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The best Bruce Springsteen songs are a potent mix of pain, aching loss, nostalgia and love for our fellow human beings. And for the casual listener it’s easy to discount them as just that, a mashup of emotions and primary color illustrations of city streets and hotrods. At their core, Springsteen’s songs are poetry of the highest order, and he’s a master of allusion, double entendre and storytelling.
In “Independence Day,” the Fourth of July becomes a stand-in for emancipation from whatever it is that ails you. The first verse tells a story about two generations of a family finally deciding to stand up against the world and the indignities and suffering they’ve experienced:
Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate
We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow
Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There's a darkness in this town that's got us too
But they can't touch me now
And you can't touch me now
They ain't gonna do to me
What I watched them do to you
So say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day
All down the line
Just say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day this time
Springsteen’s songs are populated by people who are trapped—by their economic circumstances, their beliefs, their families, their loves or the ghosts of their past—and by people trying to break free and find relief either by reconciling with their demons or telling the world to take a hike. Love songs in his oeuvre are also about loss—you can’t lose what you never loved—and losers always win somehow. “Fire,” from 1978, is a groovy love song for getting down, and Bruce croons about “Romeo and Juliet / Sampson and Delilah,” not exactly blessed couples. Like the best storytellers, he balances adrenaline with peril and joy with danger. In “Waitin’ On a Sunny Day,” Springsteen seems to acknowledge his own tendency to embrace emotional paradoxes:
It's raining, but there ain't a cloud in the sky
Must have been a tear from your eye
Everything will be okay
Yeah funny, I thought I felt a sweet summer breeze
Must have been you sighing so deep
Don't worry, we're going to find a way
The lyrics are paired with a jaunty tune complete with a saxophone solo, fiddles and backup singers, in other words, the E Street Band at their best. The song feels uplifting despite the gut punch buried within it; “Waitin’ On a Sunny Day” is the third track on The Rising, Springsteen’s 2002 album recorded in response to the destruction of the Twin Towers on September 11th.
The staying power of The Boss, and a big part of why I love him, is his ability to deliver poetry that feels immediate whenever you encounter it. His work succeeds in being both populist and personal, and it engages with the present in a way that feels universal and timeless. Despite being just some guy from Asbury Park, New Jersey—or perhaps because he really is just some guy from the boardwalk—Springsteen at his best speaks for us all.
Today’s Film: Blinded By the Light (2019)
Bruce Springsteen plays a pivotal role in Blinded By the Light, although he never appears on the screen. The film follows Javed Khan, a Pakistani-British teenager growing up in the working class British town of Luton during the darkest years under Margaret Thatcher. Javed—played with aplomb by Viveik Kalra—dreams of one day becoming a writer, but between family obligations, economic deprivation and harassment by National Front thugs, his dreams feel utterly unreachable—until he discovers Bruce Springsteen. The Boss’ lyrics speak to Javed on a deep level, and he becomes his oracle and spiritual guide.
The yearning for freedom and refusal to back down that lies at the core of so many of Bruce’s songs helps Javed to embrace his own creative impulses, stand up to his well-meaning but world-weary father, and finally, to stand up for his community and family. One of the most moving moments in the film is when the elder Khan, Javed and a British World War II veteran find common ground in an unexpected way. But it’s not a surprise: Springsteen’s music has always united people across vast distances. Luton feels like the middle of nowhere to Javed, but it’s remarkably similar to Asbury Park. When Javed finally gets to visit the United States, he flies into Newark airport and tells the immigration officer that he’s come for a conference and to visit the hometown of Bruce Springsteen. The officer looks at him and says, “I can’t think of a better reason to visit the United States than to visit the home of the Boss.”
Blinded By the Light suffered from a lackluster marketing campaign when it was released—despite earning a standing ovation and $15 million sale to New Line at Sundance—and its theatrical trailer presented it as a sort of sweet fan movie about Springsteen. In reality it is a tightly written, poignant and powerful drama that engages with one of America’s great modern poets on an intertextual level. Many moments in the story are punctuated by lyrics from Springsteen songs, and key moments bring the lyrics to life using projections and kinetic typography. The film is based on British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor’s teenage years in Luton. Manzoor is a superfan—no surprise there—and has seen the Boss live more than 150 times, and the film was made with Springsteen’s support.
Of course, my full-throated endorsement of this movie may be colored somewhat by my own love of Springsteen, but the script and story play upon your heartstrings from the very first minute, and the riffs never stop. It’s almost impossible to make it through this movie without a tear pricking your eye, and while the story deals with real world adult problems and themes—from racism to factory closings—it’s also more than appropriate for all audiences. It’s the kind of film that melts the iciest of hearts. As Bruce says in “Blinded By the Light”:
With a boulder on my shoulder feelin' kinda older I tripped the
Merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the calliope
Crashed to the ground
If you don’t quite get it, watch the movie. You’ll understand.
Blinded By the Light is available to stream on HBO, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.
Reading List:
Born to Run is Bruce Springsteen’s 2016 autobiography and offers a glimpse inside his mind and life. He starts with his childhood growing up in a Catholic family in New Jersey, and the stories within the book lend—if possible—even greater depth to his music.
If you’re bored, check out McSweeney’s Self-Quarantined: The Adult Activity Book.
And while it’s not exactly reading, if you have a hankering for The Boss Live, he will be performing as part of a coronavirus benefit concert dubbed JERSEY 4 JERSEY this coming Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Benjamin Reeves is an award-winning screenwriter, journalist and media consultant based in Brooklyn, New York. Follow him on Twitter @bpreeves or write to him at breeves.writer@gmail.com.