"The worst song Bruce Springsteen has ever written."
- Detroit News
"At the 3:00 mark, it accidentally turns into a Meatloaf song."
- Blender
"Removes this record from consideration as one of the best releases of his career."
- Chicago Tribune
"Unintentionally ludicrous."
- San Jose Mercury News
"Unbelievably melodramatic ... sounds like someone doing a Springsteen parody."
- Orlando Sentinel
"Might be the worst song Springsteen has ever released."
- Philadelphia Inquirer
"May be the worst thing he's ever written."
- Pitchfork
Ignore the haters: this song is so bad it's good. From his new "Working on a Dream" album, we can only hope that The Boss busts this song out at the Superbowl. What "The Rising" was to 9/11, "Queen of the Supermarket" is to, well, supermarkets.
Bruce himself explains to The Guardian:
"They opened up this big, beautiful supermarket near where we lived. Patti and I would go down, and I remember walking through the aisles - I hadn't been in one in a while - and I thought his place is spectacular. This place is... it's a fantasy land! And then I started to get into it. I started looking around and hmmm - the subtext in here is so heavy! It's like, 'Do people really want to shop in this store or do they just want to screw on the floor?' So I came home, said: 'Wow, the supermarket is fantastic, it's my new favourite place. And I'm going to write a song about it!' If there's a supermarket and all these things are there, well, there has to be a queen."
Clearly, Bruce Springsteen loves to smoke a doob and then hit up the Krogers. He should have learned by now that it's a terrible idea to shop with the munchies.
The fan-made video below is what really sold me.
21 comments:
I can't wait to get this new record. I've heard "My Lucky Day", "Working On a Dream", and "Life Itself" and I'm sold. Also I was big on the last record and I think this producer works quite well with Bruce.
Rolling Stone gave it 5 stars for what it's worth.
I'm not sure what to say, but I wanted to comment to at least acknowledge that I listened to this song.
"blow this fuckin' place apart"...?
What is going on with this guy...just listened to some of the tracks from the new record on youboob, seriously, what is going on with this guy? The Seeger Sessions sound that the Boss explored a few years ago spoke a few more miles to me personally. Ever since "Radio Nowhere" and the the continuing sound on the new record, I'm just having a hard time seeing the relevancy or spark. I think it sounds great in a particular way, but not in any way that's interesting and makes me want to hear it again. It makes me more interested to know what the hell is going on with this guy?
Personally I think in the last few years Bruce has put out some of his best stuff ever. Tunes like "Girls In Their Summer Clothes", "Long Walk Home", and "My Lucky Day" are some of the best tunes he's ever put out. It has a very big almost Specterish quality to it. It's a complete left turn from Seger Sessions and Devils and Dust assuredly, but I think it's a great direction. It's a return of sorts to the cinematic quality that Born To Run and Darkness On The Edge Of Town had. And just like with those records the more you listen to it the more you start catching these subtle little flourishes. It has the ability of being instantly accesible while simulantiously being a grower full of depth and complexities. And in the end isn't that what Bruce is all about? Being the common man and carrying with that all the uncommon depth that comes from ordinary life?
heh, after hearing how much everyone hated the song, it did make it a little easier to like.
I don't think it's a bad song. It's not as good "The Wrestler" but it's still good.
While on that note I saw Mickey Rourke's The Wrestler this past weekend and highly recommend it. And then at the end of the flick when Bruce's "The Wrestler" was playing as the credits rolled not a single soul left the theatres until the song was done. The song just fits so perfectly with this film and Mickey's character.
Really? I kind of hate Bruce's song for "The Wrestler." I mean, "Have you ever seen a one-legged dog / making its way down the street?"
No, I have never seen a one-legged dog. I am not sure anyone has. And even if there was a a one-legged dog, it would be physically impossible for it to make its way anywhere. It would be a very still dog, unless it was hooked up into some kind of prosthetic carriage.
Maybe I'm being too literal here, but I judge a metaphor by the amount of sense it makes. "Grocery Store" and "Wrestler" both seem like parodies to me. That doesn't mean they can't be enjoyable, just not inspiring.
I'm with you there Rdubs, enjoyable but certain not inspiring - and there's some level of irony there considering Bruce's championing of a certain somebody.
I think comparing these four records is flirting with something sacred. But to indulge you're comparison, you're right, it's some step in the cinematic direction of BTR and DOTEOT. It just goes to show how much better those two records sound. The production is much, much warmer (it's on tape?). The instrumentation is over the top, but in an effort to reach some level of cinematic feel - beyond the traditional trappings of straight-forward rock n roll. The song writing has an energy and intrigue that comes with youth, you can hear this in the performances of "Backstreets" and "Streets of Fire". The two more recent records are light, airy, and subsequently weak sounding. The instrumentation sounds like a parody of rock n roll, the creativity is lacking and overall it suffers from the nature of recording today - where everything is crammed into a computer screen and quantized, compressed, scrutinized and forced into a digital path of death - instead of setting up instruments in a room (like the Seeger Sessions). Yes, the two new records do sound great and the songs are solid, but there's something about hearing all the layers upon layers of modern madness that pushes me to be disappointed.
One legged dog actually comes from a southern expression and yes they actually do exist, and yes the actually can use that one leg to drag themselves to where they need to go. The expression is usually used to apply to someone whose broken down and battered yet still keeps chugging along. And in The Wrestler that's what Mickey Rourke's character is. And he's also a "one trick pony" because the only thing he knows how to do is entertain the crowds by destroying his body.
And the line that most sums up the song and the movie is "my only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display".
Have you ever seen a one-legged dog? The only Google results are Bruce Springsteen song lyrics and the expression "Lying like a one-legged dog" that makes infinitely more sense.
http://www.luphen.org.uk/images/2005/2005-08/2005-08-22-114234.jpg
I saw that photo too, Luke. I am convinced it depicts an able-bodied 4-legged dog, just with long hair and three of its legs positioned in the air in a way to make them hard to notice.
I should put up a cash reward.
I reckoned that too, but it's still funny. Have you ever seen (or heard) George Carlin's true story about his pets? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL2UFhtQdZ4
I have not seen a one-legged dog with my own eyes but I've seen a two-legged dog in person and been chased by a three-legged dog around a ball park once before.
i think bruce used to see something that no one else did, so like any man proper, he deliberated his vision. but now i find myself asking, "what do i have to learn from a sixty year old man still working on his dream at a football game through a haphazardly personal revelation that supermarkets are big now? he sounds lost . . . and content.
in the flatter, scroogier sense, j is absolutely right. the music is big, dumb, and sterile like everything else our desperately modern culture delivers.
After having a long lengthy discussion with Mr Seger earlier I feel more of where You and Him are coming from. It's more of an indictment of the times it seems. But I figure there were probably those that felt the same way back in the 50's, 60's, 70's, ect. I remember Brian Wilson being anti Stereo saying that it diluted the original vision of the music. And people gave Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys shit for including an electric guitar.
by the way, I love when a thread gets this much conversation started on this blog!
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