Friday Noir: Stray Bullet
The whiskey goes down smooth, the Lucky is what burns your lungs….
In the tall grass we held hands.
Down by the river we made plans….
Of what would and would not be
It was impossible to see…
Their black boots shone in the sun
They were waiting on the Annandale train when my baby come.
Little girl with the long black hair…
Do you know what lies ‘neath the long coats that they wear
Once I swore you’d ride with me to some far and distant shore.
Down where this river meets the sea..
I’ll make you mine forevermore.
Over these dark hills I’d walk along just to hold you in my arms.
To lie with you on a bed of stone.
River blood red with the years.
You can flood this valley with a thousand tears.
Wash away all that’s been found…
But you’ll never wash away the sound.
Of the stray bullet that shot my baby down….
_____________
So, that’s his story.
What happens next?
What does this man do?
_____________
Earlier today, two things happened.
One, I was checking out the work of this cat, Dan Bannino. Came across him on Twitter or Tumblr or something like that. He’s got some elegant neo-noir work happening.
Then I went for a run this morning. And on my MP3 player (take THAT, iPod!) pops up a Bruce Springsteen song called Stray Bullet. It was an unreleased track, till just recently, and is now part of The Ties That Bind – The River Box Collection released in late 2015.
Basically, it’s a Springsteen leftover. You know, something he put together, recorded and it never saw the light of day.
THIS is a left-over? He tells a whole crime fiction’s worth of story in a just few lines.
To some musicians, this would be their hit.Their dream song.
To Bruce, it’s part of the game, probably a forgotten element in his catalog. If someone asked him to play it, he’d probably have to rack his brain for the lyrics.According to this site, he’s never even performed it live.
Ever.
Anyway, it popped up on my run and after seeing Dan’s work, the noir juices started to flow.
I had to post a Friday Noir today.
Soooooo….I went back into my files to find something. I had one shot in mind, but I already posted it a few years ago. Didn’t want to reuse.
Then I found this one. I actually shot this back in 2014, but, like Bruce’s song, it never saw the light of day. But I think it works for this song.
A light run through Nik to darken the edges, lighten the center a bit, sharpen the smoke a little. Bing, bang, boom.
Yes, the song seems to be based in the West (boots, long coats (dusters?)…but it seems like this fella could be lost in thought about a similar sequence of events.
Out on the mean streets somewhere in Jersey.
I decided to keep this in color, again, due to Dan’s work in my brain.
A new “Springsteen Noir” image for this Good Friday 2016. Hope you like my images….listen to the fantastic song here.
(c)Mark Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | 2016
JerseyStyle Photography 
Awesome. As usual.
that song is haunting, and beautiful! thanks for sharing it!
Thanks, Lisa!