"
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is the second song on
Bruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss", is an American singer-songwriter. He records and tours with the E Street Band...
's breakthrough album
Born to RunBorn to Run is the third album by the American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was released on August 25, 1975 through Columbia Records. It captured the heaviness of Springsteen's earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences.Born to Run was a critical and...
.
The song loosely tells the story of the formation of the
E Street BandThe E Street Band is a musical group that has periodically toured and recorded with rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Sting,...
. However, when asked, most Springsteen fans cannot answer the question, "What is a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out?" The meaning of the phrase is still a mystery. Even Springsteen himself says, laughing, in the Born to Run documentary "Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run": "I still have no idea what it means.
"
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" is the second song on
Bruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss", is an American singer-songwriter. He records and tours with the E Street Band...
's breakthrough album
Born to RunBorn to Run is the third album by the American rock singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was released on August 25, 1975 through Columbia Records. It captured the heaviness of Springsteen's earlier releases while displaying a more diverse range of influences.Born to Run was a critical and...
.
The song loosely tells the story of the formation of the
E Street BandThe E Street Band is a musical group that has periodically toured and recorded with rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Sting,...
. However, when asked, most Springsteen fans cannot answer the question, "What is a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out?" The meaning of the phrase is still a mystery. Even Springsteen himself says, laughing, in the Born to Run documentary "Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run": "I still have no idea what it means. But it's important." The song's protagonist, "Bad Scooter", is a
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
for Springsteen himself (as indicated by the initials they share). In the third verse, Bad Scooter is saved by "the Big Man":
Clarence ClemonsClarence Clemons , affectionately known as The Big Man, is an American musician and actor. Since 1972 he has been a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, playing the saxophone. He has also released several solo albums and in 1985 had a hit single with "You're a Friend of Mine", a...
, the band's
saxophonistThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
. After his name is sung, Clemons lets loose a big note on his horn.
The song is upbeat, possibly the most so on the album, with a strong
horn sectionIn music, a horn section refers to two separate groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a band...
(led by Clemons) and
Roy BittanRoy Bittan is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974...
's consistent piano chords keeping the rhythm. As stated by Springsteen in the
Wings for Wheels documentary, the idea for the composition of the horn intro was
Steven Van ZandtSteven Van Zandt is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor, and radio disc jockey, who frequently goes by the stage names Little Steven or Miami Steve...
's. Despite all of this, the single was a chart dud, getting no higher than #83 on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. However, it has always had a strong following on
album-oriented rockAlbum-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Freeform and Progressive:The roots of the Album-Oriented Rock radio format began with programming concepts rooted in 1960s idealism...
radio and amongst Springsteen's fan base.
An ice cream stand at 10th Avenue on the boardwalk of
Belmar, New JerseyBelmar is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 6,045. The Borough of Belmar is governed under the Faulkner Act system of municipal government....
(the town from which the E Street Band took its name), is named 10th Avenue Freeze Out.
Live performance history
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" has become a staple of Springsteen's
E Street BandThe E Street Band is a musical group that has periodically toured and recorded with rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972.The band has also recorded with a wide range of other artists including Bob Dylan, Meat Loaf, Bonnie Tyler, Air Supply, Dire Straits, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Sting,...
concert tours, with regular appearances from the 1975 and on
Born to Run toursBorn to Run was Bruce Springsteen's last, best hope for fortune and fame. As such it became a torturous recording process, and to make ends meet Springsteen and the E Street Band toured constantly during the first set of recording sessions for it, performing his new songs as he developed them...
through the 1984 legs of the
Born in the U.S.A. TourThe Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's massively popular 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 bodybuilding, Springsteen had bulked up...
, with one of the latter documented on the later
Live/1975–85, and the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express. It then returned with a featured regular spot on the 1999–2000
Reunion TourThe Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour was a lengthy, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place over 1999 and 2000....
, oftenly used as an introduction of the band. It was captured on the subsequent
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Live in New York CityBruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live In New York City is the name of a concert film done by HBO, featuring the first ever major televised Bruce Springsteen concert...
release, and was frequently played during most of the legs of the 2007–2008
Magic TourThe Magic Tour was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's 2007–2008 concert tour of North America and Western Europe.On August 28, 2007, it was announced on Bruce Springsteen's website that there would be a tour with the E Street Band immediately concurrent with the release of his album Magic. ...
and during the 2009
Working on a Dream TourThe Working on a Dream Tour is a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and will continue through late November 2009...
. It opened the four-song set at Springsteen and the band's high profile half-time appearance at
Super Bowl XLIIISuper Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season...
.
External links