This song is kind of a joke between me and my brother. I love Bruce because he tries new things but this is him at his most direct and thusly least poetic. He's just kinda mumbling through an idea prompt from a Tom Hanks movie. That's from the same period and he shows more effort. That's from the same starting point and shows some of the same problems he has with writing songs for movies. But I like it a lot more and it shows growth as an artist. The Wrestler has some awkward imagery that reveals to me part of his song writing process and it seems to involve wrestling (Hurrr) with ideas he appreciates on face value but doesn't understand. And he does so over long periods. He can look back at things he's done that were popular but not quite up to his ever changing standards for himself and improve on his craft. OK. Now I have to go jack off because my man boner for Bruce is uncomfortable.
Bruce Springsteen at his most tortured and commercial is better than Kanye West at the absolute top of his game. Bruce Springsteen managed to make a synth tune the ultimate rah-rah patriotic good-ole-boy anthem of the Reagan '80s... using the same axe Vangelis used on Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner.