Of course it's down now, because Jon Landau probably called the poor people at Nail City Records and yelled at them. But the independent record store, located in a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia, briefly posted a listing Wednesday for a new Bruce Springsteen LP out Oct. 23, "Letter to You," and it certainly looks legit. (With "TRANSPARENT INNER SLEEVES," yet!)
In addition to having an actual photo of Bruce on it rather than a stock photo of an oncoming storm, it appears to use a font that's hasn't been recycled from an earlier album or a basic font collection from 2004, unlike the album covers making the rounds on Twitter last week. So I'm going out on a limb and declaring, this baby is coming.
But the question remains: Who is the "You" of the title? A few possibilities:
1) Donald Trump. I know a lot of people who might hope this is who it is, and that Bruce has a few choice words for him. Whether he's the you or not, I think we can count on a Bruce Springsteen album coming out two weeks before a presidential election to have something to say about America as we know it.
2) Patti. When she guest starred on an episode of "From My Home to Yours" with Bruce recently, Ms. Scialfa noted that her first album "Rumble Doll" was a love letter to her hubby. Might he be returning the favor? That would be sweet, although a lot of people aren't in a lovey-dovey mood right at this moment.
3) Us. This actually seems like a very good bet. After all, Bruce has said for years that his whole career has been an ongoing conversation between him and his audience. Why wouldn't he address us directly? In particular in letter form, which shows he's serious about it -- "Email to You" or "Text to You" or "Series of Emojis to You" just doesn't have the same heft.
4) Anne Murray. He's finally written an apology letter for upstaging her in 1974! Granted, this seems unlikely.
Anyway, as soon as the announcement is official, check back here for details! I will write about them in a letter to YOU.
UPDATE (9 p.m.): Here's the track listing, per Jay Lustig at NJarts.com. Some familiar names for the diehards and bootleg fans:
“One Minute You’re Here”
“Letter to You”
“Burnin Train”
“Janey Needs a Shooter”
“Last Man Standing”
“The Power of Prayer”
“House of a Thousand Guitars”
“Rainmaker”
“If I Was the Priest”
“Ghosts”
“Song for Orphans”
“I’ll See You in My Dreams”