"My Hometown" is a single by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

off his ''

Born in the U.S.A. ''Born in the U.S.A.'' is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released by Columbia Records on June 4, 1984. It topped the charts in nine countries, including the US and UK, becoming his most commercially su ...

'' album, that was the then-record-tying seventh and last top 10 single to come from it, peaking at #6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. It also topped the U.S.

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

, making the song Springsteen's only #1 song on this chart to date. The song is a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

-based, low-tempo number that features Springsteen on vocals.

Lyrics

The song's lyrics begin with the speaker's memories of his father instilling pride in the family's hometown. While it first appears that the song will be a nostalgic look at the speaker's childhood, the song then goes on to describe the

racial violence Ethnic violence is a form of political violence which is expressly motivated by ethnic hatred and ethnic conflict. Forms of ethnic violence which can be argued to have the characteristics of terrorism may be known as ethnic terrorism or ethnica ...

and

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economical downturn that is result of lowered economic activity in one major or more national economies. Economic depression maybe related to one specific country were there is some economic ...

that the speaker witnessed as an adolescent and a young adult. The song concludes with the speaker's reluctant proclamation that he plans to move his family out of the town, but not without first taking his own son on a drive and expressing the same community pride that was instilled in him by his father. Some of the song's images reference the recent history of Springsteen's hometown

Freehold Borough, New Jersey Freehold is a borough and the county seat of Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

, in particular the racial strife in 1960s New Jersey and economic tensions from the same times (such as the "textile mill being closed" was the A & M Karagheusian Rug Mill at Center and Jackson Streets of Freehold).

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it a "tender and somber look at the real American hometown" that is "evocative in rare way." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' called it a "contemplative, insightful single."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "My Hometown" was a straightforward video filming of a performance of the song at a Springsteen and

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

concert late in the

Born in the U.S.A. Tour The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's '' Born in the U.S.A.'' album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen; after two years of bodybuil ...

, eschewing fast-paced cutting for slower montages of Springsteen and various band members. Despite its lack of visual excitement, it still managed substantial

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

airplay in late 1985 and early 1986.

Track listing

#"My Hometown" - 4:33 #"

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was the ...

" - 4:27 The B-side of the single, "

", was a semi-comical live recording of the Christmas favourite from a Springsteen and E Street Band concert on December 12, 1975, at

C. W. Post College LIU Post (formally, the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and often referred to as C.W. Post) is a private university in Brookville, New York. It is the largest campus of the private Long Island University system. The campus is named ...

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

. Long familiar to Springsteen fans from its distribution years earlier to rock radio stations, it had previously been released on the fairly unknown 1981 children's album ''

In Harmony 2 ''In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record'' and ''In Harmony 2'' are two compilation albums of children's music performed by various artists, released in 1980 and 1981, respectively. Of the two albums, only the first album charted, reaching No. 15 ...

''; now in time for the Christmas season it was being issued again. Always a radio favorite, "Santa Claus" would benefit from the all-holiday-music-all-the-time formats of the 2000s, and during the 2005 holiday season "Santa Claus" would appear on the Billboard Top 40 Adult Recurrents and

Hot Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally start ...

charts.

Covers

* U2 performed the song live on their 1985

The Unforgettable Fire Tour The Unforgettable Fire Tour was a concert tour by Irish rock band U2 that took place in 1984 and 1985 in support of band's album ''The Unforgettable Fire''. Beginning in August 1984 with the band's first tour to Australia and New Zealand, the t ...

. *

Cindy Kallet Cindy Kallet is an American folk singer-songwriter from New England. She currently performs solo, with Grey Larsen, and as part of the trio of Kallet, Epstein & Cicone. Her first album, ''Working on Wings To Fly'' (1981), had songs about Martha ...

, Ellen Epstein & Michael Cicone performed the song on their 1993 album ''Only Human''. *

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

recorded the song on his 2014 album ''

A Letter Home ''A Letter Home'' is the 33rd studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young. It was released on April 19, 2014 on Record Store Day by Third Man Records. The entire album, which consists of covers of classic songs by artists Bruce Springs ...

''. * Pavel Bobek performed the song as "Můj rodný dům" on his 1988 album ''Já při tom byl''. *

Mischief Brew Mischief Brew was an American folk punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania consisting of vocalist and guitarist Erik Petersen, bassist Shawn St. Clair, and drummers Christopher Petersen and Christopher Kulp. The band played DIY folk punk and ...

, Erik Petersen recorded and digitally released the song on ''Thanks, Bastards''.

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: *

– vocals, guitars The E Street Band *

Roy Bittan Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthe ...

– keyboards *

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

– tambourine *

Danny Federici Daniel Paul Federici (January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008) was an American musician, best known as the organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player and a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. In 2014, Federici was posthumously induct ...

– organ *

Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being bass player and founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band si ...

– bass *

Max Weinberg Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' a ...

– drums *Ruth Jackson – backing vocals

Charts

Sales and certifications

References

External links

Lyrics & Audio clips from Brucespringsteen.net
{{authority control Bruce Springsteen songs 1984 songs 1985 singles Songs written by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Jon Landau Columbia Records singles Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Steven Van Zandt Song recordings produced by Chuck Plotkin