Song of the Day 11/25: Bruce Springsteen, “Last Man Standing”

Bruce Springsteen’s “Letter to You” album, released a month ago, got reviews I would characterize more as respectful than enthusiastic. Many of the songs replicate the arena-rock template Springsteen laid down 40 years ago, but most are neither written nor delivered with the passion he had in the ’80s — Springsteen said he wrote nine of the songs in a period of little more than a week, and it shows.

The major exception to that rule is “Last Man Standing,” his response to the death of his long-ago bandmate George Theiss, leader of the Castiles. They played together for three years in the mid- to late ’60s before the band broke up, in part because Springsteen began to overshadow Theiss, who moved on to other Jersey Shore bands and earned a living as a carpenter.

They stayed friends over the years — Springsteen invited Theiss to his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction — but hadn’t spoken for a while when Springsteen called in 2016, only to learn Theiss was undergoing cancer treatments. They stayed in contact until Theiss died in 2018.

The rest of the songs offer Springsteen’s ruminations on mortality and legacy, but only on this one does Springsteen use his storytelling chops to evoke the sense of nostalgia and loss we feel as old friends cross to the other side.

Springsteen and Theiss wrote a couple of songs together as Castiles. “Baby I” was included on “Chapter and Verse,” the 2016 LP released as a companion piece to Springsteen’s autobiography.