Is It Really Magic?

How Springsteen channeled past hits—and coffee—to create his latest born to sell album

By Serene Dominic
Published: Dec 10, 2007
Photography by © Globe Photos

Think rock music is done as a cultural force? In the current, youth-based, rap heavy market, Springsteen’s Magic debuted at #1 in nine countries, including the USA, where he was born, in case you didn’t know. What are the percolations behind such a trick? For the faithful, Springsteen continues to brew his rich blend of baby boomer musical reference points that make his albums impossible-to-resist comfort items. We decided to break down some of his latest songs to see how Inspiration + Déjà vu = Magic.

Seriously, the Boss really owes Tommy Tutone a beer. He can still be reached at "867-5309."

The song’s intro transposes the 1965 Byrds hit and the chorus recalls Yaz’s 1982 synth ballad, but the groggy start and gradual lurch of “You’ll Be Comin’ Down” sounds like Bruce’ll be risin’ up…to the fresh mountain grown taste of Folgers! It doesn’t take a musicologist singing “The Best Part of Waking Up” over these chord changes to guess that Springsteen (who would “get up in the evening” in the “Dancing in the Dark” era) is now firmly a member of the Folgers’ “Waking Up Club.” Check out his lyrical nod to “A cup of coffee, a heart shot clean through” and “red mornings,” clearly indicating a preference for red Classic Roast or Gourmet Supreme over the workingman’s green Decaf.

Costello’s 1981 Imperial Bedroom track is the obvious starting point here, yet even Elvis was influenced by “baroque and roll” band the Left Banke, whose 1966 hit is recalled in the verse melody of “Your Own Worst Enemy.” But damned if you can’t sing the Folgers jingle over this one too. And the line “You can’t sleep at night” indicates caffeine’s the real Boss here.

Crafty, pop secret detective Bruce quasi-cops the line “I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes” from the Stones’ “Paint It Black,” writes a new classic around it, and still manages to get in the album’s third blatant java reference — in Frankie’s Diner, “Shaniqua brings a coffee and asks ‘fill?’" Need she even ask?

Sure, it’s “My Hometown” circa 2007, forlorn Bruce recounting the story of man who doesn’t recognize anything about the world he left behind. But taken instrumentally, until Clarence Clemons’ sax quotes the melody line from “Third Stone From the Sun,” it’s hard to believe that this actually isn’t “The Best Part of Waking Up.” Bruce probably would’ve included a literal coffee reference here too but “the diner was shuttered and boarded.” Perhaps the Starbucks label should drop Sir Paul, and get Bruce while he’s piping hot.

On his latest video podcast writer/performer Serene Dominic proves it all night by actually singing the Folgers jingle over "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" and a vintage Folgers commercial hijacked off YouTube. For his next Bruce mixed media experiment, he's threatening to simultaneously play The Wizard of Oz and Nebraska

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