Frankie Fell in Love

Welcome to Day 7 of our 12-day examination of the 12 songs on Bruce Springsteen's new album, High Hopes. As we indicated at the start, rather than a straight review, we're having a running dialogue based around each song as we listen to it. 

So. Day 7, Song 7: "Frankie Fell in Love."

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Dan Tapper

Have you heard the news, Scott?

Scott Peterson

It's all over town.

Dan Tapper

It's out all over town.

Jinx!

Scott Peterson

Kings!

Dan Tapper

So. It seems Frankie has taken a lady.

Scott Peterson

Is this true? Why has no one told me this before? Someone should write a song about that.

Dan Tapper

They should! Only they should be more succinct about it. Like, say, "Frankie Seems Quite Happy in His Amorous New State." Yeah? Yeah? Pretty good, huh?

Scott Peterson

Frankie's in an Amorous New State o' Mind.  

Dan Tapper

Are you bringing Sir William of Joel to a Bruce Springsteen discussion?

Scott Peterson

I am! The late Sir William Joel of Long Islandington. Hey, what's your feeling about the packaging? You miss jewel cases?

Dan Tapper

You know, I was thinking about the packaging. And while I like how easily the jewel cases always stacked, I always hated that super-adhesive they put on the side of them. 

Scott Peterson

Worst thing in the history of ever, and I do not exaggerate.

Dan Tapper

Also, my rate of breaking jewel cases of CDs like somewhere around 108%. So I'm OK with cheaper packaging. Just not cheaper packages.

Scott Peterson

Yup. And there was only so large you could make the booklet, 'cuz of those lil tabs inside the front cover.

Dan Tapper

(And I totally ignored the fact that you just killed Billy Joel there. My bad.)

Scott Peterson

I wonder how well these thin cardboard covers/cases are going to hold up after 10 years. But I guess we'll find out.

Dan Tapper

Yes! Hated that about the booklet — it always used to get torn. (Nothing's right, it's torn).

Oh, we will find out. WE WILL FIND OUT INDEED!!!!!!

Scott Peterson

Shall we point and laugh at love-besotted Francis?

Dan Tapper

Yes, we shall. I guess the point is Frankie fell in love, huh? 

Scott Peterson

Opening guitar sounds a tiny bit like "Long Time Comin'" somehow mixed with "Surprise Surprise."

Dan Tapper

NOW we're talking. I am loving this from the word go!

Scott Peterson

Cowbell! Woodblock? Country yelps.

Dan Tapper

This sounds like an outtake from The Promise years.

Those harmonies make me so happy.

Scott Peterson

I think those are known as the Darkness on the Edge of Town years. 

But more like Born in the USA or The River, no?

Reminds me somehow or "Ricky Wants a Man of Her Own," although I guess that's all lyrically.

Dan Tapper

Hmm. I hear more "Outside Looking In" kinda stuff. Hmmmmm.

What I really dig here is it sounds like an outtake. Like something he never intended to be on an album. Yet is quite damn good and he knows it.

Scott Peterson

It does have that thing he does, where melodically it sounds like a girl group from the 60s.

Dan Tapper

Shakespeare and Einstein talking. Love that.

Scott Peterson

Love the Shakespeare explaining the difference between math and poetry to Einstein. 

Yeah, this sounds like it should have been the greatest b-side he ever released. Well, that's too bold a statement, given some of his b-sides. But one hell of a b-side.

Dan Tapper

Now I'm hearing The River (album, not song). It has that joyful noise to it.

Einstein trying to figure out the number that adds up to this
Shakespeare said, "Man it all starts with a kiss"

Scott Peterson

Well, that was short.

Dan Tapper

Hey! Don't stop playing! Want more!!!

Scott Peterson

That's how he meant to leave you.

Dan Tapper

That was one fun as heck ride, man. Easily my favorite song on the record so far. Even though it's too short.

Scott Peterson

Sparse band, man. Just him, Roy and Max.

Why no Garry? That's the second time. I object, your honor.

Dan Tapper

No, I think Garry was there, no?

Scott Peterson

Nope

Dan Tapper

Someone was playing bass. And I don't see anyone else credited.

Scott Peterson

Ron Aniello

Dan Tapper

RON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scott Peterson

Are you shaking your fist at him? Or offering him a fist-bump?

Dan Tapper

(To be shouted like "KHAN!!!!")

Scott Peterson

Ah. Shaking.

Dan Tapper

With a sneer.

Scott Peterson

With a snarl. Followed shortly by a short snort.

Dan Tapper

So. I thought that song kicked ass. More characters, more raucousness that sounds like Young Bruce.

Scott Peterson

When's the last time he recorded (as far as we know) a straightforward fun love song like that?

Dan Tapper

Man, I'm not sure..."Surprise Surprise?" That count?

Scott Peterson

Yeah, I guess so. Otherwise, maybe "Leah."

Dan Tapper

Funny, he has some amazing lyrics (like the Einstein/Shakespeare stuff) followed by some remarkably silly ones. "World peace's gonna break out—from here on in we're eating take out."

Scott Peterson

Yeah, and the opening and closing lines, that keep making me think of "Froggie' Went a-Courtin'."

Dan Tapper

But in terms of flat out goofed up party-time feel? Man, I think it goes back to something like "Better Days" or even "Stand On It."

Scott Peterson

I"m gonna say no to the "Better Days" comparison. Or even "Stand On It," since that's more in his "Dear Alex and Annie" list of songs. It's a short list, thankfully.

Dan Tapper

That too. "The church mouse is sleepin'." Because "sleepin'" rhymes with "evenin'." :-)

So again, for me this is my fave so far. You?

Scott Peterson

Hm.

No.

Dan Tapper

(GASPY INHALE)

Scott Peterson

I like it a lot, maybe even love it. But I have to admit...I'm having a hard time accepting this LP on its own terms.

That's entirely my problem, mind you.

I think it took me a while to accept Working on a Dream, as well, so maybe it's just a matter of time.

Dan Tapper

Well, look. This is not a "major" piece of work from him. I think even he would acknowledge that. It's odds and sods, scraps. But that in itself lends itself to a warm, loosey-goosey feel, no?

Scott Peterson

But it's the weird hybridization of these songs that's roadblocking me. If it was a dozen songs just like that, all groovy outtakes? I think I'd be there. All covers? Fine. All studio versions of live staples? You bet.

It's the mishmash that's throwing me, even though that's pretty much what the advance press about the album said it was going to be.

'cuz, see, the seriousness of things like "American Skin" is what keeps me from being able to just embrace the entire thing. You know?

Dan Tapper

Fair point. As well as the hyper-seriousness of songs to come too.

Scott Peterson

Exactly.

Dan Tapper

Although...to be an advocate for Satan himself...

Scott Peterson

And yet things like "Frankie Fell in Love" don't feel, to me, like the way "Sherry Darling" was a counterweight to "Independence Day" on The River. It just feels haphazard. And that's one thing he's never been. 

I'm not saying it's not a fine way to go. I'm just saying that I'm having a problem with it.

Dan Tapper

...Magic, widely considered his overt slap at Bush-Cheney, still had "I'll Work For Your Love" and "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" alongside heady stuff like "Devil's Arcade" and "Last to Die" and "Long Walk Home."

Scott Peterson

Absolutely true. But the lyrics in those two songs are so much more sophisticated.

It didn't make them feel so different from the rest of the Magic album.

Dan Tapper

Yes they are. Just not quite as fun and free.

Scott Peterson

Again, I know that's not what he was going for here. I get that. It's me. 

("ya damn right, it's me!")

Dan Tapper

And "Girls" is an outright masterpiece. I admit "Frankie Fell in Love" isn't. I just love it.

Scott Peterson

Pour me a drink Theresa
In one of those glasses you dust off
And I'll watch the bones in your back
Like the stations of the cross

'Round your hair the sun lifts a halo
At your lips a crown of thorns
Whatever other deals goin' down
To this one I'm sworn

Dan Tapper

That is some fine writing, huh?

Scott Peterson

"I'll watch the bones in your back like the stations of the cross."

I MEAN.

And that's the closest on the record to a light love song.

So, again, I think "Frankie Fell in Love" would have made a phenomenal b-side.

Dan Tapper

Very fair. Again, I just love "Frankie Fell in Love" for itself. I think the way I love "Sherry Darling" for itself.

Scott Peterson

(And keep in mind, I'm the only "57 Channels" apologist I know.)

Dan Tapper

Lord knows I ain't one.

Scott Peterson

Because you're afraid of not being the same as everyone else in the world.

I'm a rebel, Dottie.

I very much like and could maybe love this song. It's the context that's throwing me. 

Dan Tapper

No no, I get what you say. That's a fair point. Context can mean a ton.

Which DOES makes this a perfect B-side.

Hmph.

Scott Peterson

To a large extent, it's something you and I have talked about before, something I think maybe Dave Marsh wrote, a bit about something like, "from now on, Bruce Springsteen would never be judged by whether something was good or bad—from here on out, it was a masterpiece or it was a disappointment." I butchered the quote, but that was the jist. 

I mean, for pete's sake, I think Lucky Town and Working on a Dream are at least 4-star records, so it's not like I'm a guy who rips everything post-Darkness, you know?

Dan Tapper

That is so right. As we have said, how can anyone possibly look at Lucky Town as a failure? Only when they hold it up against, I guess, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Right?

Scott Peterson

Having said that, I don't remember how long it took me to really turn around on Working. It may have been a year, even. So who knows?

It's, again, context: Lucky Town is seen as a twin of Human Touch.

WHICH IS REALLY NOT A GOOD RECORD.

Hells bells, hold Lucky Town up against Darkness and, objectively, I personally find it hard to see how someone couldn't say, "wow...okay. Yeah. I can see how the young guy who made Darkness in 1978 would grow and change and get married and have a kid and make Lucky Town in 1992. That's cool."

Dan Tapper

My opinion of Working has dipped in the last couple of years. Mostly because of those pretty little songs that just after a while seemed empty(ish) to me. Like "Surprise" (why do we keep bringing that song up???) — 

Scott Peterson

I know! I realized I keep using "Surprise" as a touchstone as well. 

Dan Tapper

— and "Life Itself" and "Tomorrow Never Knows." Also, the title track is A.W.F.U.L.

Scott Peterson

The title track is so goddamn bad. It's kinda shocking how terrible it is. And he played it at the damn Super Bowl, in front of by far the largest audience of his entire career. Oy. 

Dan Tapper

But the number of people who feel that way about Lucky Town can be counted on one hand. And are both having this discussion right now.

Scott Peterson

Ha! 

And I like "Life Itself" and "Tomorrow Never knows" because the words are more than adequate—I wish they were a bit better, sure—but melodically it's the most sumptuous thing he's ever done.

Dan Tapper

"Working on a Dream" is the only Bruce song I can think of that strives to sound like Roy Orbison and instead sounds like...

Scott Peterson

Ruh-roh.

Dan Tapper

...Billy Joel.

Scott Peterson

[gaspy inhale]

I was gonna say Goo Goo Dolls. 

Which isn't true, but where I thought you might be going.

Dan Tapper

No. It sounds like Earnest Bill the Long Island Prophet.

Scott Peterson

The late Earnest Bill.

Dan Tapper

Why do you keep saying that?

Scott Peterson

Earnest Bill's a prophet and I think you oughtta listen to.

I'm not sure? It was in a movie or TV show in the past few weeks, where one of the characters called him "the late Sir William Joel," and the other one was like, yeah, I'm pretty sure he's not a knight and I'm positive he's not dead. Parks and Rec, maybe? New Girl?

Dan Tapper

"Billy Joel, no longer good or young, dies."

Scott Peterson

So sad.

Hey, what'd Billy Joel die of, anyhow?

Dan Tapper

I think it was that working too hard gave him a heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack..

<<takes deep operatic bow>>

Scott Peterson

Wow. We just spent 25 minutes on a three minute song.

Dan Tapper

You want to play, you have to pay.

Scott Peterson

Hey, great line! You make that up?

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COMING TOMORROW—TRACK 8 FROM HIGH HOPES: "This Is Your Sword"