“Brilliant Disguise” by Bruce Springsteen

“Now look at me baby, struggling to do everything right…”

Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love is a masterpiece from start to finish, and while all the songs are wonderful, “Brilliant Disguise” stands as one of Springsteen’s greatest songs.

The album came after a whirlwind period in the 1980s that saw Springsteen become one of the four most popular musicians of the time (including Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince). Springsteen, otherwise known informally as Bruuuuuce, had spent the 10 or so years between Born to Run and Born in the USA building up his audience with epic three-hour concerts and carefully crafted albums. With Born in the USA and the video for “Dancing in the Dark”, Bruuuuuce became a superstar at 35.

During this period, Springsteen got married to Julianne Phillips, and everything seemed to be looking up for Mr. Springsteen. But in 1987, he released Tunnel of Love, a title that made it sound like it would be about a happy and satisfied romance, but instead contained lines like:

Well, it ought to be easy, it ought to be simple enough
Yeah, man meets woman and they fall in love
But this house is haunted and the ride gets rough
You’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above
If you want to ride on down down in through this tunnel of love

That sounds a little…uh…unsure.

Okay, maybe that was a one-off. Let’s see…other songs include “Two Faces”:

I met a girl and we ran away
I swore I’d make her happy every day
And how I made her cry
Two faces have I

Hmmm…how about “When You’re Alone”?

Now it ain’t hard feelings or nothin’ sugar
That ain’t what’s got me singing this song
It’s just nobody knows baby where love goes
But when it goes it’s gone gone

Okaaaay…let’s look at “One Step Up.”

When I look at myself I don’t see
The man I wanted to be
Somewhere along the line I slipped off track
I’m caught movin’ one step up and two steps back

So, safe to say that Springsteen was either coming up with some fictional heartbreaking stories, or he was feeling a crushing sense of doubt about his current relationship. We now know it was the latter.

The feeling of self-doubt and distrust is most eloquently found in “Brilliant Disguise.” Here, Springsteen lays it all out (although it also works well as a two-part saga with “One Step Up,” the next song on the album).

While the first couple of verses of “Brilliant Disguise” address the singer’s distrust of his partner, by the end, he’s mostly focusing on his own failings and challenges:

So when you look at me
You better look hard and look twice
Is that me, baby
Or just a brilliant disguise

Note about the video: Springsteen didn’t want to lip sync, so while a backing track played, he sang the vocal into a mic hidden in his shirt, and there are no video edits. The director Meiert Avis says they shot multiple takes: “We shot twenty four takes, with a just a few good for camera. Bruce nailed it on most.” (He took the same vocal approach with the video for “Streets of Philadelphia,” singing the song as he walked.)