Talkin' tracks - Springsteen's '73-'87 tracks - with writer, poet, and musician David Starkey
September 26, 2026
Writer, poet, and musician David Starkey, who also served as Santa Barbara’s 2009-2011 Poet Laureate, is the author of a recently published book in Sonicbond Publishing's on track... series entitled Bruce Springsteen 1973-1987.
Starkey’s book provides a brief information/critical-analysis entry for each and every track on each and every Springsteen album released during the years identified in the title (including every album outtake issued as a vinyl B-side, which Springsteen started doing with The River’s two singles.) He spends no more than about a page or so on each Springsteen track, with the entire book weighing in at just under 130 pages.
This makes Bruce Springsteen 1973-1987 quite a handy, portable companion for exploring/re-exploring this period of Springsteen's recording career, which also covers the first major period of Springsteen’s in-studio work with the E Street Band. Springsteen fans old and new will find it to be an interesting, engaging mix of well-researched facts and opinions. You probably won't agree with all of Starkey's views, but that's a big part of the fun to be found in this type of book, too. It's very much the literary equivalent of having a good-natured discussion/debate over Bruce Springsteen's music with one (or more) of your fellow fans who love the guy's work as much as you do.
Earlier this week, LettersToYou.net's editor/publisher Shawn Poole recorded a conversation with David Starkey, centered around Bruce Springsteen 1973-1987. For just under an hour, they had a great time re-exploring Springsteen's catalog from this period, discussing and debating some of the best and most important songs. You can hear it all for yourself by clicking either of the links below, embedded from our SoundCloud and YouTube platforms:
And if after you buy and read your own copy of Bruce Springsteen 1973-1987 (U.S. edition available for purchase here and U.K. edition available for purchase here,) please feel free to contact David Starkey via his official website if you'd like to share some of your own thoughts, continue the discussion/debate, etc. Just remember to be respectful, of course, and as was noted in the recorded LettersToYou.net conversation between Poole and Starkey, "...different perspectives... disagreements... that's okay; that's cool and it can be fun. And you might learn something in the process."
