"Point Blank" | ||||||||||
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Single by Bruce Springsteen | ||||||||||
from the album The River | ||||||||||
B-side | "Ramrod" | |||||||||
Released | 1981 | |||||||||
Format | 7" single | |||||||||
Recorded | September 1980 | |||||||||
Genre | Rock | |||||||||
Length | 6:06 | |||||||||
Label | Columbia | |||||||||
Writer(s) | Bruce Springsteen | |||||||||
Producer(s) | Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau | |||||||||
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"Point Blank" is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and first released on Springsteen's 1980 album The River. In Europe, it was also released as a single in 1981, backed by another song from The River, "Ramrod". Although it was not released as a single in the US, it did reach #20 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
"Point Blank" was written in 1978, and was the first song Springsteen wrote after completing the Darkness on the Edge of Town album. "Point Blank" had its live premiere on July 7, 1978 in a concert on the Darkness Tour at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California, at which "Independence Day" was also premiered. In its 1978 incarnation, the lyrics dealt with the singer's girlfriend's drug addiction. A live 1978 performance from Houston, Texas is included on a DVD in The Promise box set.
In 2015, Springsteen stated that he regards "Point Blank," "Stolen Car," "Independence Day" and the title track as being "the heart and soul" of The River album. "Point Blank", along with the title track, "Wreck on the Highway" and "Independence Day", is one of the verse-chorus songs on The River that was essentially a short story or character sketch. As with "The River" and "Independence Day", this song deals with the disappointments of working-class family life. With The River, Springsteen figured out how to create an album on which happy songs like "Sherry Darling" could co-exist with painful songs like "Point Blank". And "Point Blank" is one of the most painful songs on the album. The emotions covered by the song include disappointment, fear, loneliness and desperation.