For many Bruce Springsteen fans, the release of Tracks II: The Lost Albums is a bit overwhelming. For someone who is used to taking time for new Springsteen albums with repeated plays while reading lyrics, the release of seven “albums” from different time periods all at once requires a more varied approach. So in that vein, instead of reviewing the whole set or even tackling the release one album at at time (done very nicely by N.J. Arts.Net and also with short early reviews of each album –and album covers — by Pete Chianca of Blogness on the Edge of Town), I’m right now focusing on single songs like “Under a Big Sky” here.
Below is “Under a Big Sky,” which appears on the “country” album, Somewhere North of Nashville. Springsteen recorded “Under a Big Sky” during the summer of 1995 when he was working on country songs during separate sessions at the same time he was creating The Ghost of Tom Joad. While he has explained that these alternative sessions were an avenue for an escape from the darker songs that ended up on The Ghost of Tom Joad, the song “Under a Big Sky” is pretty sad.
The singer in “Under a Big Sky” has left his home for reasons he does not fully explain, noting he cannot return (“I don’t know why”). But later in the song he recalls being asked why he left and thinking, “But I had it set in my head / Believed every word the newspaper said.” And so he ended up somewhere out West, maybe following a newspaper ad for work. He apparently works on a cattle ranch, riding the line and catching strays while missing the woman he left behind.
“Under a Big Sky” may be the most country song on the “country” lost album, which also features some more energetic songs, including three with “man” in their titles (“Delivery Man,” Repo Man,” “Detail Man”). So “Under a Big Sky” stands out for me on the Tracks II set, capturing a sound similar to Springsteen’s “Wreck on the Highway” from The River.
I also found some thematic similarities to my favorite track on Springsteen’s 2019 album Western Stars, “Chasin’ Wild Horses.” In fact, the narrator in both songs might even be the same character, filling in more details of the narrator’s biography. Both narrators are doing hard work out West, missing a love left behind like a cowboy in an old Western movie. Heartbreaking but beautiful. Check it out.
What are some of your favorite tracks on the Tracks II: Lost Albums release? Leave your two cents in the comments.
