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Ep. 21.5: Lightning Round: Follow-Up on 'Caught Stealing' and 'Deliver Me from Nowhere'
12 Plays4 months ago
In this special, first episode of 'Lighting Round,' Nate and Chris offer follow-up on previous episodes.
Listeners of episode 18 may recall that Chris sent 'Caught Stealing' author Charlie Huston an email to ask about what characters readers are meant to feel sympathy for -- and Mr. Huston responded! Listen to hear how his short-but-sweet email shifted perspectives on the story.
Additionally, Nate shares that Bruce Springsteen has released the electric tracks recorded for his 1982 album 'Nebraska,' the subject of 'Deliver Me from Nowhere,' which was discussed in episode 21.
Follow us on social media:
Nate's Letterboxd (@professor_n8)
Chris's Letterboxd (@cjanderson878)
Hosts: Nate Day, Chris Anderson
Producer: Nate Day
"Adaptation Theme"
- Written by: Chris Anderson, Jem Zornow
- Performed by: Chris Anderson, Jem Zornow, Nate Day
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Transcript
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Introducing the 'Lightning Round' Podcast
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Welcome to Lightning Round, the first episode of the Adaptation Mini Podcast.
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I'm Nate Day.
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I'm Chris.
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I usually say that.
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No, you don't.
Discussion with Charlie Houston
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Anyway, yeah, like I said, our first episode of
00:01:22
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lightning round we want to do these mini episodes this one in particular is to catch some people up on some developments on past episodes from past episodes about past episodes etc above so Chris first of all has something very exciting to share with us Chris yeah what's going on yeah so any keen listeners in episode 18
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Well, maybe remember that I said I emailed Charlie Houston.
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I did finally look that up as well.
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Okay.
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Author of Cot Stealing.
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Yes.
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Yes.
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I found an interview where they ask him how to pronounce it.
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And he says Houston, like the city.
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That's funny.
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I went back to listen to that episode because I couldn't remember exactly what I emailed him.
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It was something along the lines of besides the girlfriend and the cat, am I intended to like any of these characters?
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Right.
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And he replied.
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That is so cool.
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That's so cool.
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So, Charlie, if you're listening, I know our first episode wasn't a gleaming review, but you as an individual out there in L.A.
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taking the time to reply to my email, super cool.
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So thank you.
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Amazing.
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Besides just that he did it, his reply is also interesting.
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Okay.
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So I'm just going to read it to you because it was super short.
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Great.
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He says,
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which across all three books is about him growing up.
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Cheers.
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See.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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What I appreciate about this is three things.
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First of all, yeah, super cool that this dude that just got his book turned into a movie even stopped to reply.
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Second, a very interesting answer in and of itself, concise.
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And three, a book that I didn't terribly enjoy.
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This genuinely makes me want to continue the series.
00:03:44
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I was going to say that plug for the rest of the books was sort of interesting.
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Yeah.
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I mean, he kind of said, keep reading for more, you know, in the less commercial way.
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I don't think he's trying to get you to buy the book, but to engage with the story.
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Yeah.
Charlie Houston's Storytelling Style
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Yeah.
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It's like a, um, yes, I think you, you said it far better than I did.
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He's not saying, well, if you'd kept reading, it's almost in a polite way, like a dismissive.
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I don't care if you read all three, but here's, here's what's going on.
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And I appreciate that.
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Yeah, I do too.
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And I kind of like, um, I like that he says, I suppose you're not supposed to feel that way.
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Or how does he phrase it?
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Um, yes, yes.
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I don't suppose you're meant to like anyone.
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Yes, we've talked about this a thousand times.
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Yeah, well, I also like that it seems like he didn't sit down and like mathematically sort of design these characters.
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The fact that he doesn't have this like hard answer to fall back on to that question tells me that it was more about the process of telling this story.
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You know, when he says, I don't suppose that that tells me that you might be the first person that asked him that question.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Like, is it something he's stopped and considered even?
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Well, and the way that he answers it, it is very much almost like a mathematical proof.
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We have his own writing, this book, and then a question posed against it.
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No, I don't suppose you're meant to like them.
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Mm-hmm.
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this little side comment.
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I wouldn't want that to be a goal of my book anyway.
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But then he kind of goes through this checks and balance.
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He is a rough guy.
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Here are the things against him.
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I suppose you're not sympathizing.
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You're just watching the journey.
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Yeah, I agree.
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It's a very sincere answer.
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It is.
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And it does, like you said, it adds an extra layer of depth and makes me a little bit more interested in the story to begin with.
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Yeah, agreed.
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Agreed completely.
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So, Charlie, if you listen to either episode, thank you.
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I'm sure you won't.
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Thank you either way.
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But, yeah, super cool.
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And just, yeah, he's an accomplished author.
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What's he doing sitting down and reading my dumb question and replying?
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Yeah, cool guy.
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I appreciate
Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska 82' Release
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that.
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Yeah.
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Yep.
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We're Charlie Houston fans now.
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We are, I think.
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Cool.
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Well, I had something fun to share too.
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Okay.
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Excellent.
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In follow-up to our Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere episode.
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Editing that one was funny because we mostly just talked about Bruce Springsteen instead of the book or the movie, which is very on-brand for the two of us.
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I knew we would.
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Yeah, I guess so.
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I did want to share that to coincide with the release of the movie, I had missed this at the time of recording the podcast, Bruce Springsteen has released an expanded edition of Nebraska, the album, and this particular edition is called Nebraska 82, and it includes the electric recordings of the, is it eight songs that are on Nebraska?
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Nine songs that are on Nebraska.
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Interesting.
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Wait, so these are electric versions that were recorded in 82?
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In 82.
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It's the versions that they threw out, or evidently didn't throw out, but put on the shelf in favor of demos.
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Man, that's so cool.
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It is cool.
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And you mentioned in the episode that you really like Atlantic City, the song.
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And that was sort of the standout to me listening to this electric
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version of Nebraska.
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It's really weird.
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It's definitely a different album.
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Like he made the right call going with the demos, you know?
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Yeah.
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Nothing is bad, which is hysterical to me because knowing what I knew about the album and then watching this movie, I think I had constructed this idea in my head without knowing it that the Electric album would be fantastic.
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garbage, but that's not, it's not true.
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It's still a good album.
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It's just a totally different album.
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It's just crazy to realize that Bruce saw something else.
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You know, I, I think that is a real testament to his artistry that he, he didn't just go with the flow.
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You know, I don't like, I don't, I'm trying to come up with an equivalent example where somebody like really stuck to their guns sort of in pop culture.
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And I'm really struggling to think of something because I just think,
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So many people are like, well, this is what a movie looks like and this is what an album sounds like.
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Yep.
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Yep.
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So they wouldn't even stop to think.
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No, that's very interesting.
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Yeah.
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And I think you should listen to it at least Atlantic City because I do like the electric
Springsteen's Music: Electric vs. Acoustic
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version.
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I think both kind of stand on their own.
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And now he must have, maybe it was a live, I know I've heard an electric version of Atlantic City.
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I don't know if that's probably live.
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There are a few of those massive... You know when they used to release those LP sets that were like two or four discs, and it was like a year's compendium?
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Yep, I've got a Bruce Springsteen one right here.
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I'm looking at it.
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Yes.
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So my buddy, Michael Duffy, his dad had that exact one, because I've seen it at your house, in their basement.
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And it was in the same LP box, the big, you know, we all know what LP sleeves look like.
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But it was four cassettes of it.
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Whoa.
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And I'm almost positive.
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I could be wrong.
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I'm almost positive there's an electric Atlantic City on that, but I'm terribly interested to listen to the rest.
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I feel remiss that we somehow missed that the first time.
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I know.
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I mean, it just goes to show how, you know, marketing changes and things like that over the years that Bruce Springsteen, like basically anniversary album.
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Not really, I guess, just to coincide with the release of the movie, but
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kind of special edition yeah yeah yeah does it i mean this is probably impossible to answer given the thought you've already committed to the original but had you heard this album first do you think you'd have a different favorite track oh i mean this is again this is where it gets really different right two two pieces of art i guess probably atlantic city it the
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It's really Johnny 99 still a who electric.
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Oh, I bet.
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I mean, it's just a different album.
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So I guess the answer would be yes, but I couldn't come up with it.
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I couldn't tell you beyond.
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We talked in the episode about how you kind of fall back on Atlantic City because it's known as one of his greatest hits.
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It's incredible.
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It's perfect.
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So I guess I would go with that if I had to.
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I think something that's really interesting to me about Springsteen more than any other artist is
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I don't know if this is a hot take at this point.
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I think people agree with me.
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I loathe those unplugged sessions.
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Really?
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Which in the book, Zane specifies this is not that, right?
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It's not... I think Nirvana is kind of famously attributed doing that first MTV Unplugged.
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And then Clapton's Layla Acoustic was famous for that.
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I hated them.
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I have very strong opinions about electric versus acoustic.
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Yeah, sure.
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Okay.
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And Springsteen is the example that I always tell people, this is not electric versus acoustic, but cover versus original.
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I emphatically, I will physically fight people over this opinion, believe his blinded by the light is superior to the original.
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I think I do too.
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And I think it's more strongly associated with him than any other.
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I agree.
00:11:24
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I agree.
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You know, that happens every once in a while with covers.
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But then to come back, so these are two examples with this artist alone that I have very strong opinions.
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And now, certainly based mostly on how you described it, I think I'll just enjoy the original and this one for what they are.
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Yeah, side by side instead of in some kind of ranking.
00:11:48
Speaker
And that makes no sense.
00:11:50
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Right.
00:11:51
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No sense.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:54
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Nothing does.
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You