Tonight, you's are both just gonna have to settle for rock and roll
For me, perhaps there is nothing in this world today that makes me crumble emotionally to a state of joy and awe where I become irrational and emotionally gooey than Springsteen.
In a larger sense it is because of the fact that no single artist, author, historian or politician has been able to illustrate so well what America is. Bruce is the combination of every major text before him about the American rebelliousness and the desperation of small town life, and it is done so without a trace of satirization or sentimentalily. He represents at the core what America truly represents, a struggle for ones ultimate goal and the freedom to do it your way.
He is able to work in both the same vein as Arthur Miller in pinpointing the struggles of the average man straddled with a glass ceiling like in Death Of A Salesman (Nebraska), as well as the narrative ability to question the faults and bad decisions of the country we love a la "the Crucible." (Born in the USA and 39 shots) He knows we are in the best system, and that too often the people are the problem, not the procenium in which they further their plans.
Born in the USA is not a patriotic song like Paul McCartney's "Freedom" (jesus how the mighty have fallen), Cohen's "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy," or Ashcroft's "Let the Eagle Soar." It's not even Berlin's "God Bless America." (Sorry to add a fourth but that third one was clearly a joke)
It's a protest song. It's about seeing things go to shit and the clarivoyance to know why. It's about commiting the same sins as one's father, about losing love, and it's about failing in life. But in truth, it's more patriotic and pro-America because it is one of those examples of keeping faith, and not about religion, but one that we come form a country where hope never dies, and redemption, whether beneath the hood of an old car or in the face of ultimate tragedy, is always possible.
Even his love songs, pained with loss and regret still hold a sense of hope reminiscent of the "it is better to have loved and lost..." kind of heartbreak. Perhaps there is no better American quality as the one that is built into our government system that allows us to learn from our mistakes and make things better.
But to the point of this post. I simply wanted to put up a link to one of my favorite speeches of all time, brought about because the man the speech is about is going to return the favor come this March.
I don't think it will be as good, because perhaps Springsteens greatest quality is not to say the perfect thing, but to elicit it from others. What's more American than that?
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction
In a larger sense it is because of the fact that no single artist, author, historian or politician has been able to illustrate so well what America is. Bruce is the combination of every major text before him about the American rebelliousness and the desperation of small town life, and it is done so without a trace of satirization or sentimentalily. He represents at the core what America truly represents, a struggle for ones ultimate goal and the freedom to do it your way.
He is able to work in both the same vein as Arthur Miller in pinpointing the struggles of the average man straddled with a glass ceiling like in Death Of A Salesman (Nebraska), as well as the narrative ability to question the faults and bad decisions of the country we love a la "the Crucible." (Born in the USA and 39 shots) He knows we are in the best system, and that too often the people are the problem, not the procenium in which they further their plans.
Born in the USA is not a patriotic song like Paul McCartney's "Freedom" (jesus how the mighty have fallen), Cohen's "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy," or Ashcroft's "Let the Eagle Soar." It's not even Berlin's "God Bless America." (Sorry to add a fourth but that third one was clearly a joke)
It's a protest song. It's about seeing things go to shit and the clarivoyance to know why. It's about commiting the same sins as one's father, about losing love, and it's about failing in life. But in truth, it's more patriotic and pro-America because it is one of those examples of keeping faith, and not about religion, but one that we come form a country where hope never dies, and redemption, whether beneath the hood of an old car or in the face of ultimate tragedy, is always possible.
Even his love songs, pained with loss and regret still hold a sense of hope reminiscent of the "it is better to have loved and lost..." kind of heartbreak. Perhaps there is no better American quality as the one that is built into our government system that allows us to learn from our mistakes and make things better.
But to the point of this post. I simply wanted to put up a link to one of my favorite speeches of all time, brought about because the man the speech is about is going to return the favor come this March.
I don't think it will be as good, because perhaps Springsteens greatest quality is not to say the perfect thing, but to elicit it from others. What's more American than that?
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction
posted by Indiana at
7:26 PM
1 Comments:
The guy's not even from New Jersey. And you probably ARE from Indaina. A song is a song not a text, drop the pretence. Congrats, queer, I mean, this is the paper that got you into your shitty little local community college, isn't it? Come on...It is, right? Ohh, the American Dream, Springsteen as text, preceeding from a logical premise to an illogical conclusion (in just about every sentence) etc. You get an A+++++...for blowing cob!! Bon Jovi inducts Springsteen into the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame?? Downlaod on Napster -- ArmaGAYdonn.
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Anonymous, at March 08, 2005 11:33 AM
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