Complex Numbers

4th of July, Asbury Park

Sandy, the angels have lost our desire for us
I spoke to 'em just last night and they said they won't set themselves on fire for us anymore
Every summer when the weather gets hot they ride that road down from heaven on their Harleys they come and they go
And you can see 'em dressed like stars in all the cheap little seashore bars parked making love with their babies out on the Kokomo
Well the cops finally busted Madam Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do
This boardwalk life for me is through
You know you ought to quit this scene too

Sandy the aurora's rising behind us, the pier lights our carnival life forever
Oh love me tonight and I promise I'll love you forever

Well, it seems she couldn't wait for the actual 4th of July, but the famed Madam Marie died a few days ago, aged 93.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080701/NEWS/80701031

Madam Marie bragged that she had told the fortunes of everyone from Judy Garland to Springsteen himself. Legend has it that she told Springsteen he was going to be a success. Springsteen later joked that she told all the musicians that.

And Springsteen never forgot Madam Marie.

"He always comes by to say hello," she told Press columnist Bill Handleman in May. "He knows where he came from."

The song - parenthetically titled "Sandy" - came out on Bruce's second album, a compilation largely ahead of its time in musical composition and lyrical athletics. But "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" itself is a straightforward tune about being young and then becoming disillusioned with the trappings of youth, of wanting to grow up and do something with real meaning.

Interestingly enough, the lyrics he sings today (quoted above) aren't the original lyrics on the album. They began:

Sandy, that waitress I was seeing lost her desire for me
I spoke with her last night, she said she won't set herself on fire for me anymore
She worked that joint under the boardwalk, she was always the girl you saw boppin' down on the beach with the radio
The kids say last night she was dressed like a star in one of them cheap little seaside bars, and I saw her parked with Loverboy out on the Kokomo...

I have no idea why he changed them. I liked the original better. But either way, I always thought the Madam Marie line (which was artistic license on his part; I understand she was never actually arrested) was one of the best in the song. To me, it described something so forlorn, so end-of-an-era - in the song, it's the straw that breaks the camel's back, the thing that finally makes the narrator go, "You know what? Forget it. I don't want this anymore. It's just not the same."

So what did Bruce have to say about the end of this era? From his website:

Back in the day when I was a fixture on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, I'd often stop and talk to Madam Marie as she sat on her folding chair outside the Temple of Knowledge.

I'd sit across from her on the metal guard rail bordering the beach, and watched as she led the day trippers into the small back room where she would unlock a few of the mysteries of their future. She always told me mine looked pretty good - she was right. The world has lost enough mystery as it is - we need our fortunetellers. We send our condolences out to her family who've carried on her tradition. Over here on E Street, we will miss her.

Kind of makes me want to take a road trip on Friday. I probably won't - but I've always wanted to walk the Boardwalk on the 4th of July. Kind of a holy pilgrimage.

And maybe one day I'll find out what in the hell the Kokomo is.