A Letter To Bruce From The Imaginary Mrs Springsteen, A Story Composed of Song Titles

I have used Bruce Springsteen song titles to concoct a tale. I hope you like it.

Hello Bruce,

How are you? Do you miss me or is that little young groupie Back In Your Arms? I know A Good Man Is Hard To Find, but she must know You Can Look But You Cannot Touch! Please Give The Girl A Kiss for me and tell her that Come The Light Of Day, you are only My Lover Man. She will have a Lonesome Day and a Long Walk Home back to her Mansion On The Hill because I will call that Cautious Man at Murder Incorporated and her Long Goodbye is Point Blank going to be like playing Russian Roulette with The Iceman! That little Valley Girl is in for a big Surprise, Surprise.

Bruce, you are my man and she is bad for you. She has Two Faces and this is War. We all know the Wages Of Sin are The Ties That Bind our Two Hearts, me a Red Headed Woman and you with your Sad Eyes to Something In The Night. The Souls Of The Departed know you and I are Tougher Than The Rest. We live on and love harder and give No Surrender to the Seven Angels that long for our love to manifest. I can see those dead Girls In Their Summer Clothes just smiling up in Heaven. There is pretty Bobby Jean and little Sherry Darling. Can you see Mary Lou there in Maria’s Bed? They hang around in the spirit world with Mary, Queen Of Arkansas at Mary’s Place. Don’t forget that Jersey Girl, her smile was like the Light Of Day itself. That nasty Outlaw Pete saw those girls out in a Pink Cadillac and called Jackson Cage to bring Frankie and the Black Cowboys. They were Blood Brothers down in Darlington County and hung out at the Devil’s Arcade until the night they looked into Gloria’s Eyes and went Into The Fire. I think it was on Independence Day they killed those girls and threw the bodies into Galveston Bay.

Man, what humans do for lust and love. We know all about that don’t we, sweetheart? I will never forget how I loved you when we first met and raced that Stolen Car up Highway 29 and that State Trooper caught us Racing In The Street. He was hilarious with his one Good Eye. He made you Raise Your Hand because he was afraid you might have a Fuse on that old Ramrod gun. I still crack up when I think about that night. It was like Streets Of Fire.

Remember that Gypsy Biker that flew by like The Ghost Of Tom Joad? We wanted to make him our Local Hero. That dude was a Soul Driver and rode that Silver Palomino like a Spirit In The Night. We were screaming for him to Stand On It and that chopper sailed Across The Border. That biker must have had A Night With The Jersey Devil because a Highway Patrolman was waiting for him in the Badlands of Balboa Park. The last we saw of him was The Line from his bumper sticker that said this is The Price You Pay for living in The Promised Land. Then that chopper was over The Rising and into The River. Johnny99 must have welcomed The New Timer to the Land Of Hope And Dreams that night.

We were so Young And In Love or was it Something In The Night that sounded those Chimes Of Freedom so sweetly? I remember that I could Drive All Night and that muffler sparked like Dry Lightning into the Darkness On The Edge Of Town. You laughed out loud and said Don’t Look Back, never look back. We were wild as those Sinaloa Cowboys who are now doing Straight Time at Riker’s. They call that place The Dollhouse and order electronics with Spare Parts so they can build more and sell them for cigarettes.

Bruce, you are my only love. Yes, I had that French frog and a British Count but you are Born In The USA and your name is recorded in the Book Of Dreams.No one else can Cover Me like you can. I Cross My Heart and say My Love Will Not Let You Down. You are Your Own Worst Enemy and You’re Missing The Point. Youhave always been a Lucky Man and Iwant you to know that you are a Dead Man Walking and your Glory Days are One Step Up to being Over the Rise that takes you to Paradise unless you return to our happy home. But I don’t want you to feel forced. I just tell it like it is dear heart.

Bruce, you are the boss and you can stay there in Candy’s Room if you want to be The Last To Die. However I’m hoping you will take a big Leap Of Faith and show me Living Proof that you can Walk Like A Man. I know What Love Can Do but When You’re Alone and When You Need Me, just remember You’re Missing me, not her. Oh darling, I know It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City of dreams. You swear loyalty to me but I fear you wear a Brilliant Disguise!

I will always be your Queen Of The Supermarket and I am I’m Goin’ Down without you here so come back and Let’s Be Friends (Skin To Skin). We loved grocery shopping together didn’t we? We bought wine and cheese and sharp knives to cut it with.

Darling, we certainly have seen Better Days. Remember the 4^th of July at Asbury Park? Then we went Further On Up The Road and made love in that abandoned Factory? We hoped we made a baby and even Gave It A Name. You wrote a song for that imagined little girl. It was Cynthia, and you told my flat belly, I’ve Got A Crush On You.

Then we took the Downbound Train and we were so very Happy to be Dancin’ In The Dark. But now all these years have passed and I’m Goin’ Down to The Land Of Hopes And Dreams.

No Bruce, my Daddy isn’t home, he left me all alone and I can’t go anywhere. He went away and the last thing he said was, "There's one thing I know for sure girl. I don't give a damn." You still have my car too. I tried public transportation like many here in American Land but when a drunk man asked Does This Bus Stop At 82^nd Street I knew I was in the wrong place. Then there was that Incident On 57^th Street. Did you see it on the news? CNN asked all the bus riders for an interview and I just stared back. Do I look like someone who cares?

Oh, I know I have another man right now. But he only wears white coats and must be a dope pusher because he tried to give me pills. Bruce, please know he is good to me but doesn’t do those things, you know the ones that you do to me. Like fix my car. That Triumph TR7 means a lot to me and I love to drive it fast, real fast. Don’t you just love a five speed? Do you think my car will be back here by tomorrow? Man, I haven’t even gone shoe shopping for days now. I have been missing you since you went on tour. I know you want me to fly out there and see you. Is Santa Ana Where The Bands Are playing now? The City has another angel with you there. Has it rained in Southern California for you? Sometimes I miss you so much. It’s like someone took a knife and cut a six inch valley through the middle of my skull. My heart is broken and this valley is inhabited by Devils and Dust. I got a bad desire for you, I’m On Fire. Bruce, With Every Wish, I am Working On A Dream to be with you again. When The Lights Go Out and When You’re Alone is that When You Miss Me?

I think only of you and this freight train that runs through my head, reminding me of the times we were Living On The Edge Of The World. It felt like a Secret Garden of our own. I can still hear you whisper Linda Let ME Be The One. My name is not Linda, now is it? Your breathe on my skin was The Promise of My Beautiful Reward for giving you my Better Days. My best was never Good Enough though and you became Blinded By The Light and left me to walk The Streets Of Philadelphia all alone. Men like you were Born To Run and you all are Blood Brothers here in the Jungleland of love and loss. Bad boys like you never need a Human Touch, do you? You all carry Hearts Of Stone while girls like me have a Hungry Heart.

Oh! Still I Wanna Marry You and I Wanna Be With You. Darling, I’m Countin’ On A Miracle here. I’ll Work For Your Love and If I Should Fall Behind please Lift Me Up. I need Living Proof and it has been a Long Time Comin’. Out there where the Streets Of Fire keep you Trapped and we are Worlds Apart, remember although My Best Was Never Good Enough, I tried. I even agreed to marry you, didn’t I?

We were watching TV on the sofa and we had 57 Channels(And Nothin’ On), then you just up and said, “Let’s get married.” It was one of my Better Days and, Sandy was there to witness to the nuptials. Her boyfriend didn’t like you much and Adam Raised Cain and dragged her All The Way Home to Atlantic City. And All I’m Thinkin’ About is how we have All That Heaven Will Allow. Leah and Pony Boy, aka Johnny Bye-Bye went off to the County Fair after the reception. They said we all were Growin’ Up. That freaked you out and you said Janey, Don’t You Lose Heart but I’m A Rocker whose Living On The Edge Of The World. You said you had some Loose Change over there Down At My Father’s House. It was built by Part Man, Part Monkey if you believe my brother Wild Billy’s Circus Story. Growing up there was like living in a Lion’s Den until you walked up to me at the Car Wash and called me Baby. My friend was there too and Ricky Wants A Man Of Her Own but I took you because I need A Reason To Believe and we went off together to our Real World.

Actually, it was Reno where we loved those Restless Nights away and sang Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) and Rendezvous. We were Working On A Dream while we would Rockaway The Days. I held you close and said, "Take me now baby here as I am."

We lost our shirts in the casinos but that was the Roll Of The Dice. At night I would wake up with the sheets soaking wet and a freight train running through the middle of my head. Only you could cool my desire then and to this day that has never changed.

Bruce, do you remember the little wedding chapel and the minister dressed like Elvis? Truly A Good Man Is Hard To Find! He sang When The Lights Go Out in Georgia, Working On The Highway and Be True. It was more like A Wreck On The Highway, but we got married anyway and became The Honeymooners. Man those were the Glory Days when we danced under an Empty Sky on the roof of that skyscraper.

Back then I would have made love to you anywhere at all. In my City Of Ruins or My Hometown, even in Nebraska (which I hate) and I longed to love you while Kingdom Of Days sang a New York City Serenade in the Big Apple.

Then we traveled to California and I thought there were My Lucky Day had arrived but Magic is in the air out there. You became a Man At The Top and you, My Beautiful Reward put me Out In The Street. I got a job at the Paradise club which was Open All Night. Let me tell you, None But The Brave or desperate went into Candy’s Room. That chick held every John to a Code Of Silence and many went Missing or washed up on Matamoros Banks. I saw those crime scene people Meeting Across The River. A woman was with them and I thought that is a Man’s Job. But Nothing Man could do was going to bring Life Itself back to those guys.

You traveled a lot, made a TV Movie called Tunnel Of Love and performed in Viva Las Vegas on Valentine’s Day. I bought Used Cars that kept breaking down from Zero and Blind Terry who used to live in Youngstown Ohio. They told me they kept in touch with you and that You’ll Be Comin’ Down over there on Cadillac Road. Knowing you, I thought, you will be singing The E Street Shuffle and drinking Two For The Road. You always loved Jack Daniels and drank until they Shut Out The Lights. Do you still Prove It All Night?

Oh my Bruce, my darling, this is The Wish I have for us. Leave this lonely Thunder Road out here in the west and don’t be Trapped in This Hard Land anymore. They told you This Land Is Your Land but Tomorrow Never Knows or tells about all the Trouble In Paradise. We are Worlds Apart and I Ain’t Got You so it is All Or Nothin’ At All because darling, you and I were Born To Run so Bring On The Night before I Fade Away. For you I am Waitin’ On A Sunny Day and When You Need Me I will still be waiting For You. Don’t you know This Life holds no joy for Two Hearts apart. So I am Working On A Dream to bring us back together. So you can tell The Wrestler you hired that I’ll Work For Your Love and he can be Held Up Without A Gun. The other personality is out and Kitty’s Back and With Every Wish I wish the day is getting closer and is going to come true. I am going to make you happy when we are Livin’ In The Future.

Do you hear that Thundercrack? It is Living Proof that all these Loose Ends are getting tied up. It won’t be long now until I am Back In Your Arms. I know you are thinking about catching the six o’clock Leavin’ Train. You should know they have had a little Fire down at the station and some are Lost In The Flood of debris from the explosion. I heard your little Angel was there and She’s The One whose plastic surgeon enhanced American Skin took you from me. She planted the Seeds of distrust when she wrote Terry’s Song and made it a Seaside Bar Song. I believe she is floating in Trouble River and those Los Angeles Hearts Of Stone won’t see her sparkling anymore on the boulevard.

Now that we can Take ‘Em As They Come, I will be waiting for you sweet man. Because The Night the Bishop Danced in all that Big Muddy water trying to put out the fire, you were freed to return to me. I will be waiting here in this Lucky Town for you, dreaming of our Paradise By The “C”.

You lover forever, the Princess.

Hello Sheriff. This is Bruce Springsteen’s agent. That woman has gone crazy. I told you From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come). This lady has been to The Last Carnival and needs your Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out cooler in the psych ward. She has got Mr. Springsteen ready for her to have The Big Payback. He is done being nice to her. So arrest this woman and throw away the key! No, I Wish I Were Blind if I am lying. He has never met this stalker. She called a talk show that was interviewing him. Hmmmm? It was Radio Nowhere. Thanks Sheriff, you are a Real Man. I have to be Goin’. Cali is outta here! Have a great day and don’t forget she is The Hitter that started The Fever out in Philly that took out the road crew. Oh, she also said Jesus Was An Only Son, whatever that means. Let me know when you have her locked up tight. I am getting around the clock security in the meantime. Goodbye now Sheriff.

The End

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