The 4th of July (Jersey shore version)

There are so many pieces of music celebrating our 4th of July holiday. They tend to be, not surprisingly, different versions of patriotic music. Bruce Springsteen has a different way of looking at this holiday. One of his classic songs, and one of my favorites, is 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy). It has brilliant lyrics (consider, from the very opening, "the fireworks are hailing over Little Eden tonight") and a level of soft intensity that just makes you stop and listen. 

The song is from The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, Springsteen's second album. It features Danny Federici, the organist of the E Street Band, on the accordion. This version is particularly poignant because it is a performance from just before Federici's death in 2008. If you watch all the way to the end, you'll see a bit of a tribute to him.

                                             

Happy 4th of July (to my American friends). 

Happy Monday to everyone else.

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For those of you really interested, "Little Eden" refers to Mrs. Jay’s Beer Garden, a biker bar found in Asbury Park, New Jersey (on the Jersey shore). In 1974, it was converted into The Stone Pony, a now legendary music club where Bruce Springsteen played some of his first concerts.