10 Underrated Bruce Springsteen Songs You Should Listen To

Working On A Dream is often left on the lower echelon when ranking Bruce's albums, but in "The Wrestler" and "Outlaw Pete", it has two songs that are on par with his very best.

The latter in particular is one of the most ambitious pieces of storytelling from his entire discography, and it's no wonder it got turned into an illustrated book. Indeed, the first lines can make it look like a humorous Western version of The Boss Baby:

"He was born a little baby on the Appalachian Trail

At six months old he'd done three months in jail"

Keep listening, and this early chuckle becomes a distant memory. Pete is 25 come the second quatrain, and from there the song just gets more and more serious, as a sense of impending tragedy gets weaved into the story.

By the end of it, you've been through a masterfully composed eight-minute epic, grandiose and intimate. The music is like a mix of a Pete Townshend rock opera and an Ennio Morricone soundtrack. The story has the timelessness of the old folk classics Bruce covered on The Seeger Sessions, and it would not be out of place on Nick Cave's Murder Ballads either.

All this to say you need not get to the second track before calling Working On A Dream a great album.