Confessions of a Conservative Atheist
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Perhaps it was compiling a collection of unreleased songs in 1998 that inspired Springsteen to enter the second half of his career, rejuvenated and reinvented after what most consider a moribund 1990’s. There’s a lesson here, about life’s ups and downs, finding the future in the past, letting things go, hoping they come back, and… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Loose Ends” and the songs that got away
Sherry won’t abandon her mother, and the speaker is either stuck with the three of them jammed into the same small car, or he can move on, hoping to catch the eye of one of those “girls melting on the beach,” but the Vice President doesn’t have that option when it comes to casting off… Continue reading Biden’s “Sherry Darling” moment at the DNC because Governor Walz is such a Springsteen fan
The media wants you to think of the current race as something akin to a prime 2008 Barack Obama battling a beleaguered 2016 Donald Trump. The one is the candidate of all our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. The other is completely unhinged, bitter, angry, and unfit. Both are serious cases of projection... “The lady doth… Continue reading The Democrats and the media are still scared shitless of Trump
We’re all looking for something better, but are unlikely to achieve it through some magical moment, some mystical epiphany, or some mythical transformation. Ironically, Bruce Springsteen’s two albums most focused on positive outcomes and the possibility of redemption, are also his most underrated if not outright forgotten. After spending almost two decades penning songs about… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Better Days” and the promise of a more limited redemption
Diversity, if we take that to mean the richness of experience and ways of life, requires people to stick with their own to some extent and exclude others from some things. I was born and bred in majority white towns, a proud member of Generation X who grew up in the 1980s. Throughout my grade… Continue reading Personal lessons in the wonders and limits of diversity
Surrounded by tens of thousands of fans, many of whom know the lyrics by heart, the promised land is then and there. As Springsteen belts out the lyrics - even as he approaches the fifteen hundredth time – the moment we are seeking is right now. “The Promised Land” has never been one of Bruce… Continue reading Springsteen in Albany and “The Promised Land”
The seemingly omniscient narrator of the main verses is interrupted by a first-person speaker who sings something almost entirely different, setting up both a duality and a contrast that persists throughout the song until the very end, where it is either resolved with Billy as the speaker or someone else. Bruce Springsteen recorded the incredibly… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Rockaway the Days” is a lost classic, culled from a few other songs, but with a unique structure that stands on its own
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 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
The past is memory, memory is a ghost and also a dream, the dream is a lie, and yet we still cannot stop ourselves from trying. “The River” isn’t a happy song, but that doesn’t preclude the possibility of redemption in some unforeseen future. Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” isn’t a happy song. The music, complete… Continue reading Springsteen’s “The River” and the ghost of redemption
Confessions of a Conservative Atheist 