Another Change I Hate

I can remember where I was when I first heard Darkness on the Edge of Town. I was 13 years old and my buddy Doug played Badlands for me and our other buddy Digger. We had an album and Bruce's photo was huge on the cover.

My brother John and my buddy Tom were with me when the Born in the USA album came out. We bought cassettes...and listened to it on the car ride home. Even though we never heard a song from it...we were trying to sing along as we read the words printed in tiny letters.

I heard Brilliant Disguise from the Tunnel of Love record on a small radio in the garage of my parents home. It was hard to pick out the words because the station didn't tune in so well.

I remember buying the Human Touch and Lucky Town CD's in Niagara Falls. I ran into a record store (remember those) and purchased my copies three minutes after ten because I knew that was when the UPS truck would deliver them to the store.

I bought The Ghost of Tom Joad CD at three minutes after midnight when it was released. The stores were beating the rush. I'll never forget looking back three places in line and seeing my brother Jeff standing there. We sat in my car and listened to the title track before heading home.

"He's still got it," Jeff said.

And now?

Now the music is being leaked one song at a time!

I most likely will not lay my hands on the album or the CD or the 8-track or the cassette tape.

No, magically it will appear on my I-phone, my I-tunes, my I-pod overnight on March 5th or 6th.

There won't be any romance involved.

I won't recall where I was the moment the music downloaded.

That kinda' sucks.

I guess it's okay for people who never knew the difference. When I explain to my kids that I waited in line to buy the Live 1986 cassettes and that they sold out really fast and I had to go back the next day because there weren't enough available, they laugh.

How could the music not be available?

And so, here I sit, song by song the album is being released.

One thing that hasn't changed though...

...Bruce has still got it.