Good Enough For Me

In his book, Bruce Springsteen FAQ: All That's Left To Know About the Boss, John D. Luerssen quotes Springsteen from a 2009 interview with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Jim Henke:

"I got thrown out [of British Invasion-inspired band, The Rogues] because they told me my guitar was too cheap. It kind of pissed me off. I remember I went home that night and I put on 'It's All Over Now' by The Rolling Stones and I forced myself to learn the lead."

By 1965, Luerssen writes, Springsteen was practicing six hours a day.

Yet, somehow, all that a lot of folks could find to say about Keith Richards' incendiary break was that it owed too much to Chuck Berry.

Honestly, who else was he supposed to imitate -- Perry Como?

I guess you can sit on the sidelines and make historically-uninformed remarks about someone's artistic choices, or you can do what Springsteen did.

The rest, as they say, is history.

BTW, I've never read Luerssen's book. I remembered Springsteen's story about this song from an interview he did many years ago, possibly with Rolling Stone. I remember reading a lot of rock criticism, and wondering if anything I liked was really any good. Then, Springsteen comes along and gives the thumbs-up to a guitar break that I, too, would have been playing over and over -- if I'd only had the record.

Here are The Rolling Stones with "It's All Over Now". Say what you will about the needlessly-controversial guitar break, but IMO, Richards sounds like he's in guitar-nerd heaven, and that's good enough for me.