The song Bruce Springsteen says captures the heart of America
Becoming one of the biggest songwriters in America wasn’t really a priority when Bruce Springsteen first started playing.
He was following the tradition of all the great songwriters that came before him, and even if he didn’t have the same guitar prowess as Jimmy Page or the stage presence of Elvis Presley, he was going to make sure that everyone in every stadium he played got the kind of show that they would never forget when the E Street Band came to town. But if he was going to make people feel something in their hearts, that comes with having the right song before anything else.
Because as much as people love the idea of singing along to a catchy tune, the lyrics matter more than anything. ‘The Boss’ knew that he had to write something that he felt in his heart before transferring it over to his bandmates, and even if not everyone had to agree on every single thing he said, no one could deny that he felt every single word that he was singing when he sang about breaking out of his town in ‘Born to Run’ or the romanticism of a tune like ‘Thunder Road’.
His songs were all about everyday Americans who were trying to make a name for themselves, but Springsteen’s favourite songwriters weren’t just writing slice-of-life stories. Bob Dylan was already shaking people up and telling them what was really going down on the ground floor of America, and some of the greatest Springsteen did the same thing when looking at the great problems facing his nation.
There are still thousands of people who still don’t understand what ‘Born in the USA’ is about, and while it’s hard for anyone to find strength after something as tragic as 9/11, Springsteen may have been one of the only people who was able to remind everyone that we had to keep moving if we were going to survive. But if there was one thing he admired most of all, it was people who were willing to stand up for what was right.
Let’s face it: Springsteen has seen his country go through some ugly times, but even when those times seemed the most dark, it took songs to bring people together. And while everyone else would try to throw on Dylan’s greatest protest songs when times seemed tough, ‘The Boss’ felt that ‘This Land is Your Land’ was everything that the country was about and what we should aspire to be whenever we try to move forward.
Woody Guthrie’s words have been a part of the cultural lexicon for so long, but when Springsteen performed the song with Pete Seeger during President Obama’s election, he felt that it was a piece of America’s history, saying, “I knew I wasn’t going to be Woody Guthrie. I’d already gone down another road. But I remember Pete Seeger coming out on a cold winter’s day. He’s the living embodiment of Woody’s legacy, and we were going to sing ‘This Land is Your Land’. That’s when I realised things that come from the outside make their way in to become a part of the beating heart of the nation.”
And considering where the nation is going, ‘This Land Is Your Land’ is as relevant today as it was back when Guthrie first wrote it. America was built on the promises that it could offer a better life for people that couldn’t find a better life anywhere else, and that it shouldn’t come with a specific set of instructions for people to fill out. Everyone should have the chance to be themselves under that flag, because that’s what the country was built on 250 years ago.
So while many people can call Springsteen as many names as they want to, he will never stop fighting for the causes that he believes in and the right for anyone to try and make the best version of their life that they want to in his home. There’s no way to stop dissent from happening, but as long as there is a need for people to be heard, Springsteen will be there to keep trying to kill fascists the same way that Guthrie tried to back in the day.
