Lyrics: “Like a rhinestone cowboy
Riding out on a horse in a star-spangled rodeo”
Springsteen’s take on “Rhinestone Cowboy” brings it all back home: It’s a confession by a phony, a poser, a guy in sparkly fake gems who, far from working the rodeos, instead walks “the dirty sidewalks of Broadway.” Its author is neither a Westerner nor a cowboy, nor even cowboy-adjacent: Larry Weiss is a Jewish guy who grew up in Queens. Springsteen is a Roman catholic guy who has a load of appeal for a certain type of person. Reference Springsteen on Broadway, in which Springsteen admits he made it all up, using the following words: “I made it all up.” Is he the Garden State version of the Rhinestone Cowboy? His voice resonates with certain people. He’s an average guy who stumbled into stardom, as a lot of stars do. Ordinary except for some sensational attribute that vibrates within fans. It’s Springsteen’s ordinary-ness that made him popular. Hero’s aren’t made too different. If they were they would be saints, not hero’s.
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