One of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs is a single taken from 1980’s ‘The River‘ album, “Hungry Heart“. Did you know that originally the Boss wrote it for one of my favourite bands of all time, the Ramones? Nor did I until recently.
It was Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau who advised him against giving the song away. Having seen Patti Smith and the Pointers Sisters have hits with Springsteen giveaways “Because The Night” and “Fire” respectively. But I think ‘Da Brudders’ would have made a spectacular job of it. A bit of Spectoresque production and the uniqueness that the Ramones had would have made it a mega hit.
The song’s title is a reference to a line from ‘Ulysses’ a poem by Tennyson. The line reads ‘For always roaming with a hungry heart’.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 
“Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don’t know where it’s flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going…”
The first Bruce song I ever heard and still one of my absolute favourites. I definitely would have loved to hear a Ramones version. Or how about The Boss singing Rockaway Beach? That would work…
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The Boss doing Rockaway Beach, now that really would be good!
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