Few voices have captured the sentiments of a nation better than Bruce Springsteen. The Boss is America’s mouthpiece–the highs and the lows. While he has albums that reflect his inner dialogue, many of his top songs are cultural pieces, perfectly reflecting the grievances of U.S. citizens. But, if you were to ask Springsteen, he would likely point a finger at a different artist to match the descriptors above: Bob Dylan.
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Springsteen has long heralded Dylan as the voice of the American spirit. Moreover, there is one Dylan album in particular that Springsteen feels is the perfect snapshot of the “real” U.S. Find out which album that is, below.
The Album Bruce Springsteen Says Captured the Real America
Springsteen once called Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” a “History and culture changing piece of music.” He certainly isn’t alone in that opinion, but his equally transformative catalog makes his compliment hit even harder.
“Like a Rolling Stone” appears on Dylan’s heavily lauded Highway 61 Revisited. This 1965 release is one of Dylan’s best–a fact unanimously agreed upon by Dylan fans. Listeners love this record for many reasons, but according to Springsteen, the album’s merits lie in its ability to capture the reality of America.
Highway 61 Revisited
“I used to say when I heard Highway 61, I was hearing the first true picture of how I felt and how my country felt,” Springsteen once said of this Dylan record. “That was exhilarating.”
Given that comment from Springsteen, Highway 61 Revisited no doubt inspired The Boss to do his own deep dive into the heart of America. He went on to celebrate this record’s “tremendous courage”–which is something he has displayed in his own career as well.
“I think what Dylan did was he took all that dark stuff that was rumbling underneath, and pushed it to the surface with irony and humor, but also tremendous courage to go places where people hadn’t gone previously,” Springsteen added.
Springsteen certainly isn’t the first artist to laud Dylan for his unabashed candor, but he is one of the only artists that we’d dare to call a true son of Dylan. Though the genres they operated in were set far apart, Springsteen unmistakably picked up his cultural awareness from Dylan. Revisit the title track from Highway 61 Revisited below, for a snapshot of life in America in the ’60s.
(Photo by Valerie Terranova/Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation)
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