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Summary

This web page is a review of Bruce Springsteen's second album, "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle," released on November 5, 1973.

Abstract

The article provides a song-by-song review of Bruce Springsteen's second album, "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle." The reviewer, Penelope Mayfield, shares her thoughts on each track, highlighting the music, lyrics, and vocals. The review is accompanied by YouTube clips from Springsteen's official channel. Mayfield gives the album a 5-star rating and expresses her appreciation for the Oxford comma, despite having to omit it in the album title. The article ends with links to other reviews by the author and a referral link for Medium membership.

Bullet points

  • "The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle" is Bruce Springsteen's second album, released on November 5, 1973.
  • The review is a song-by-song analysis of the album.
  • The reviewer recommends listening to the album with headphones for the best experience.
  • The review includes YouTube clips from Springsteen's official channel for each song.
  • The reviewer gives the album a 5-star rating.
  • The reviewer expresses her appreciation for the Oxford comma, despite having to omit it in the album title.
  • The article includes links to other reviews by the author and a referral link for Medium membership.

Getting Wild, Innocent, & Shuffly with Bruce Springsteen

My Year of Bruce Springsteen, Part 2: My album review of ‘The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle’

Image source: Columbia Records

The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen’s second album, was released on November 5, 1973 — a mere 11 months after his first album was released.

I’m not going to go into the history of the recording of this album, but here’s some very interesting info about it on the Wikipedia page for the album.

Other than the songs “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” and “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight), I was completely unfamiliar with the songs on The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle until I listened to the album for my first time just a little over a week ago.

Here’s my song-by-song look at the album. All of the songs were written by Bruce Springsteen. The below clips are from his official YouTube channel.

1. The E Street Shuffle

First of all, I’d like to highly recommend that listeners have headphones on while listening to this one. That’s how I first heard the song and also how I’m listening to it right now as I mistype some of theese words.

The music and background vocals in this one by The E Street Band are AMAZING. Mr. Springsteen is amazing on it too, of course.

Seriously — what a great start to this album!

2. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

Oh, man!

This one has truly fantastic lyrics, vocals, and music in it.

I love it. In fact, I love it so much that it’s ranked #1 on a list I created called “Songs I Love Featuring The Name Sandy.”

It’s ranked right above a song I wrote when I was in the 3rd grade that was entitled “Sandy, Sandy, Give Me Some Candy.” (Written for my neighbor Sandy, whose father owned the local candy shop.)

3. Kitty’s Back

This one is ranked high up on a list I made called “Songs I Love Featuring The Name Kitty.”

No, no — just joking. Moving on now…

I absolutely love this song. The music in it is fantastic.

The first time I heard it, I turned to my wife and said, “I seriously can’t believe how fantastic this is!”

Bruce and The E Street Band sound AMAZING on this song. I know I’ve already used that word in this review, but darn it, it fits amazingly well here.

4. Wild Billy’s Circus Story

There’s a great song called “Mary Queen of Arkansas” on Bruce’s previous album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, that has references to a circus in it. Then came this circus-related song on his second album.

I haven’t looked at the song titles on his third album yet, but from what I’ve seen so far from his first two albums, I won’t be surprised if there’s a song on the next album called “Brucie The Clown Goes To Town.”

Seriously, though…

“Wild Billy’s Circus Story” is a wonderful song. I love the lyrics in it. They’re absolutely brilliant. Songs like this one are a perfect example of why Bruce Springsteen is considered by many people to be one of the greatest lyricists ever.

5. Incident on 57th Street

This is another one that grabbed ahold of me the very first time I heard it. I instantly got wrapped up in Johnny’s and Jane’s story the same way I’d get wrapped up in a great movie, TV show, book, etc.

In addition to the lyrics and vocals, I also love the music in this song — especially the beautiful piano music at the end of it that goes right into…

6. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

One of the greatest rock and rolls songs ever!

I’ve always loved this one — in part because I have very fond memories of hearing it frequently on radio stations not long after I started driving.

I was 16 years old, driving around with my windows down, and “Rosalita” was playing loud on my car’s radio — and I’d be singing along the whole time!

7. New York City Serenade

What a magnificent song to end the album with. It’s a very long one…but oh, wow….it’s wonderful. Great music, lyrics, and vocals. I love it.

The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle is a fantastic album. I give it…drumroll, please…5 stars!

Image created on Canva.com by Penelope Mayfield

P.S.— Being a huge fan of the Oxford comma, it was quite difficult for me to repeatedly type the title of this album and not put a comma after the word “innocent,” but I’m not going to fight with The Boss on this one. You win, Bruce.

If you enjoyed the above, you may also like these other articles from me:

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Music
Rock
Review
Bruce Springsteen
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