Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)

Thanks be to God there's no law that says a man or woman must love Bruce Springsteen's music. His voice and that big-band sound just aren't for me. But I will confess that his slower rock ballads have grown on me.

I like his sincerity in those songs. "Factory" is about his dad going to work, day in, day out. He says of his dad that he goes in to the factory "with death in his eyes."

Now whether this was really about Springsteen's dad is of no relevance to me. It's touching. This song in '78 would have really spoken to a dying working class and would hold some nostalgia now for that generation that lived through that kind of drudgery.

This music can still speak to folks and does. Even for those who live in the world of the gig economy, is it really so different?

What feels like toil feels like toil.