At the Lighthouse

I know that it’s probably an exaggeration to say that I wouldn’t have been able to write as much as I’ve written on my thesis by now if it hadn’t been for Bruce Springsteen. Nevertheless, that’s how I feel. For some reason writing while I listen to opera music doesn’t work for me, as much as I’d like it to. The changes in tempi make me lose my focus, and then I also tend to get caught up in the story of the opera, and have to really concentrate on not singing along on the various parts. And there’s a limit to how much work you get done when you’re busy going: “Non seeeeei mia figlia! Dei Faraoooooni, tu sei la SCHIAVA!!11!”.

So when I started writing my thesis, I tried out something else entirely, namely Bruce Springsteen, and as it turned out, it worked incredibly well. The steady beat tends to provide me with a certain drive while I’m writing, and then the mood is just perfect for thesis-writing. Bruce Springsteen writes his music for the Little Man in Society, and boy do you tend to feel like the Little Man in Society when you’re writing your master thesis. At least on the bad days. On the good days you can just tune into more optimistic songs, such as “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day”.

I wrote a post back in September celebrating The Boss’ 60th birthday, but it turns out that there’s another Bruce-related anniversary to be celebrated this year: The album Born in the U.S.A. was released 25 years ago, and Kåre sent me a link to this very interesting Boston Globe cartoon in which artist Ward Sutton explores the 25-year legacy of the album.

Ward Sutton’s cartoon, which I think is excellent, obviously displays a critical approach towards the album, with which he thinks Bruce Springsteen fell between two stools by presenting critism of society in a harmless rock n’roll attire, rich with luxurious synthesizer sounds. As a result, Springsteen fans have since viewed Born in the U.S.A. as Springsteen’s big sell-out, while people less familiar with Springsteen’s oeuvre (and liberal politics) have misunderstood Springsteen’s message and taken the title number to be a tribute to America when it is, in fact, the opposite. Most famously, repbulican Ronald Reagan misunderstood the meaning of ”Born in the U.S.A.” and used the song in his presidential campaign.

I agree with Suddon’s points, to a limited extent.  I really dislike the silly “Darlington County”, I’m only slowly getting used to the rockabilly-ish “Working on the Highway”, and I don’t think never get used to the cheesy video for “I’m on Fire” in which Bruce plays a stud of a horny mechanic (which is a shame, because that song is so good. Johnny Cash also did a terrific cover of it). Suddon also critizes Springsteen’s new buff, bandana-ed looks on the album, which he compares to those of Stallone in Rambo, and yes, I’ll admit that I think Springsteen was infinitely more sexy and appealing during his earlier period, like on Darkness on the Edge of Town, where he was a scrawny, broody-looking type of guy with big, soulful eyes:

But you will never get me to say that Born in the U.S.A. was a mistake on Bruce’s part, or even a sell-out, not by a long-shot. Suddon’s criticism is rooted in the fact that the title song on the album was originally supposed to have been included on Nebraska, Springsteen’s famousalbum, consisting mainly of demo-tracks records with very simple accompaniment, usually only a guitar and a harmonica (played by Springsteen himself). I think Nebraska is a fantastic album, and that it was an important album, but I don’t think that this necessarily makes Born in the U.S.A. a mistake. On the contrary, I think it would have been less true to the ideals that Springsteen represents, from what I know of Springsteen, if he had continued solely in the musical style of Nebraska. To me, Springsteen is an inclusive musician and that is exactly what the pop-like sound on Born in the U.S.A. is about. Springsteen is an artist who is critical of society and sympathetic towards the Little Man, almost a protest singer like Dylan, to be sure, and Nebraska serves its purpose in that respect, establishing him in this part. But he is also, I believe, a musician who wants to make music that the Little Man can kick back and enjoy after a long hard day, which Born in the U.S.A. is all about to me. Springsteen is an unpretentious musician, with all that implies, including a popular sound to his music. If the Little Man is able to recognize his own struggle in the poignant lyrics behind the cool-rockin’-daddy sound, well, all the better then.

And even if you don’t agree with me on this, I would say that there are songs on Born in the U.S.A. that are so incredibly powerful that they in themselves ought to justify the album’s existence even to its most fervent critics. Such a song is “Downbound Train”:

This song is simply a masterpiece. And the funny thing is that a friend of mine, (who is also possibly the biggest Springsteen fan I know), recently played an earlier version of the song from Bruce Springsteen – The Lost Masters, which was supposed to have been included on the Nebraska album, and it wasn’t nearly as powerful in this version as it is on Born in the U.S.A. In the final version, the synthesizers make the song sound nothing like a meaningless, harmless pop song. Instead they bring out the melancholy tune, especially in the verse about the persona’s dream and his running through the woods, trying to reach his lost girlfriend. And the drums with their steady, aggressive beat help to accentuate the over-all feeling displayed in the haunting lyrics, which, to me, is a feeling of helplessness.  In typical Springsteen narrative style, the protagonist of the song seems to owe most of his misery to events out of his control – the fact that he lost his job in particular, and, by extension, the fact that his girlfriend left him. And the main motif of the train works so well to illustrate this point, I think. The main character is not steering a downbound train, he’s simply a rider on it, and there seems to be nothing he can do about it. The devestating use of the train whistle as a motif supports this theme, denoting the departure of a train that he just wants to stop, and ties together with both the allegorical level with the persona as a rider on a “downbound train”, and with the only too concrete level where the persona’s girlfriend buys a ticket on the central line, and leaves him.

If you’re skeptical of Bruce Springsteen and think of him mostly as a giddy, harmless Rambo-like pop-rock musician, and you haven’t already heard “Downbound Train”, you should do so immediately. And make sure to read the lyrics as you listen to the music. They can be found here.