the ride was on a donkey or mule in my early years, the big city has me now, but listening to this song it tick tok mee (lol) insidejokeIhopehegetsit, was going back in time thinking about a storm, a huricane and the damage, we (Boss) look for knowledge that water had to move, I wounder if mans lack of knowledge has just kept growing? yes I know water gets to a point it has to move but they all use it against mother nature, will not let it stay for five min, and then let it caterpillier, and frezze or wind dry areas, they cannot understand what a bedding can do a beddiong of sand is like a filter and pipe, when man makes the ground not accept the moister the ground becomes infertile, I hope we can work together to harness that fresh water and channel it to Calaforina , why waste it, it has so much power to grow life, we need to try, thanks Bruce sorry could not make contact , but respect stay safe, I never thought a cry baby would become President, oh well wish all the Presidents and America well
The first time I played this song, I had to turn it off for a few minutes after the first verse. It was so good, I felt like I needed to prepare my heart to hear the rest.
I was on holiday in Venice in the early hours of the morning when the songs dropped.The tears strolled down my cheeks every time I heard it.Brlieve me it was played many, many times.It still gets me and many thoughts of the past
OMG!! This song has my parents story all over it. They were 17 when they married. Not a pot to piss in. He a marine stationed in NJ. They ended up having 6 kids, married for 42 yrs until she died at the age of 58 of cancer. He was devastated. Would visit her gravesite daily. Although we are a very tight family,they were very much in love and he just so lonely. He died at 68 of a heart attack. Now they are together. Whenever this song plays it takes me back to my dad riding around town without mum.
That's wonderful. We miss our parents deeply and talk of them often. our grandchildren have wonderful memories of them too. This song just tears me up, Bruce's voice is amazing and the whole album has so much meaning. I've introduced this album to countless friends.@@donaldmerriweather8718
I’m so happy to be here with like minded people. I’m bowled over by the record. How does Bruce achieve so much and still understand sadness and loneliness so well?A great mystery we don’t need to unravel
In a interview I saw he mentioned that he goes through depression and see's a psychiatrist from time to time that's one reason he can relate to( loneliness and depression) most of us... He is so in touch with his family his life and his fans. Still plays 4 hour concerts.... He is the BOSS !
This September a friend and I rode our Harley's from Boston to the Catskills carrying the ashes of a dear friend and fellow sojourner to a cemetery for burial. It was fitting that we pulled out shot glasses and a bottle of Jack and poured three shots - one each for the two of us and one more for our departed friend and rider. His shot was poured on the ground, words expressed, and the glass remained at the burial site. It was symbolically our last ride together. Yes, this song by Bruce haunts me because it captures past loves perfectly - of lovers and of dear friends. I find it to be inspiring, it memorializes things that matter. The Boss is America's bard, and he joins Dylan in being America's conscience.
Simple, simple words in the right order painting an image burned in your brain. I’ve had a hard few months, lost my dad and marriage problems, this song hits you right in the feels. Forty years of listening to this man and he pulls this out.
Stanley Johnstone Could Not have found better words . He fills the space between darkness and sunrise 🌄 with words , you can’t forget the whole day long . Love this record insanely .
I live in Freehold NJ, not far from where the Boss grew up. For years I worked off Rt.9 (the same one from Born To Run) at a small AM radio station. To get to it you passed a run down motel named The Moonlight Motel. Over the years, I always wondered how that motel survived. Now like the radio station, it's just a memory, though the rusted sign still stands.
@@rucksackzen No question. But this album is gorgeous. The right blend of production, softness and amazing lyrics. My top favs are Sundown and Moonlight Motel. The latter of which could have been a perfect coda on his final album.
Here I am sitting, a 6 ft 5" tough lumberjack and I have to fight back my tears everytime I listen to this wonderful song. What a strong story. It reminds me of the past, good memories, friends, family members. All good things which disappeared as time goes by, just like the Moonlight Motel.
I'm not quite as big as you, but this song broke my heart when I first heard it, I went from happy to bawling my eyes out Brings back memories of life gone by, the regrets, the people we've lost A true masterpiece
@@bigredfella13 Its so strange. You can see this whole world he sings about in front of your eyes. Thinking about the days, when there were people around, having a good time together, kids playing... Those times became past. All that remains are those memories, you think about them as you see what the whole place became today. But it doesn't stop there. You connect you own memories to it and you realize how many friends and family members you've lost... It is a very rare gift, if you can create emotions like this...
@@huskycarver7495 exactly, brilliantly put and I couldn't agree more So many Springsteen songs and lyrics have hit home over the years, like the movie says, it's like Springsteen sang the soundtrack of our lives
I had a secret lover. Judge if you want, it is free and all yours. It was one of those things that could not last, but was very sweet while it lasted (for both of us). It ended, long ago, only leaving me with bittersweet memories. This song reminds me of that.
I walked away from the love of my life in 1985 i just found out she passed away 2 years ago her brother told me she still had on the ring i gave her. Man this song is really kicking my gutts into pieces
Such a powerful poignant song The line "the pools full of empty 8 feet deep", so melancholic and beautiful, a true boss classic already. I've shed a tear to this song a few times 😢
I think it makes me feel about opportunities missed, a time of happiness gone. A love lost, a time never regained and a lost future never to be. But maybe that’s just me x.
Hemingway said if you write well enough people will feel like it happened to them and I swear I can see that dark road and that empty pool and that lonely parking lot. I love the title. It may or more may not be the name of the motel itself. I think it represents another place altogether -- that place on a blank stretch of road where nobody travels, nobody goes.....except a man and his memories.
This is bizarre ,I was thinking the same about Hemingway."All good books have one thing in common - they are truer than if they had really happened" he also said "History is scar tissue" Springsteen has this amazing ability to see things as Ustinov said "All stories rely on elements people have seen but not really noticed"I am so envious of his ability to capture these images.Lets face it when was the last time Springsteen slept on musty sheets or even saw an empty motel with an empty pool with dandelions growing in the cracks .His recall is just extraordinary, please just even give me 5% of his talent to write
Agreed here as well. This song painted such a picture for me that I wonder what happeend before this story. So i started writing it for myself. We'll see. All I know is that my version has two pre-teens meeting in The Poconos through their family businesses. I hope I can pull it together.
@@bigredfella13 I have an autobiography of clarence clemmons, and in it he tell a story of how he'd be with bruce somewhere, like on the beach I think he said, and Bruce would point out a romantic looking couple or a family with kids and make up a story about them.
The Boss just saved his artistic best for the golden years. So much comes full circle in this song. I cried... then cried some more. This just isn’t a ‘good’ song. It’s beautiful.
He is such a story teller... can tell he reads a lot of John steinback as the poetry of words. Ghost of tom joad. .. grapes of wrath , the details of the hotel as if you're in the truck next to him a wonderful gift to have... thanks
Initially, my favourite songs from the new album were Western Stars and Tuscon Train. Then something happened, something I cannot put my finger on. It could have been one verse, one chord, or everything at the same time delivered masterfully by Bruce. All I know is that this song then became my favourite and probably one of my favourite Springsteen songs ever. The way he tells the story is nothing short of amazing. He gives us a picture of the present that is whilst, at the same time delicately intertwining the past that was, giving us a few snapshots of how happy the character had once been on that Moonlight Motel. Structurally speaking it's similar to another one of my favourite Springsteen song, The River. Absolute delight!
It is amazing how a guy from Jersey can capture perfectly the immensity of a Western Sky or the long, long, lonely stretch of highway between desert and mountains. Bruce did it and every time I hear this song, or the entire record, I feel it. I've driven down many long, lonely highways in the West and have seen those old, worn Moonlight Motels along the way. Thank you Bruce for all those rockin' and rollin' tunes and for the ones that are slower and more introspective. If I see a long legged man in dusty jeans and boots sticking out his thumb along the road, I might have to stop and give him a ride.....
Bruce's music means so much to me. "The Rising" helped me through the pain of losing my husband at 34 to cancer and now this album especially "Moonlight Motel" reminds me of a new relationship that developed but has now sadly ended. Bruce, you touch so many people's souls...
Stunning song, possibly the best on the album. Such a fantastic way to end the album thematically- the passing of time and the ephemeral nature of love.
I live in Buffalo NY and I found out that the Moonlight Motel is in Olean NY which is probably 25 minutes from my home. So now this is one of my favorite songs of Bruce Springsteen Springsteen. Somehow I feel a connection with Bruce because of the song.
I've always seen Mr. Springsteen as probably the greatest narrative musician. He tells a story as well as the greats of history, those renowned for their paintings, poetry and epic writings. His amazing story telling is what makes me love his songs so much. He very seldom rises or plummets to something that Freud would call depth psychology. He just does it often enough to capture and reveal the beauty of a human soul that has experienced the outrageous swings of fortunes. Absolutely amazing and a hauntingly beautiful song! Thanks Bruce.
I swore to myself not to spoil the first impression of the album by listening to the songs on youtube. And so I did. I got the Album and its real a kind of magic when you listen to it. What a beautiful and touching masterpiece.
“So, when the musics over at the end of the day; life’s mysteries remain and deepen. It’s answers- unresolved. But if your heart is open and you’re thinking hard and living and loving in good faith, the questions you are asking yourself grow deeper...better. So you walk on in pursuit of those better questions. Tentatively, putting one foot in front of another; through the dark because that’s where the next morning is. Travel safe, pilgrim.” -Springsteen
This song is stunningly beautiful in so many ways. The album itself is one of the best examples of songwriting at its finest. It's absolutely brilliant!
this is an absolute masterpiece. I get so emotional when I listen tp the music and the words, it touches my heart, my soul, my guts. I can't imagine my life without Bruce's music, without his poetry. What a sensitive soul. Thank you, Boss, for all that you've given me all these years, I love you
This song just makes me so sad everytime I listen to it, I feel like I ain't living life to the fullest. Yeah I'm still young, 20 years old but I feel like I have missed so much already. :/
What an amazing song. Its completely devestating and its so heartbreaken. May be one of the saddest songs he has ever written. Its so powerful. The song eats at your soul. You feel so sad for the narrator.
It's a song of love lost, of memories and emotions too strong to reign back. It's a memory of feeling lost in time and in ruins, but during the time of strength and heart, it was nothing but the best. Springsteen pierced the heart with these lyrics and music . The perfect love ballad.
C'è qualcosa di doloroso e bellissimo in questa canzone. Di un magnifico disco. Di un artista unico. Dopo averci raccontato la promessa e la dannazione di quei parcheggi, di quelle strade, di quelle notti soli o con qualcuno accanto, sembra così vicino il tramonto non della vita ma della fuga. Si sta un attimo fermi. E come nella migliore musica, ogni verso può parlare al profondo di te, di qualcosa che ti è sfuggito o hai custodito, ogni arpeggio fa tornare ricordi lontani. Segreti sussurrati e "si va avanti". Quanto realismo in questa canzone, quanto doloroso realismo. E' come se i personaggi di 40 anni delle sue canzoni, noi in definitiva, siano sospesi tra luce e oscurità. A sorseggiare del Jack e sembra che l'ultimo verso parli a tutti coloro che ci sono letteralmente cresciuti con la musica di Bruce Springsteen. Una musica che è entrata nelle nostre vite come una vecchia canzone estiva. E sta arrivando l'autunno. Che canzone meravigliosa.. Grazie Boss
Condivido tutto. Questa canzone potrebbe rappresentare il canto del cigno della sua epica americana. Le corse pazze in macchina, gli amori pulsanti, la voglia di scappare e di vivere la libertà e inseguire il sogno americano sono ormai svaniti lasciando posto agli sbagli, al rimorso e alla solitudine di un uomo ormai disilluso che arranca e trova consolazione nei pochi momenti di epifania che gli sono concessi
Respect to The Boss, on a par with Dylan here, mesmerizing, poetic lyrics, leaves you in awe of something magical & sheer genius. The versatility of the man is astonishing. Like other "older" acts, Bruce could rely on a back catalogue of greatest hits, the easy option, but he doesn't, pushing the boundaries, always delivering & defying.Absolute legend!
Nigel James dylan has been riding on the coat tails of his past. A bruce concert is 3 hours and rocking. A dylan concert is mumbling and disappointing.
American spirit by Bruce, the one & only and it works perfectly also in France, in my garden in Brittany with a nice glass of wine ... close my eyes & I can see this gorgeous wild horse running free :)) Merci Bruce
Certain songwriters/performers have the ability to craft something that feels timeless the moment it is released. Bruce Springsteen is just such an artist, and “Moonlight Motel,” is just such a song. Part of the fun in listening to Western Stars is playing a little game of Spot The Influence; there’s a little Glen Campbell here, some Roy Orbison there, etc. But “Moonlight Motel” doesn’t feel beholden to much of anything. Other than the wistful acoustic guitar licks, all other instruments are lowered in the mix to seem like ghostly echoes. That allows the somber story of the motel, which seems at times to be more metaphorical and mystical than physical, to really take hold. Springsteen immediately lets us know that this place is pretty much deserted these days, “the musty smell of wilted flowers” wafting through the air. “Now the pool’s filled with empty, eight foot deep/ Got dandelions growin’ up through the cracks on the concrete,” he sings. But the memories are far more alive than any of the place’s tangible accoutrements: “Your lipstick taste and your whispered secret I promised I’d never tell/ A half-drunk beer and your breath in my ear at the Moonlight Motel.” What the song suggests is that there a fragility to ideal romance that daily life eradicates, just like time and weather have done away with the luster of the motel; “Well then, it’s bills and kids and kids and bills,” Springsteen sings. Nobody has made more use of dreams in his songwriting than Bruce, which is why the hairs on your arms might stand up when you hear him launch into the final verse with “Last night I dreamed of you, my lover.” He doesn’t reveal the contents of this dream, but he wakes hearing the lingering voice of his former love saying, “Better to have loved,” the rest of the adage going unsaid perhaps because he didn’t hear it, perhaps because he heard it but finds it too painful to repeat. His only recourse is to go out on a drive looking for the motel, the chilly air and falling leaves signifying the end of the summer and the end of a dream too good to be true. “She was boarded up and gone like an old summer song/ Nothing but an empty shell,” he notices when he arrives. Nothing else to do but: “I pulled a bottle of Jack out of the paper bag/ Poured one for me and one for you as well/ Then it was one more shot poured out onto the parking lot of the Moonlight Motel.” Bruce Springsteen’s catalog is so imposing that it feels almost blasphemous to suggest that a song he just wrote and recorded deserves a place among his best. And yet how else can you characterize “Moonlight Motel,” a song that doesn’t so much jerk tears as it does gently loose them as a courtesy to the listener? Instant classic sounds about right.
