Springsteen said in the liner notes for High Hopes that this celebratory bar-band romp about a small town engagement was something he felt, "deserved a home and a hearing." He added that "the ill-prepared roomies" on the song are "shades of Steve (Van Zandt, guitar) and I bumming together in our Asbury Park apartment."

Rolling Stone asked producer Ron Aniello if the songs on High Hopes tell a new story within the context of the album? He replied: "I think so. You have a song like 'Frankie Fell in Love,' which reminds me of him and Steve hanging out together. That song has some of the best lyrics I've ever heard from him. It's just a great, playful, rowdy rock & roll song. Then you have these other songs . . . Maybe it's not as linear a story as his other albums, but it's interesting to see what he let go."

"I'm not speaking for Bruce, but it just seems like he doesn't have that sort of weight on him,"Aniello added. "It's a little more relaxed. Putting together a novel like Bruce does in his records, that's hard. That's why it takes so long and that's why he doesn't release that many records, really. It's just very difficult."