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Quiz about Greetings from Asbury Park NJ
Quiz about Greetings from Asbury Park NJ

Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ Quiz


A quiz on Springsteen's first album, a sorely underrated classic of urban songwriting.

A multiple-choice quiz by stuthehistoryguy. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
238,200
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1603
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 24 (10/10), Guest 80 (9/10), Guest 104 (3/10).
Question 1 of 10
1. "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" was Bruce Springsteen's first release for Columbia Records. Produced by Mike Appel, Columbia attempted to promote this album as the herald of a "new Bob Dylan"; this approach nearly buried Springsteen's nacent career. Which of these was a slogan used to promote Springsteen's maiden effort? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. The first cut on this seminal album mixes double-entendres with scenes from the amusement-park and bar-band landscape of Springsteen's New Jersey. What is the title of this great straight-ahead folksy rock song that was later covered, to great commercial success, by Manfred Mann's Earth Band?

Answer: (Four words--not given sight by the dark, but...)
Question 3 of 10
3. The second cut on "Greetings", "Growin' Up", intersperses grand imagery with now-familiar Springsteen tropes, including a rough youth and salvation through music and escape. One of these impressive images has Springsteen finding "the key to the universe". In what very temporal nook does the writer find this celestial object? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The third song on "Greetings", "Mary, Queen of Arkansas", has not survived to become a consistent live favorite or get much radio play. Nevertheless, it does feature some impressive writing, including the intriguing metaphor: "You're not man enough for me to hate, but woman enough for _______" Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The album's fourth track, "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?", has been widely hailed as utterly incomprehensible, and it is indeed hard to pin down a central theme therein. That being said, it does have some great lines, including a possible allusion to Columbia's hype of Springsteen as a new Dylan: "Queen of diamonds, ace of spades, newly discovered lovers of the everglades/They take out a full page ad in the trades to announce their arrival." What actress of the past does Springsteen hail in this piece? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. The longest, and perhaps most evocative, song on this album is "Lost in the Flood", a ballad of street violence and at times shocking religious imagery ("Nuns run bald through Vatican halls pregnant/Pleading Immaculate Conception). Who is (arguably) the central figure of this piece? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The album's sixth composition, "The Angel", is a slow ballad accompanied only by piano. The "angel" in question is a young woman giving her boyfriend a last kiss before being taken into a convent.


Question 8 of 10
8. "Greetings'" seventh track, "For You", was also covered by Manfred Mann, albeit to less success than the other Springsteen tune he recorded. Featuring a catchy drum and organ riff, its lyrics evoke medical drama, images of Tantalus, and even the adventures of Superman. Perhaps most memorably, it also coined the marvelously perceptive phrase: "Your life was one long ________" Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The album's penultimate track, "Spirit in the Night", is very evocative of Van Morrison musically. Lyrically, it tells the story of Springsteen's eclectic cast of characters having an uninhibited night away from the confines of authority - with mixed results. Which of these is not a character from this song? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. The final song on the album, "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City", is a spirited hymn to youthful bravado, opening with the protagonist announcing: "I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra." Which of these titles does the narrator not claim? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 07 2024 : Guest 24: 10/10
Feb 28 2024 : Guest 80: 9/10
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quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" was Bruce Springsteen's first release for Columbia Records. Produced by Mike Appel, Columbia attempted to promote this album as the herald of a "new Bob Dylan"; this approach nearly buried Springsteen's nacent career. Which of these was a slogan used to promote Springsteen's maiden effort?

Answer: This man puts more thoughts, more ideas and images into one song than most people put into an album

Though music critic and later Springsteen producer Jon Landau would extol Springsteen as "rock and roll's future" in a now-canonical concert review in 1974, this was not until a year after the release of "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ". The above slogan adorned a full-page ad for Springsteen's album, along with the lyrics to "Blinded by the Light".
2. The first cut on this seminal album mixes double-entendres with scenes from the amusement-park and bar-band landscape of Springsteen's New Jersey. What is the title of this great straight-ahead folksy rock song that was later covered, to great commercial success, by Manfred Mann's Earth Band?

Answer: Blinded by the Light

Of course, Manfred Mann made some substantial changes. Most conspicuous of these was the transmogrification of "cut loose like a deuce" into "revved up like [what sounds like] a douche". Springsteen would later jestingly imply that this nigh-incomprehensible change was the reason for the cover's popularity.
3. The second cut on "Greetings", "Growin' Up", intersperses grand imagery with now-familiar Springsteen tropes, including a rough youth and salvation through music and escape. One of these impressive images has Springsteen finding "the key to the universe". In what very temporal nook does the writer find this celestial object?

Answer: In the engine of an old parked car

When he performed this song live in the 1970s, Springsteen would often go into a monologue about his often-strained relations with his family, including how they were still trying to get him to return to college.
4. The third song on "Greetings", "Mary, Queen of Arkansas", has not survived to become a consistent live favorite or get much radio play. Nevertheless, it does feature some impressive writing, including the intriguing metaphor: "You're not man enough for me to hate, but woman enough for _______"

Answer: kissing

"Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" featured several artists who would become Springsteen mainstays, including "the big man" Clarence Clemons and bass player Gary W. Tallent. On the other hand, one of Springsteen's most erstwhile bandmates, Steve Van Zandt, would not officially sign on with Springsteen's main group (later called "The E Street Band") until later, though he had gigged with Springsteen irregularly before that.
5. The album's fourth track, "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?", has been widely hailed as utterly incomprehensible, and it is indeed hard to pin down a central theme therein. That being said, it does have some great lines, including a possible allusion to Columbia's hype of Springsteen as a new Dylan: "Queen of diamonds, ace of spades, newly discovered lovers of the everglades/They take out a full page ad in the trades to announce their arrival." What actress of the past does Springsteen hail in this piece?

Answer: Joan Fontaine

The line in question is: "Broadway Mary, Joan Fontaine, advertiser on a downtown train." This song may be a tribute of sorts to Springsteen's father, who was a bus driver for many years.
6. The longest, and perhaps most evocative, song on this album is "Lost in the Flood", a ballad of street violence and at times shocking religious imagery ("Nuns run bald through Vatican halls pregnant/Pleading Immaculate Conception). Who is (arguably) the central figure of this piece?

Answer: Jimmy the Saint

Much contemporary criticism interprets this song as being about a returning Vietnam veteran. To me, it has always seemed like an homage to a recently released crime figure returning to "the neighborhood"; this is alluded to in the 1995 film "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" featuring Andy Garcia as Jimmy 'The Saint' Tosnia.
7. The album's sixth composition, "The Angel", is a slow ballad accompanied only by piano. The "angel" in question is a young woman giving her boyfriend a last kiss before being taken into a convent.

Answer: False

The "angel" is, in fact, a male motorcyclist portrayed heroically, if obliquely, as he rides off to his undescribed doom. Springsteen once pledged that he would never perform this song live, though he broke this promise in 1996 during the British leg of his "Ghost of Tom Joad" tour.
8. "Greetings'" seventh track, "For You", was also covered by Manfred Mann, albeit to less success than the other Springsteen tune he recorded. Featuring a catchy drum and organ riff, its lyrics evoke medical drama, images of Tantalus, and even the adventures of Superman. Perhaps most memorably, it also coined the marvelously perceptive phrase: "Your life was one long ________"

Answer: emergency

Many critics consider this to be a song about suicide. It can also be read as an homage to borderline personality disorder, characterized by "paranoid ideas, relationship instability, angry outbursts, affective instability, abandonment fears, impulsive behavior, identity disturbance, suicidal behavior, and 'emptiness'".

In other words, the afflicted person's life is one long emergency. This disorder is often associated with childhood trauma, including molestation. (Courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality)
9. The album's penultimate track, "Spirit in the Night", is very evocative of Van Morrison musically. Lyrically, it tells the story of Springsteen's eclectic cast of characters having an uninhibited night away from the confines of authority - with mixed results. Which of these is not a character from this song?

Answer: Dirty Annie

Dirty Annie is a character from "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" off the album "The River". Interestingly, "Killer Joe" is also the name of a classic hard bop jazz song by Benny Golson. For their parts, Hazy Davy ends up "really hurt" by the conclusion of "Spirit in the Night", while Crazy Janey finds herself making love with Springsteen. Mixed results, indeed.
10. The final song on the album, "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City", is a spirited hymn to youthful bravado, opening with the protagonist announcing: "I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra." Which of these titles does the narrator not claim?

Answer: Duke of Destruction

Though well-reviewed by respected critics like Lester Bangs, "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" did not do well commercially, possibly because of the heavy-handed promotional tactics mentioned above. However, the success of Springsteen's third album, "Born to Run", engendered a rediscovery of his earlier work, and "Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ" went gold in 1975.
Source: Author stuthehistoryguy

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