Confessions of a Conservative Atheist
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The search for something better defines us, and will always do so. The only way to cope is to tell the world itself to fuck off. We can rise above our fates only if we spit fate itself in the face and live in the moment. “Badlands” isn’t my favorite Bruce Springsteen song. A perennial at… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Badlands” and the moment that just don’t come
A forgotten gem from Tunnel of Love offers no gloss, cover, or potential escape, lyrically or musically until the very end. This couple doesn’t even appear to have fond memories to haunt them. The riff, like we assume their relationship has to be as well, is exceedingly short and simple, pumping up and down like… Continue reading Springsteen’s searing “Spare Parts”
The song exists entirely in the moment, purely for the unrestrained joy of what music can do for you in a single moment. It’s a party in seven minutes, but most classics aren’t built this way. Thankfully, there is no shortage of classic songs in the rock and roll world. The rare tracks that rise… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Rosalita” is the ultimate party song and the rare classic that cannot be overplayed
There’s little doubt the 80s rocked, but sadly both the word “rock,” whether as a noun, verb, adjective, or possible adverb form along with the genre itself fell out of favor in the early 1990s for reasons that remain entirely unexplained - perhaps until now. There’s little doubt the 80s rocked. If the 70s were… Continue reading Greta Van Fleet and the insatiable need to rock
An updated rendition of “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and the debut of “Spirit in the Night” sets the second show apart, but you can’t please all of the people all the time as some deranged critics are claiming the Boss needs lessons from Taylor Swift, who should be so lucky playing at this… Continue reading Bruce Springsteen spends Labor Day at the Meadowlands to the delight of fans and ire of a particularly misguided critic
“Man’s Job,” a little known track from Human Touch, presents an interim step on the journey into darkness and despair, before the lover is overwhelmed by loss, treating jealousy as something of a delusion or self-rationalization, the denial phase of grief, right up until the point it isn’t. “Man’s Job” is the first of two… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Man’s Job” and our endless capacity for self delusion
The Boss released Human Touch and Lucky Town on the same day in 1992 to some of the worst reviews of his career. This doesn’t mean there aren’t stellar songs on both including the most poignant take on jealousy in his canon. By Springsteen standards, the early to mid 1990s was the nadir of his… Continue reading “I Wish I Were Blind,” revisiting Springsteen’s oft forgotten classic from Human Touch
Like a great sonnet of old, Bruce Springsteen uses the perspective of the speaker to establish a character that is both part of the story and separate from it. A verse about this father cut from the original song, but available in lyric form further illuminates a story of aging that is both universal and… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Glory Days” and the unreliable narrator
One should hope that each of us aspires to learn more about the world and people different from ourselves, but the key to finding strength in your uniqueness is accepting it, not clamoring for meaningless representation and false promises. Last week, a transgender woman, Rikkie Valeria Kolle, was crowned Miss Netherlands, the first to win… Continue reading Transgender and the false promise of normalcy
There might have been a time when existence was so bleak and life so cheap, humanity had little choice except to hope for more, but that period has long passed and developed countries, at least, are world’s of plenty. As an atheist, I’ve been occasionally asked how one copes with the idea that this life… Continue reading An atheist’s case for optimism in the face of oblivion
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 