, it got very rocking!

Meanwhile, Pitchfork’s Mark Richardson makes a nice point in his review of the reissue of Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness On the Edge of Town and the archival material released as The Promise.

“Still, there’s something odd about these ‘making of’ documentaries about albums coming from the artist themselves. In part because they seem so intent on directing how the music is heard. Sets like this and Neil Young’s Archives reflect a desire for artists to take control of their legacy and shape the narrative of their careers. It’s easy to understand this impulse, and doubly so when you are talking about people as controlling as Springsteen or Neil Young. And yet it’s also futile. As listeners, our stories are what will ultimately matter, and by having the music in our lives, we give it significance and form. Darkness is the kind of record you sink into, an album of power and dignity and loss and just a hint at the possibility of transcendence, which is something Springsteen’s fans have known all along, even without hearing a single detail of how it is made.”

Basically Richardson says, “You’re not the boss of me, Boss!” A sentiment that I think Springsteen would probably himself approve.

UPDATE: Also on last night’s show, Springsteen (in costume as younger, early-’70s Springsteen) joined Fallon (in costume as Neil Young) on a cover of Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair.” Here is a clip of the surprisingly effective weirdness that ensued: