Adam Raised a Cain isn’t top-tier Springsteen, but I still love it. The vocal, especially as he builds up to the chorus, is the only time this album knowingly goes up to 11, approaching silliness (not in the way that we’ll see on some of the rockers next week, but in that way that Bruce knows he’s going for an old-testament rocker, and this is no time for restraint).
In the Bible brother Cain slew Abel
And East of Eden mama he was cast
You’re born into this life paying
For the sins of somebody else’s past
Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain
Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame
But you inherit the sins, you inherit the flames
If he’s singing about his own father there then you know he’s aware of how over-the-top he’s going with it, it’s the most fun vocal on the album, totally snarling like a madman.
Also, the end section from 3:50 is a groove, it doesn’t sound unlike something Funkadelic could have hit out with (on a related note, the bass on this album is great all through). Can’t think of many other moments like that in his catalogue off the top of my head, maybe others will jump out as we go through the whole thing.
