Song 299: This week on the playlist you can ride Pink Cadillac by Bruce Springsteen, who also wrote the song. Bruce makes the playlist this week because I’d like to honor him for taking a stand against NC’s new anti-LGBT law — he cancelled a concert scheduled for last Sunday, 4/10, in Greensboro, with apologies to his fans, as a way for him and his band to show support for the LGBT community of NC, and to express opposition to the new state law there that attacks the rights of its LGBT citizens. Back in ’84, this cut rolled out as the B-side of the lead single from Born in the U.S.A., and along with that entire album, I felt it clearly showed that Springsteen had finally hit his stride. As good as his first few records were, it seemed to me that they always hinted at a greater potential, and in 1984, Bruce at last connected with that earlier promise. The main riff that he built this song around quite probably owes its inspiration to the Mancini Peter Gunn theme from 1959, but from that starting point, The Boss moves the licks along through some very interesting territory. His lyrics, and the way he delivers them, also suggest that possibly he actually has something else in mind other than just riding in a car, but even if he’s tempting somebody into doing something they know is wrong, when it sounds this good, anyone would want to know what it feels like in the back of that Pink Cadillac.
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