Bruce Springsteen’s “Fever”

Posted on by songsofnote

I was 16, working my first job at the local movie theater, the first time I heard “Fever” by Bruce Springsteen. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

If you were really lucky on your shift, you got to be the one who went to the second story of the theater and popped all the popcorn for the moviegoers that day. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

When you made the popcorn, you had a huge room to yourself and just this giant container of popcorn seeds that had to be popped. I grabbed a large Coke, and brought the stereo from the back into the room. The room was far removed from all the theater folks, so you could really crank the music to hear it over the sound of the hot popping corn. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The song “Fever” came on and I was pulled in from the very start. I was 16 back in 1995, so the main music I was listening to was still loud grunge music. This song, the moving and moody piano and chord progression stopped me in my tracks. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The whole time Bruce was singing I kept thinking the song had to be a cover. It had so much soul and emotion. Coming in at over 7 minutes in length, I’m sure I almost let the popcorn burn because I just sat there frozen listening to every note. I left work and went and bought the full album immediately. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

I love connecting great songs with good memories. And if the song is good enough, you’ll come back to it and have different memories of the song at different points in your life, which is truly fantastic. ⠀

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What’s a memory of a song you love?

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay”

Posted on by songsofnote

(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay was recorded 3 days before Otis Redding died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.

The melancholic Dock of the Bay was a departure for Redding in the tone and style of the song. Redding had been floored by The Beatles’ song, A Day in the Life, which had been released earlier that year. He wanted to strike a similar emotional chord but in his own way.

At the final recording session, Redding told his producer he wanted to add sounds of seagulls and whistling at the end of the song, as he had written the song on a houseboat and had heard those sounds while composing the song.

Dock of the Bay would go on to reach number one on the charts after Redding’s death, and would go on to be his biggest and most popular song.