The Optimism Of Bruce Springsteen
Much insight has been gathered from the songs of Bruce Springsteen. Many of the observations he has shared are about the America he inhabits: the country where tens of millions have listened repeatedly to his albums and stood in line to see him play at clubs, halls, theatres, arenas, and stadiums. It’s an America where Bruce Springsteen has been legendary for his ability to engage and rouse those who come to hear the two dozen or so of his songs they have adored for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years. It’s also the America Bruce Springsteen has made clear he loves. Let there be no doubt: the songs of Bruce Springsteen are infused with a healthy sense of patriotism.
It’s an America Bruce Springsteen has reported on as ably as any journalist. Out on Highway 9 or in the Kingstown bar, with the winners and losers in Atlantic City, then out west on the rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert and, most poignantly, where above us is a sky of longing and emptiness that will be replaced by a sky of fullness and blessed life.
In July 2002, with America still in shock and feeling most vulnerable in the wake of 9/11, Bruce Springsteen, together again with the E. Street Band, released The Rising, a profoundly moving album that spoke vividly to those shaken by loss and maybe for the first time ever, impacted by things far beyond them. It can also be said Springsteen set brilliant music to his words of sadness and hope. After all, he’s a pro. The professional recognizes, as did Solomon, that there is a time to dance as well as a time to mourn. Bruce Springsteen did so splendidly, leaving one upbeat, even after the dismal inventory had been taken.
The Rising closes with “My City Of Ruins,” a song written before 9/11. The song concerns Asbury Park, the town by the New Jersey shore that serves as a character itself in many of Springsteen’s early recordings. On “My City Of Ruins,” the decay of Asbury park is observed. But hope for the future is also evident. With a beautiful melody similar to Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” Springsteen sings of the hopes and prayers for the city. The strength that is prayed for in the song’s refrain will lead the city to “rise up.”
Nearly a year after 9/11, Americans listening to the new Springsteen album took solace in his calls to arise and renew. From Lower Manhattan to San Diego, with stops in Dellwood, Missouri and Aurora, Colorado, Americans could find encouragement as Springsteen, like an inspired pastor, exhorts listeners to “rise up,” and to pray for strength and faith. “My City Of Ruins” softly, but with vigor, reveals the Bruce Springsteen who sees better times for his country. His patriotism is obvious and it’s genuine. He loves America and its people, but is angered by what the people are put through by so-called leaders.
The anger has come across in many of his songs, notably on Born In The USA. More recently, on “Last to Die,” from his 2007 album, Magic, Springsteen sings of an America tragically misled. He resurrects the words of a young John Kerry, testifying before Congress in 1971 about the war in Vietnam, asking, “Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake?” The mistake addressed in “Last to Die” was planned in Washington, D.C. and carried out in Iraq. 4,492 American soldiers died in the Iraqi war. Not to be overlooked are the approximate 200,000 Iraqi civilians killed in what was for the United States, a war of choice.
The war in Iraq polarized the American people, as did the war in Vietnam. At times there seems to be no learning from mistakes. Yet good people continue to help, heal and remain optimistic. Even as he was moved to write “Last to Die,” the optimism of Bruce Springsteen came across on his rendition of the civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.”
As a tribute to the great folksinger Pete Seeger, Springsteen and a slew of musicians and singers gathered to record the album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, released in the spring of 2006. The great songs Seeger helped keep alive in a period of vast changes in music are rendered wonderfully and made new again.
Springsteen delivers “We Shall Overcome” gently, but with zeal, utilizing the same hope he expressed on “My City Of Ruins.” It’s a worthy addition to the many great versions of the song which have inspired millions to keep hoping, praying and working.
The man most associated with “We Shall Overcome” is undoubtedly the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He, too, had his moments of loving America and fuming with Americans who kept the nation from delivering on its promise. When America disappointed him, his anger was stirred because he knew the America he loved could do better.
Dr. King spoke of America, with its faith intact, being able “to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” Given the hatred and fears King faced in his lifetime while pointing America toward redemption and justice, he would not be surprised by the “jangling discords” of today’s America. Long before he gave his last speech on May 3, 1968 in which he declared himself “happy tonight,” not “worried about anything,” and “not fearing any man,” he knew turning America into a beloved community was an uphill battle. In a brilliant moment, setting aside worries over death threats, King felt at peace with his own life. He said he had “seen” the promised land, but he realized that as his country grew wealthier and more materialistic, the less inclusive it would become. The title of the sermon he would give in Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church that coming Sunday was “Why America May Go to Hell.”
In his excellent biography, King, Jonathan Eig notes the disparity in a country that officially celebrates King’s birthday while remaining distant from the goals that fueled King’s dream:
Even after Americans elected a Black man as president and after that president, Barack Obama, placed a bust of King in the Oval Office, the nation remains racked with racism, ethno-nationalism, cultural division, residential and educational segregation, economic inequality, violence, and with a fading sense of hope that government, or anyone will ever fix those problems.
In “My City of Ruins,” Springsteen pleads repeatedly for the people to “Come on, rise up.” Less than two decades later, on January 6, 2021, it seemed America was a nation of ruins. Over 2,000 supporters of the sitting president, Donald J. Trump, unhappy that he failed to win reelection two months earlier, stormed the nation’s capitol. They vandalized, they looted, they occupied the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as other congressional offices. They called for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence because he would not violate the U.S. Constitution by overturning the election. A gallows had been erected outside the Capitol. They were ready. At least 138 police officers were injured. Supporters of a president from the Republican Party, usually strident about law and order, allowed the spirit of Timothy McVeigh to prevail.
January 6, 2021 is a horrific day to revisit and we will over and over again as Trump and his supporters, those in his administration, as well as those in the streets, have their days in court. Trump, who encouraged the rioters in Washington, faces 91 felony counts. Though we do not agree with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on many issues, we can be thankful he stood up to Trump when the sitting president pressured Raffensperger to manipulate the vote count so that he would win Georgia’s 16 electoral votes. “I just want to find 11.780 votes,” the nation’s commander-in-chief demanded.
Our nation has a bounty of blessings, but it has much to overcome. A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicated 74% of Republicans would support Trump for the presidency in 2024. Of course, there are still those 91 felony counts, but Trump and his followers seem to believe he should operate by a different set of rules. It’s like a third of American voters have lost their minds. This may be the Hell Dr. King thought America could be going to.
“We’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand” goes one of the determined lines in “We Shall Overcome.” In “My City of Ruins,” Springsteen lifts up the words “With these hands, with these hands, I pray for the strength, Lord.” America needs that strength. We have a lot to overcome.