Incident on 57th Street

Before Springsteen was the Springsteen of Born in the USA, he was a 24-year-old from Asbury Park writing seven-minute cinematic narrative songs about Puerto Rican Jane and Spanish Johnny and the streets of a city he was still trying to name. “Incident on 57th Street” is the heart of his second album — his first real attempt at turning American rock into something the length and shape of a short story.

Roy Bittan’s piano does most of the emotional work. The band comes in like a film camera pulling back, and the song ends with a long instrumental fade that segues directly into “Rosalita” on the original LP. Seven and a half minutes with the young Springsteen is exactly the company you want on a drive through any city that reminds you of any other city you’ve ever lived in.