No, the song doesn’t have anything to do with the holiday, but it is one of Bruce Springsteen’s most personal songs, the one that most directly addresses the tension with his father that led him to stay behind in New Jersey when the rest of his family decamped for California. It was released on 1980’s “The River,” but had been recorded in 1977 for the “Darkness on the Edge of Town” LP before somebody decided that disc was gloomy enough already. Springsteen was playing it in concerts by 1978, and it still features prominently in his shows.
The original release is nostalgic for E Street fans because the arrangement highlights the two members of the original band who have died, Danny Federici on organ and Clarence Clemons on saxophone.
