It’s been a few months since the last Backtrack (seven, it’s no lie). The musical skeleton I’m trotting out of my closet today is timely even though 30 years have passed since its release.

Then as now, the U.S. was experiencing high unemployment, and it was during those very real conditions that Gary U.S. Bonds released a new single, “Out Of Work,” in 1982. The singer-songwriter, who’d had hits with songs like “New Orleans” and “Quarter To Three” in the early ’60s, had mounted a successful comeback, creating two albums with the assistance of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

The second, On The Line, included “Out Of Work,” written by Springsteen and co-produced with E Street guitarist Steven Van Zandt. I bought the single after hearing it on the radio, but now listening back to “Out Of Work” for the first time in decades, I don’t have much of a defense for the purchase. I wasn’t even a Springsteen fan at the time. I guess I liked “Out Of Work” because it was fun to sing along with Bonds’ story, but in retrospect, the song paints a depressing picture. So not fun.

Most of America didn’t need Bonds’ reminder of unemployment lines and rising inflation, and “Out Of Work” stalled at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 this time in 1982. Even a standard issue sax solo from Clarence Clemons can’t quite lift the spirits of the less than feel-good “Out Of Work.” The Big Man does little to mask the little man’s problems.

If I haven’t convinced you otherwise, purchase Gary U.S. Bonds – “Out Of Work” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.