Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen has a kind of less famous, but no less important twin: Nebraska two years earlier. The two albums are inextricably linked by the fact that various tracks from the '84 album were contained in another form in the acoustic demo from which it was born Nebraskaincluding the title track, Downbound Train, Working on the Highway (at the time Child Bride) and the B-side Pink Cadillac. The first sessions of Born in the USA began with an attempt to record full band versions of eight songs by Nebraskaall those on the album except My Father's House And State Troopers.
Interviewed for the fortieth anniversary of Born in the USAdrummer Max Weinberg and keyboardist Roy Bittan remember those days.
Roy, the first time the E Street Band rehearsed the songs of Nebraska it was in your living room. Do you have memories of those moments and studio sessions?
Roy Bittan: I had a contemporary style house, with a living room all wood, brick and large windows. We put the equipment down there, the sound was fabulous. We tried a few pieces and then finished them off Nebraska in preparation for the real studio sessions. As I remember them, those versions were fantastic. Ok, I haven't listened to them since, what was it?, maybe 1981, so I could be wrong. We then went into the studio and tried to record that material, but the point is that Bruce had managed to capture something unique with the Tascam recorder in his house. In those demos there was a nice feeling of intimacy, they perfectly conveyed the idea of solitude. Now, when you record something from a demo, the idea is always to make something better. And so even though the sessions with the band were excellent and an album would have come out very well, the vibrations that could be felt on that cassette were unique. Ultimately, he chose to keep the carvings made in his bedroom. But I'm dying to hear the studio recordings… Maybe Bruce will get into it at some point.
Max Weinberg: It had the songs from the demo of Nebraskabut also Working on the Highway. I remember working on Working on the Highway very similar to how it came out on Born in the USA And I remember my drum part was Steve's idea. I recorded our rehearsals on a professional Walkman, I have everything on tape, including Murder Incorporated. The material of Nebraska it was E Street Band style and similar to how we do those songs live now, it was awesome. And it was a rock record… Jon Landau suggested I listen John Wesley Harding of Bob Dylan telling me that Bruce seemed to be going in that direction. And there were some takes like that, with brushes, a stripped-down rhythmic approach. But there were also rock versions of some songs Nebraska.
At some point in 1982 from the sessions of the electric version of Nebraska you went on to record eight of the twelve songs on Born in the USA How did it happen?
Weinberg: I remember one evening at the Power Station there was an argument between Steve, Jon and I think Chuck (Chuck Plotkin, ed). Bruce came in and said we needed to try something different. He had many other songs that he had saved and that he had worked on. We took them and made eight of the twelve that ended up on the record. Over the next 14 months we recorded probably 60 or 70 more songs in various studio versions.
Bittan: For me, I remember that I decided to try using synthesizers. I arrived at the studio with a Yamaha CS-80, which didn't arouse much sympathy from the others in the band (laughs).
You once said that after you brought the synth into the studio, you were treated like someone who killed someone.
Bittan: Synthesizers were used a lot in pop at the time and so there was a sort of rejection when they saw one, but for me it was the instrument that could interpret the spirit of those songs better than others. I thought the synth could broaden the horizons by creating the right backdrop for Bruce's lyrics who, let's not forget, is a poet. For me this was the beginning of Born in the USA I think I played a lot more synth on that album than piano.
What do you remember from when you shot the video of Dancing in the Darkpartly during a concert in St. Paul, Minnesota?
Bittan: Ah yes, it was a big theater. And there was Courteney Cox. It was an interesting and different thing for us. The charade was probably not our style, but it was fine for MTV. And then in my opinion the song was so beautiful that we could have made any other video and we would have achieved the same result.
Weinberg: Much of the video was filmed before the concert, the previous evening, it was a Hollywood production. About 500 people showed up and we did it over and over again. We must have played it, me with headphones on, 15 or 20 times in a row. And then during the concert we did it again, this time with the audience and Courteney Cox. Basically, during the concert we stopped at a certain point and Bruce told the audience that we were going to shoot a video. The next video was that of Born in the USA at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, I think. That time Bruce told everyone: “Don't shave and don't try to play by replicating the record.” He missed him saying: “Don't shower, I want us to look like a garage band.”
From Rolling Stone US.