Glory Days (3:47)

“Glory Days” is a 1984 song, written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985 it became the fifth single released from his massively successful album Born in the U.S.A.

“Glory Days” was recorded in April or May 1982 (sources differ) during the first wave of Born in the U.S.A. sessions. Even though the album went through several different phases of what would be on it, “Glory Days” was always seen as one of the cornerstones. The song is a seriocomic tale of a man who now ruefully looks back on the so-called glory days of himself and people he knew during high school. The music is jocular, consisting of what Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh called “rinky-dink organ, honky-tonk piano, and garage-band guitar kicked along by an explosive tom-tom pattern.” It also features a mandolin solo from Steven Van Zandt, one of the sideman’s most noticeable instrumental contributions to the Springsteen studio canon.

An alternate mix of “Glory Days” has circulated, which includes a deleted third verse between the second and the last. The missing verse refers to the singer’s father sitting on a bar stool at the legion, bitter over his lack of any “glory days.”

The single peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts in the summer of 1985. It was the fifth of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A. Marsh named the second volume in his biography after the song.

The music video for the song was shot in late May 1985 in various locations in New Jersey, and was directed by filmmaker John Sayles, the third video he had done for the album.