“The Promised Land” by Bruce Springsteen

"The Promised Land" is one of the pillars of Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce Springsteen's 1978 album, and it went out in the UK as the record's third single, after "Badlands" and "Prove It All Night", with "Streets of Fire" on the flip. It grew out of an August 1977 road trip with photographer Eric Meola and Steven Van Zandt: they flew into Salt Lake City, rented a red 1965 Ford Galaxie, and pointed it toward Reno, chasing every Nevada side road, sleeping in the car and riding out a thunderstorm in the desert.

You can hear all that open road in it. Springsteen's harmonica cuts in like a warning, Clarence Clemons wails, Roy Bittan and Danny Federici lay down piano and organ, and Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg drive it home. Jon Landau and Springsteen produced, with Little Steven assisting.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.