Editing Incident on 57th Street

{{Infobox song
| name     = Incident on 57th Street
| cover    = Incident on 57th Street European label.jpg
| alt      =
| caption  = Label to release as B-side of "War" in Europe in 1986
| type     =
| artist   = [[Bruce Springsteen]]
| album    = [[The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle]]
| released = September 11, 1973
| format   =
| recorded = 1973
| studio   = [[914 Sound Studios]] in [[Blauvelt, New York]]
| venue    =
| genre    = [[Heartland rock]]
| length   = 7:45
| label    = [[Columbia Records]]
| writer   = [[Bruce Springsteen]]
| producer = [[Mike Appel]]
}}

'''"Incident on 57th Street"''' is a song written by [[Bruce Springsteen]] that was first released on his 1973 album ''[[The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle]]''.  It has been described by critics as a key development in Springsteen's songwriting career and regarded by fans as one of his greatest songs. 

==Writing and recording==
"Incident on 57th Street" was the last song Springsteen recorded for ''The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle''.<ref name=heylin/>  As with the rest of the album, it was recorded at [[914 Sound Studios]] in [[Blauvelt, New York]].<ref name=heylin>{{cite book|title=E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band|author=[[Clinton Heylin|Heylin, C.]]|pages=77, 183, 219, 319|year=2012|publisher=Constable & Robinson|isbn=9781780335797}}</ref>  Springsteen had been working on it under the working title "Puerto Rican Jane."<ref name=heylin/>  It was one of the first songs on which Springsteen felt like an "observer," writing whatever came out of him rather than self-consciously trying to write something specific.<ref name=heylin/>  On the album, the piano solo at the end of the song [[segue]]s directly into the guitar opening of the following song, "[[Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)]]."<ref name=runaway>{{cite book|title=Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen|author=Guterman, J.|year=2008|publisher=Da Capo|isbn= 9780786741298}}</ref>

==Lyrics and music==
According to Springsteen, the theme of "Incident on 57th Street" is "redemption," a theme he would return to again many times.<ref name=rs/>  The story is set in New York City and tells the story of "Spanish Johnny" and "Puerto Rican Jane."<ref name=words>{{cite book|title=The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen|author=Kirkpatrick, B.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/wordsmusicofbruc00kirk/page/25 25–26, 35]|year=2007|publisher=Praeger|isbn=978-0275989385|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/wordsmusicofbruc00kirk/page/25}}</ref>  It has parallels to [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s ''[[West Side Story]]'' in telling a ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''-like story with Latin American characters set in New York.<ref name=romeo>{{cite book|title=William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet|editor=[[Harold Bloom|Bloom, H.]]|chapter=''Romeo and Juliet'', "Media Repackaging," ''West Side Story'' and Bruce Springsteen|author=Buhler, S.M.|pages=87–88|year=2010|edition=Revised|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn= 9781604138139}}</ref><ref name=marsh>{{cite book|title=Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts, the Story|author=[[Dave Marsh|Marsh, D.]]|pages=62–65, 102|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn= 9781135880484}}</ref><ref name=complete/>  Johnny is explicitly referred to as "a cool [[Romeo]]" and Jane as "a late [[Juliet]].<ref name=words/><ref name=romeo/>

Johnny comes to midtown [[Manhattan]] after getting beat up while trying to work as a [[male escort]].<ref name=words/>  Although rejected by everyone else, he finds redemption when Jane sympathizes with him, saying "Johnny don't cry."<ref name=counting>{{cite book|title=Counting Down Bruce Springsteen: His 100 Finest Songs|author=Beviglia, J.|year=2014|publisher= Rowman & Littlefield|asin= B00KXRZF7S|pages=179–181}}</ref>  They sleep together, but when his old companions call to him asking him to join them in making "some easy money," he leaves Jane to join them.<ref name=words/>  Jane tells him that "you can leave me tonight but just don't leave me alone."<ref name=counting/>  Johnny agrees to return to her tomorrow, although he doesn't actually know if he will be able to, telling her that "We may find it out on the street tonight, baby/Or we may walk until the daylight maybe."<ref name=counting/>  Springsteen leaves the ending ambiguous, leaving to the listener's imagination whether Johnny's adventure that night meets with a tragic end, or whether the lovers actually do get away.<ref name=counting/><ref name=inside/>

The music starts quietly, with [[David Sancious]] on [[piano]] with some support from Springsteen on guitar.<ref name=counting/>  The song proceeds at a moderate [[tempo]], supported by what music writer Jim Beviglia describes as "hiccuping" from [[Vini Lopez]]' drumming.<ref name=counting/>  But upon Jane's line of "Johnny don't cry," the music becomes more lively, with [[Danny Federici]]'s [[organ (music)|organ]] taking prominence.<ref name=counting/>  After Johnny wakes up from their night of lovemaking, the music dies down again to a solo [[bass guitar]] part by [[Garry Tallent]].<ref name=counting/>  There are three statements of the line "We may find it out on the street tonight, baby/Or we may walk until the daylight maybe" at the end of the song.<ref name=counting/>  Beviglia describes the first as "a whisper," the second as being "more assertive" and the last as "a maelstrom of sound" as Springsteen sings "with majestic desperation as the band crashes all around him."<ref name=counting/>  Finally, the song ends with Sancious again on solo piano, which Beviglia interprets as depicting Jane waiting for Johnny to return.<ref name=counting/>  The song's [[harmony|harmonies]] are based primarily on [[tonic (music)|tonic]], [[dominant (music)|dominant]] and [[subdominant]], and the subdominant is often played with a [[major seventh chord]].<ref name=inside>{{cite book|title=Inside Classic Rock Tracks: Songwriting and Recording Secrets of 100 Great Songs from 1960 to the Present Day|author=Rooksby, R.|pages=79–80|year=2001|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn= 9780879306540}}</ref>

As with many of Springsteen's early songs, "Incident on 57th Street" has a complex, extended structure.<ref name=inside/>  There are three [[verse (music)|verses]], each in three parts, although the second verse skips the second part.<ref name=inside/><ref name=write>{{cite book|title=Bruce Springsteen: Learn from the Greats and Write Better Songs|author=Rooksby, R.|pages=25–27|year=2005|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn= 9780879308360}}</ref>  The [[refrain]] appears after the first verse, but is skipped at the end of the second verse.<ref name=inside/>  At the point at which the second refrain is expected, the music slows down to the solo bass part leading directly to the third verse.<ref name=inside/>  After the third verse, a [[suspended chord]] on Federici's organ generates a return of the refrain, which is then repeated three additional times as the intensity builds.<ref name=inside/>  On the album, after slowing and quieting down to Sancious' ending solo piano part, the music segues into the driving guitars of "[[Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)]]."<ref name=inside/>

==Reception==
Music writer Patrick Humphries describes "Incident on 57th Street" as "the moment when Springsteen the writer came into his own."<ref name=complete>{{cite book|title=The Complete Guide to the Music of Bruce Springsteen|author=Humphries, P.|pages=13–14|year=1996|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=071195304X}}</ref>  Music critic [[Clinton Heylin]] called it "an early masterpiece, it is the kinda epic song [Springsteen] has spent his youth imagining and the [previous] 18 months working towards.<ref name=heylin/>  ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' critic [[Dave Marsh]] calls it one of the "few precious moments in rock when you can hear a musician overcoming both his own limits and the restrictions of the form."<ref name=marsh/>  Beviglia calls it "the bridge from the 1973 Bruce to the one who has been near or atop the [[rock-and-roll]] world for about 40 years now.<ref name=counting/>  He goes on to say that "Incident" was a critical step towards Springsteen's being able to create ''[[Born to Run]]'', calling it a "dry run that came out perfect."<ref name=counting/>

In 2014, Beviglia rated "Incident on 57th Street as Springsteen's 3rd greatest song.<ref name=counting/>  In 2013, a ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' panel rated it Springsteen's 17th greatest song.<ref name=rs>{{cite news|title=The 100 Greatest Songs|newspaper=Rolling Stone Collector's Edition: Bruce|page=87|publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]|year=2013}}</ref>

Humphries sees an influence from "Incident on 57th Street" on the structure of [[Dire Straits]]' 1980 song "[[Romeo and Juliet (Dire Straits song)|Romeo and Juliet]]."<ref name=complete/>  ''Rolling Stone'' viewed it as a precursor to the "expansive urban storytelling" of Springsteen's 1975 classic song "[[Jungleland]]."<ref name=rs/>  According to Springsteen's [[saxophone]] player [[Clarence Clemons]], the introduction to "Jungleland" evolved from the piano and violin introduction to the version of "Incident on 57th Street" that Springsteen had been playing live.<ref name=clemons>{{cite book|title=Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales|url=https://archive.org/details/bigmanreallifeta00clem|url-access=registration|author=[[Clarence Clemons|Clemons, C.]] & Reo, D.|year=2009|publisher=Grand Central Publishing|isbn= 9780446558242}}</ref>  Springsteen himself has suggested that the lyrics of "Jungleland" may tell what happened after "Incident on 57th Street," with Johnny becoming "Jungleland"'s Magic Rat.<ref name=marsh/>

==Other appearances==
The first live performance of "Incident on 57th Street" occurred on January 23, 1974, at [[Muther's Music Emporium]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee]].<ref name=heylin/>  In live performances Springsteen rarely performed it directly before "Rosalita" as it is sequenced on the album.<ref name=runaway/>  "Incident" was one of several songs for which Springsteen hired [[violin]]ist [[Suki Lahav]] to join the [[E Street Band]] for live performances in 1974 and 1975.<ref name=words/>  By the late 1970s and early 1980s, "Incident on 57th Street" had fallen to only occasional inclusion in live set lists.<ref name=heylin/>

A 10-minute live version of "Incident on 57th Street," recorded at the [[Nassau Coliseum]] on December 28, 1980, was released on the 1987 [[Extended play|EP]] ''[[Live Collection]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Live Collection|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-collection-mw0000468055|website=[[Allmusic]]|access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band – Live Collection|date=21 September 1988 |url=http://www.discogs.com/Bruce-Springsteen-The-E-Street-Band-Live-Collection/release/3820806|publisher=Discogs|access-date=2016-01-17}}</ref>  The live performance was also released as the B-side of Springsteen's release of the 12" single "[[War (Edwin Starr song)|War]]" in Europe in 1986; despite its exceptional length, it also appeared as the B-side of the US release of the "[[Fire (Bruce Springsteen song)|Fire]]" 7" single.<ref name=complete/>  Another live performance was included on the 2003 video ''[[Live in Barcelona (Bruce Springsteen video)|Live in Barcelona]]'', with Springsteen on solo piano.<ref name=write/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Bruce Springsteen songs}}

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[[Category:Bruce Springsteen songs]]
[[Category:Songs written by Bruce Springsteen]]
[[Category:1973 songs]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Mike Appel]]