A Wrecking Ball Named Is Bruce Springsteen

As keynote speaker at the 2012 SXSW festival the iconic artist shared wisdom to all of us.  Dreamers have always sought out a leader and interestingly it is the artists and musicians that pave the way out of chaos.  Bruce Springsteen is one of those poets challenging us all with his music to think about what is really going on in our country, culture, and how passive acceptance of the unacceptable has perpetuated the chaos.


I hear the groans from people grumbling how easy it is for the 1% to be champion for the 99%.  They felt self indulgent, not the Bruce I have grown to love throughout my life.  A songwriter who embraces the truth and turns it into art. That is the Mr. Springsteen I know.  This humble artist from New Jersey has remained the voice of America though I have not liked some of the last few albums. With Wrecking Ball he has found that focus, said so well in the interview below,

I was at Hastings to recycle some movies that were no longer being watched last week.  My daughter picked up some music, and I gravitated towards Mr. Springsteen's new release Wrecking Ball.  The CD has been living in my car player not yet getting to my iPod.  My sister and I spoke on the phone last week and she thought this might be the best record since Born in the USA released in 1984.  The more I listen to this latest work I am convinced this is his best musicianship since The River  in 1979 (though the song of the same name was not released until 1981's Nebraska).


Wander through the soul of Bruce Springsteen through his music, and if you are anything like me you will relish the depth of this intellectual, artist, and activist who deeply loves democracy and his country - the United States of America.  Songs like "We Take Care of Our Own" is a call to arms in the classic Springsteen style of songs like "Born in the USA"  - mixed with lyrics that suggest we as a country have forgotten how to be "right" ethically and morally.  Forgotten what it means to fight for truth and justice for all.  Images in the video for this song show the people of America - the hard core individuals that make our country strong  - that 99%.  Ironically American culture has placed importance on that all mighty dollar rather than the integrity that has made this country great questioning "where is the spirit that'll reign rain over me" challenging priorities in a country where the average citizen may slip below the poverty line just as easily as someone with a MBA.  I always remember my first KNOCK THE BLUES OUT OF HUNGER and there was a family living in their car, in the park.  They wanted to listen to the music but did not have the one canned food item as entrance fee.  I gave them a hug and said,  "you are why we are here so please come on in and enjoy the music and cool mountain air,"  We take care of our own.


Just so we are straight I am a long time Bruce Springsteen fan.  The problem with this statement is that I am a fan of any musician with a voice in popular culture that has meaning ad conviction. Listening to Wrecking Ball is a lesson in the oppression that has been the horrifying fabric of America.  Brilliant and pointed lyrics are layered within "shanty Irish being the poor or disreputable people of Irish descent (this term used in the United States rather than in Ireland.  "Death to My Hometown" is a direct assault on the American way of life.  Challenging citizens to battle the "Death to My Hometown" flavoring the song with subliminal connections to a culture long identified with fight, passion, and perseverance - the Irish.


"Shackled and Drawn" mixes a  gospel structure with the Irish shanty sound,  pointing out that the American people may feel as if they woke one day imprisoned, but the irony may be that this process Springsteen sings about was voluntarily entered in to with the American politic.  Is it that we can feed our politician but we cannot feed ourselves?  We probably all know someone affected by the state of economics in the United States.  I personally have family and friends (myself included) who are scrambling, breaking out of the chains that consumerism bound, giving away freedom.  America is populated by immigrants and slaves.  Our society has voluntarily become slaves again because of apathy in regard to an informed citizenry.  

"Land of Hope and Dreams" is strong in gospel roots.  An anthem of the common man, the impure, hopeless, but most of all the dreamers who made America strong.  Faith and hope are hardest to come by when life is at its bleakest.  Brilliantly turning this song into a gospel hymn, as a listener I was drawn in to the positive possibilities of change.


I could go on and on about the voice of popular culture.  Historically these individuals are born out of the art that they create.  It connects.  Somehow these people are gifted with the ability to carve into the soul.  They tell the stories that we all think but often are unable to give voice to those ideas.  Wrecking Ball is one of those records, telling the tale of a revolution waiting to happen.  From gospel to Irish folk to just plain rock and roll, each track connects.  Each track gives voice to the social issues breeding in the shadows of democracy,  Thank you Bruce Springsteen for shining a light in the dark, though this time we aren't dancing .