Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars, released seven months prior to this analysis, stands as a monumental achievement in his discography. Time and repeated listens only solidify its place at the zenith of his officially released albums. While Born to Run marked a pivotal moment, Darkness on the Edge of Town ignited legendary tours, and Tunnel of Love exposed his raw vulnerability, Western Stars surpasses them all in sheer songwriting brilliance and musical craftsmanship. It’s an album destined for lasting recognition.
Western Stars pulses with romanticism and emotional depth. Dismissed by some as somber or even nihilistic, it is, in fact, a vibrant ode to life, a profoundly uplifting tribute to lived experience. While the imagery evokes the American West, the core themes transcend geographical boundaries, resonating beyond the lens of Springsteen’s well-documented struggles with depression.
Released on the cusp of his 70th birthday, Western Stars, years in the making, introduces us to characters navigating the twilight of their lives. These are individuals marked by past missteps, much like ourselves, striving with varying degrees of success to move forward. This essence, this grappling with life when the journey ahead pales in comparison to the miles already traversed, forms the heart of Western Stars. It’s about how we, as the sum of our experiences, continue to evolve and progress under the weight of our choices.
Over time, we will explore each track on this remarkable album, from the carpe diem spirit of “Drive Fast (The Stuntman)” to the aching beauty of “Moonlight Motel,” both contenders for Springsteen’s greatest songs, and the unexpected joy of “Hitch Hikin’.”
Today, however, our focus sharpens on the album’s very core, “Chasin’ Wild Horses,” a song that encapsulates the album’s thematic and musical richness.
Before dissecting its layers, a close, immersive listen is crucial to truly appreciate the artistry woven into “Chasin’ Wild Horses.” Headphones are highly recommended to capture its nuances.
“Chasin’ Wild Horses,” at its heart, is a narrative of a man in flight from his past, desperately seeking to erase it from his consciousness. Yet, as experience teaches us, suppressing memories, especially those of mistakes and losses, is a futile endeavor, akin to the very act of chasing wild horses.
This track is also a masterclass in Springsteen’s arrangement prowess. His deployment of studio musicians is deliberate and nuanced, crafting a backing track that narrates as powerfully as the lyrics themselves – a hallmark of the entire Western Stars album.
The song opens with Springsteen’s gentle acoustic guitar, setting the stage for a viola that establishes a fleeting scene before receding as Springsteen’s vocals draw us into the narrator’s deceptively ambivalent reflection.
Guess it was something I shouldn’t have done
Guess I regret it now
Ever since I was a kid
Trying to keep my temper down is like
Chasing wild horses, chasing wild horses
Chasing wild horsesThis introductory verse is rich in subtext. The narrator possesses a degree of self-awareness yet remains unreconciled with his self-knowledge. The repeated use of “guess” is deliberate, underscoring a sense of resignation. It’s a musical shrug, acknowledging a lifelong battle with a volatile temper, a war often lost.
The precise nature of the regrettable action remains veiled, but the implication is clear: it’s one in a series of missteps. Springsteen introduces the title metaphor here, “chasing wild horses,” which will resonate throughout the song in varying contexts, including a literal interpretation. This is just one example of Springsteen’s masterful lyrical craftsmanship. Here, the metaphor encapsulates both the arduousness of his internal struggle and its frequent futility.
The subsequent verse reveals that the narrator’s flight has led him to Montana, where he works for the Bureau of Land Management, literally chasing and corralling wild horses. This physically demanding labor serves as a temporary shield, a way to momentarily escape the weight of his past.
I left my home, left my friends
I didn’t say goodbye
I contract out to the BLM
Up on the Montana line
Chasing wild horses, chasing wild horsesA distinct musical structure emerges: each verse commences with an optimistic melodic phrase (reminiscent of “Your Own Worst Enemy”), yet each subsequent line descends into a melancholic tone. By the end of the second verse, Marc Muller’s pedal steel guitar enters, painting a vast exterior landscape, drawing us out of the narrator’s introspection and into a deliberately monotonous bridge. This musical passage mirrors the physical drudgery that serves as a poor substitute for genuine solace.
We’re out before sunup
We’re in after sundown
There’s two men in the chopper
Two under saddle on the ground
In the evenings we hop in the pickup
Head into town for a drink
I make sure I work till I’m so damn tired
Yeah way too tired to thinkThe concluding couplet is pivotal. “I make sure I work till I’m so damn tired” is the revealing line. It exposes work as a self-prescribed drug, a means of numbing himself, avoiding the confrontation with the pain he has inflicted upon himself and others.
While “Chasin’ Wild Horses” is already skillfully constructed, it’s at this juncture that it ascends to mastery. Notice the pregnant pause after “way too tired to think.” It pulls us back into the narrator’s psyche, and when the full orchestra surges in a beat or two later, it represents the past crashing into the present moment. Finally, and ironically, given the preceding attempt at emotional suppression, we are granted a glimpse of the woman at the heart of his lost love.
You lose track of time
It’s all just storms blowing through
You come rolling ‘cross my mind
Your hair flashing in the blue
Like wild horses, just like wild horses
Just like wild horsesWe see only her hair, yet to the narrator, it stands out against the vast blue sky, mirroring the manes of the wild horses he chases daily. In that instant, we understand that whatever temporary respite his labor provided in suppressing regret has vanished irrevocably. The equestrian imagery strengthens a connection to “Dry Lightning,” suggesting a thematic link between the songs and their narrators.
The orchestra swells, anchored by a repetitive piano riff (likely Ron Aniello’s), creating an emotional whirlwind that engulfs both us and the narrator, with whom we are now inextricably linked.
The following section is arguably the song’s emotional peak, where past and present converge, echoing the masterful “Reno,” another Springsteen masterpiece.
A fingernail moon in a twilight sky
I’m riding in the high grass of the switchback
I shout your name into the canyon
The echo throws it backRevisit this segment with headphones, volume amplified. When the narrator cries out his love’s name into the canyon, listen intently for the echo. “Back…. back…” It’s subtly embedded, likely missed by most listeners, yet a poignant detail. Springsteen allows this moment to linger before abruptly returning us to the harsh reality of the present.
The winter snow whites out the plains
Till it can turn you blind
The only thing up here I’ve found
Is trying to get you off my mind
Chasing wild horses, chasing wild horses
Chasing wild horses, chasing wild horsesIn this final verse, Springsteen reinforces both the central metaphor and the narrator’s futile struggle. The blinding winter snow mirrors his emotional state, and the physical labor, while a distraction, fails to truly banish his lost love from his thoughts. The simple word “you” underscores her constant presence in his mind.
He remains trapped, perpetually chasing wild horses, never to capture them. The orchestra swells again, the emotional tempest returning at the four-minute mark, overwhelming us with the combined weight of love and loss. As the pedal steel guides us back to reality, the strings linger faintly in the background, a constant reminder that the past, like the echoes in the canyon, can never be fully escaped.
To date, Springsteen has only performed the Western Stars songs once, at a secret concert later released as a film and soundtrack. While the Western Stars film garnered acclaim, not every song translates seamlessly to the stage. “Chasin’ Wild Horses” exemplifies this. It loses some of its delicate nuances in a live setting. The orchestra, in a live barn setting, becomes too overpowering, diminishing the emotional range of the album version. The coda’s emotional whirlwind becomes too forceful, with horns overshadowing the gentler piano, and the canyon echo vanishes entirely.
Despite these subtle losses in translation, experiencing Springsteen’s music with a full orchestra remains captivating. If the live performance falls slightly short of the album, it’s only because the album version has already achieved near perfection.
Springsteen has remained ambiguous about performing Western Stars songs on an E Street stage. There are tracks that would likely thrive in that setting, and others, like “Chasin’ Wild Horses,” that perhaps should remain within the intimate perfection of the album. “Chasin’ Wild Horses” is a flawless song, perfectly positioned on a flawless album, and perhaps its enduring power lies in remaining exactly there.
Chasin’ Wild Horses Recorded: Unknown
Released: Western Stars (2019)
First performed: April 2019 (exact date unknown) (Colts Neck, NJ)
Last performed: April 2019 (exact date unknown) (Colts Neck, NJ)
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