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Today's Top News
Hold Tight To Your Anger
Bruce Springsteen has unveiled his new album, "Wrecking Ball," a sorrowful and furious roar, born of the financial crisis, about "an enormous fault-line...a basic theft (that) struck to the heart of the American idea,” with no one held accountable. His 17th studio and reportedly his most overtly political, he says it's about "the distance between American reality and the American Dream” - a distance greater than he's ever seen. It also includes, on 'Land of Hope and Dreams,' the last sax solo from the late Clarence Clemons. Out March 5.
"The banker man grows fat / The working man grows thin / It's all happened before and it will happen again." - from 'Jack of All Trades'
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103 Comments so far
Show Allhttp://bruce.orel.ws/charities.html
Here, maybe this will enlighten you. Seriously, CDers, you are biting hands stretched out to you.
It is nice Bruce gives to charities, but when somebody puts out a work, that does not mean they are immune to criticism.
But for it to be the FIRST thing you do. Dang.
Your daughter comes home from school with A's on her report card but your first comment is, 'you didn't take out the trash.' It's that kind of nasty face slapping before something, a kudo for the effort at least. Dang.
Maybe Bruce is like your “daughter", but not mine and this is not the first time I have heard him.
I like some of his stuff but this tune, not.
onct tagain misunderstoodings based on misinterpreted sy-lah;buls. I wasn't referring to your daughter or mine, I was using a metaphor.. God I wish people would think before they react.
I wish you would think before you write.
“daughter" and "first report card" are poor metaphors to describe the “Boss”.
Figures of speech are not immune either.
For instance, in this case If He is your “Boss", he’s not mine.
I happen to like Bruce, but if I had a boss I doubt I would like him as much as I like Bruce.
Jim, all snarking aside, there is a really good book you might enjoy. It's called "Devil's Advocate" by Taylor Caldwell. (Amazon has many used copies) She wrote it in 1952 and it surpasses '1984' and 'Animal Farm' in its description of a US taken over by the whorporates. I can tell by what you do say that you feel passionately about the current state of affairs, as we all do, and are mad as hell. The book will take you over the edge though, you'll not be able to come back. You'll never look at the flag or a billboard the same. All of your nightmares, your concerns, even a conspiracy or two,will take form in a way you thought not possible...but it is. The book is already happening with the obliteration of the Constitution. Read...and weep for us all.
It is so good I even asked MM to make a movie of it.
I'm going to echo some other commenters who took to task the ones who are so quick to judge Bruce harshly.
Wasn't the Occupy movement exactly about "taking care of our own"?
That WE need to step up to do the "taking care of" each other, not the 1%?
Isn't that the whole point?
You can read the lines more than one way- his bitter irony comes through, too.
More than all of that, it's just MUSIC, people!!
And we haven't heard any of the rest of the album. Give the guy some credit.
Although, I'm not sure why this song was chosen for early release (or for posting on CD, either) but I love Bruce's band (best live concert I've been to in a long while & I will miss Clarence, terribly) & I look forward to hearing the rest of his new songs.
Good Thoughts.
I still think the song could use a remix.
Like one comment that it could be the anthem of the Banksters, so just a slight remix could fix that. But your right it is just a song, but it could be a better one in just my own opinion.
Whew! What is it with CD commenters? I seldom drop below the article to look because I mostly see ugly.
All you critics -- please give us links to your great works that show us how songs are to be constructed, how critiques of government and finance made. Show us your stuff! You obviously know so much more, are so much more.
For those who don't track what Bruce is doing here, he's throwing back into the faces of the pseudo-patriots the classic American claim that has become an obvious lie: We take care of our own. By pointing to the Superdome, etc., his anger and intent couldn't be clearer.
Thank you Billbb. I know I can be a real bitch here at times, but I too have been a bit tired of people bashing those who are trying to help...regardless. So many people sound like they've got lily white pasts and gynormous skills.
BTW whoever...roadies are union. The fight is out of the hands of the artists. Just like the NFL, or NBA, big money don't care who you are.
I think Springsteen's music sucks, but he's no right wing bastard and is certainly a humanitarian. Just because I don't dig his music doesn't mean it isn't good. "Ain't no time to hate...barely time to wait!"
A few years back when he was making about fifty million a year, his crew had to sue him for fair pay. A real man of the people. Do you think he banks at the local credit union?
Surviving members of the Grateful Dead screwed their longtime road crew over as well as soon as Jerry Garcia succumbed. Jerry (and perhaps Mickey Hart) was the only one with a real sense of brotherhood. Still, you have to give thanks that these guys do not support right wing bastards. There are plenty of right wing embodiment of death musicians/entertainers (Ted Nugent).
Millionaire environmentalist Jackson Browne, singing appreciatively of his roadies, "working for that minimum wage" -- well who the hell was payin' 'em, Brownie?
Well, at least I remember that Robert Hunter always mentioned to "tip your waitress" at all the gigs I saw him at, which was quite a few.
In this video he keeps singing: "We take care of our own" over and over.
Yet, I don't see that happening.
Yeah, that was my first impression when he sang it at the Grammys and all the stars joined in.
Probably the only one that wasn’t super rich was my deceased wife’s brother, Brian Ray, who has been in Paul’s band for many years now.
They did a great job on "Boy you got to carry that weight a long time"... I always related to that and I never saw any “irony” in it but maybe that is my bad.
I always have a hard time understanding loud rock lyrics cause they are so often buried in the mix, I always thought Born in the USA was a super patriot song until somebody pointed out the “irony” in the words.
In this song the words are printed so that a first impression will not be taken away from “Ironic" intent.
They have to alert you up front that this is a people’s song so that is fine.
But now after hearing it and reading the words carefully, Bruce doesn’t "see the love, and the spirit" but wherever the Flag is Flown, we take care of our own.
A very ambiguous “Irony” and in my opinion the Pentagon would agree wherever the flag is flown we take care of our own. Sounds too damn patriotic to my ears and eyes.
Jim Glover,
i agree, although knowing a little bit about springsteen - i don't believe it was intentional. i think he was looking for a symbol that represents the people themselves, their heart and soul.
unfortunately, he used the flag. personally, if the american people are to be redeemed - i don't see the redemption occurring under the auspices of the current government (embodied by the symbolism of the flag). i don't dislike the song - yet, i agree with your criticism.
i do like the anarchistic notion of people taking care of other people in this country - irregardless of whether there is a government or a flag. i also have to ask myself, considering americas poor showing relative to other countries (inequity of wealth, education, health care, inet service), how other people around the world would interpret this song and it's suggestion americans actually care about others.
...peace...
Yes that is another good point.
Sometimes I get the impression he uses the flag and “America” in aggressive tones like a security blanket.
It is like pledging allegiance to American Empire.
Politicians do that all the time and I don’t go for it wherever I find it and it is everywhere in the media and the Hollywood War Machine promotes it.
I was a blond once.
"We Take Care Of Our Own"
I been knocking on the door that holds the throne
I been looking for the map that leads me home
I been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone
The road of good intentions has gone dry as bone
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own
From Chicago to New Orleans
From the muscle to the bone
From the shotgun shack to the Super Dome
There ain't no help, the Cavalry stayed home
There ain't no one hearing the bugle blowin'
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own
Where're the eyes, the eyes with the will to see
Where're the hearts, that run over with mercy
Where's the love that has not forsaken me
Where's the work that'll set my hands, my soul free
Where's the spirit that'll reign rain over me
Where's the promise from sea to shining sea
Where's the promise from sea to shining sea
Wherever this flag is flown
Wherever this flag is flown
Wherever this flag is flown
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own"
Right Stonepig, if he can’t see anything good goin on, We don’t take care of our own.
He doesn’t mention the protests the injustice the War machine, the Occupy movement,
Everything is shit, but wherever the flag is flown, we take care of our own.
BullShit!
Why use the Flag as symbol for everything is still ok, we still got the good ol Flag.
It don’t make sense that this helps anything but his glory as a big Star.
It would be a good song if he just sang “Let’s take care of our own”
"It’s time we took care of our own.” because We fucking don’t.
Can ya hear me now?
Clearly in the words "We take care of our own" he's talking about an idealized USA. The reality is also addressed in this song:
"From the shotgun shack to the Superdome, there ain't no help, the Cavalry stayed home" and "The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone" and "Where's the promise from sea to shining sea". But his message is blurred, even drowned out, by the numbing repetition of the chorus and the martial or celebratory sound. It starts sounding more like a Chevy ad.
I've been a crewdog for over thirty years, and I can tell you that these artists that make it to the big show don't share with the people that worked their butts off to help them get there. When they make the big bucks, they get a case of amnesia, and forget all the lean years and the promises made. It's all mine, I did it all by myself. Money should be a controlled substance. Giving .o1% of your income to a good cause and writing some tired cliched lyrics about the flag, well maybe they will name a street for him. Next time you shell big bucks for a concert ticket, understand the crews that make it happen don't get payed shit.
It looks like you get trashed here if you don't say good things about Bruce. Well, maybe other songs on the album are better than the video example we have here. The song is supposed to be ironic, but maybe that only works for people who are expecting that kind of thing from Bruce. I'm not. I think the song could easily pass as another "Born in the USA" - that is, vaguely critical, but mostly an anthem for an idea whose time has passed.
It's not Bruce's fault. We're just living in a musical age that's not connected with the world around us and can't find a common thread. As people have mentioned, there's David Rovicks out there, playing his heart out. And he's pretty much it. In the late sixties and seventies and even eighties, we had music that not only addressed injustices, but also imagined other possibilities, while keeping a feeling of fellowship going. Not so today, alas.
You can still find interesting music out there if you hunt for it, but the artists backed by the major labels aren't delving much into the political relm. I guess they don't have much of an audience in any case. So, I don't blame them.
Bruce does have potential, so perhaps the problem with this song is in how it was arranged. The typical Bruce simplified approach just doesn't doesn't make it with this tune, I think.
A Bruce song can have great depth, and the performance can make all of the difference. Check out this interpretation by Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes as she sings Springstein's "I'm on Fire" song. The YouTube recording is not that great, but she conveys great emotion from the lyrics, I think. She captures the sort of ambiguous malevolence that's more appropriate for our times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1a06wF06_A
deleted
"I think the song could easily pass as another "Born in the USA" - that is, vaguely critical.."
There's nothing vague about "Born in the USA"--the painful realities of life in a "dead man's town", Vietnam, racism, hardships of returning veterans, deindustrialization, joblessness, etc. are sharply pointed out:
Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up
[chorus:]
Born in the U.S.A. (repeated)
I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man
[chorus]
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"
[chorus]
I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Right, and the secret of the songs success was that the protest angle was hardly heard behind the loud rock in the mix but all the flag wavers (the vast majority) could ignore the negative and sing "Born in the USA" just as the Hawks Chant USA USA USA!.
Today it is worse. I saw a trio on Saturday Night Live last night and could not make out one single word, not even on the hook what ever that was supposed to be...
Show Biz and the war Biz sucks.
The song "We take care of our own" is the same kind of double speak disguised as Irony.
It proves that to make it in Hollywood ya gotta use that code.
the Hollywood War Machine code is "hiding in plain site”.
J folk intel
I think you are making my point. The "Born in the USA" song isn't successful in communicating a critique. It sounds like a Republican Convention drown-out chant.
It's a story by a narrator who apparently just goes along with the system, and it's really a story of his personal endurance at a physical level. The chorus, "born in the USA," comes across as a message of patriotism - I supposed uttered ironically, apart from the system this guy follows, but that's not really clear. The main point of the song is the narrator is patriotic and a follower who can't connect cause and effect and is staying true, uncritically, to a USA concept that doesn't exist. There are a lot of similarities with this new song, I think.
For the most part, people don't listen to songs to hunt for coded messages (except for the Beatles White Album, maybe). They listen to to songs for the emotion, and that's the impression that remains. The emotion in Born in the USA doesn't come across as ironic. That doesn't mean that Bruce didn't mean it to be ironic, it's just that he can't express it well.
my favorite words to sing are, "THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE" when I'm with other people in the same frame of mind...maybe he could add that to one of his songs?
also doesn't this remind you of the songs in Wag the Dog?
lastly, even the bling-bling booty rap is anti-establishment so I think most of the blame rests with country music.
This song may have resonated better if the title was "We DON'T take care of our own."
Wonder how that would have been received at the Grammy's?
Ok, Jbarrett, I want to give you a lesson in irony. Bruce's words, 'we take care of our own' was him stating the pablumesque prattle of our government's continuing bull speak to pretend that they are so helpful and responsible that when you go to war to kill your neighbor you will receive health care when you get home. The truth is, that when you come home, you will have to wait 4-6months to get in to be taken care of for hospice care, so die in the alley sucker. Or suffer with PTSD and never recieve care... The truth is, if you are damaged goods because you got hurt at work, you must hire a lawyer, the 1%er's lackies, in order to get proper health care and compensation. I could go on and on...don't get me started on seniors who have PAID all their life into Social Security only to have it threatened and stolen by the guys who are supposed to be protecting it.
Bruce is expressing the bull shit tag line of so many of the politicians...'mission accomplished', 'change you can believe in', 'we'll never let you go hungry'...that is the point. DO YOU get it now?????????
Understood it from the beginning Stonepig. My point is it could have been more pointedly expressed, that's all. Remember, he's playing to the American public. Doubt they get his irony at all.
I've never bought a Springsteen song, nor seen one of his shows.
But I have to admire his bringing up these topics in an album, which *could* have been about cars and getting laid. Or growing old and having kids.... you get the point.
Anything that increases consciousness about the screwjob we're suffering at the hands of the 1% and their political puppets is a good deal.
Plus, Bruce has a habit of giving little monologues at his shows - another opportunity for the fans to think about taking this country back from the corporate swine that are destroying it.
Gotta give a cheer for that.
why didn't Springsteen appear at OWS??????
that would have given him a big ass boost.....am I right?
Who knows?
Maybe he was afraid he'd be mobbed.
Maybe he was afraid he wouldn't be mobbed.
Joan Baez and Crosby, Stills... Whichever did show, and I'm not sure that helped... anyone.
What I mean to say is, the people that matter were at OWS in NYC. If you were in NYC and didn't go to OWS you are shit. Capiche?
WOW Great tune! l'm sure it will be the theme of the next Rethuglican candidate,
they take care of their own.
RP4-PRZ
As a side note For all you musicians out there - did you know that guitar center And musicians friend are owned by Bain Capital?
And here are my 2 favorite protest singalong songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKEZoY-TMG4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
A fun side project of mine is to put together a bunch of working class - hard times songs into a nice set list to go down to OWS when it kicks backup this summer-
Hard traveling
Jolly banker
I ain't got no home
Hard times come again no more
Pay me my money down
Working man blues
Soul rebel
Maggies farm
Take this job and shove it
All you fascists bound to lose
Greenback dollar
Beat it on down the line
Over my dead body (Jim page)
Ripple
Revolution
The harder they come
Us blues
Small axe
Them belly full but we hungry
not exactly The Internationale.
I don't care how much "hard work" the Boss put into his songs. I just don't like his muzak, end of the story.
Charities are the lame, compensatory, feel good mechanism of a society that is divided by deep income inequalities.
Here is a song by Pink about "hard work" that should be much more popular. It was directed against George Bush, but I think it is still relevant now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eDJ3cuXKV4
Joe,
Pink (Alecia Moore ) is one amazing talent. The song "Dear Mr. President" is one of my favorites.
"Dear Mr. President"
Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?
Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We're not dumb and we're not blind.
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.
What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh
How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You'd never take a walk with me.
Would you?
Thanks Bruce. Bruce tries, he truly tries hard. He had a Pete Seeger tour a few years back that was a tribute to Pete's songs. Fantastic.
This song just doesn't connect to the angst that we should be feeling. Yes, Bruce is perhaps a bit disconnected by his success.
"We take care of our own"... sounds like a twisted Ayn Rand concept... the government ain't going to take care of anyone so you better take care of your own. There is no 'We' anymore.
The lyrics are a bit muddled. Think If he sang... 'You just got to take care of your own now' with the right inflection. One could edit this song into something. What was Bruce really trying to say?
And one more thing...someone else here mentioned that OWS is saying the 'we take care of our own' but Bruce shouldn't say it cause he didn't show up in NYC...I'm sorry, I've heard one too many stories about homeless people being booted away from services provided for occupiers, and that disturbs me. I have heard Occupy people actually bad mouth organizations that have worked for eons to create a safer country/world, and been disgusted by some leader's inability to embrace the whole picture.
The game will be lost if people don't give up EGO. Actually, truth be told, the game is lost, now more than ever is the time to abandon ego and take care of whoever you can, especially your SELF.
I worked at the Food tent at the Occupy Los Angeles encampment for a number of weeks. Mostly we made an effort to feed all comers, the campers, the homeless, the curious just there for the day...
This was easier at the beginning - the food donations were pouring in faster than we could use them at times, the CIty was lenient about our operations, and the numbers of homeless were managable.
As time went on, things got more difficult, The donations were not as forthcoming, the City got stricter and stricter about health regulations (to the point where we could not even make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on premises) and the homeless became a greater burden upon ever diminishing resources. We, after all, were attempting to change this system. But our best efforts could not provide for all of the system's victims in an area as large as L.A.
As all Occupy camps were populated with individuals, with a horizontal organizational structure, ego and personality certainly played a role. Some Occupy people have said many, many different things. On the whole, however, most Occupiers IMHO were trying to do the best we could in trying circumstances.
Thank you for your work.
You have done more than “hold tight to your anger”.
I am sure you will use your experience to be keep going in any way you think best.
Thank you for yours, as well. It is interesting the emotion that can be generated by critique of a song or artist, isn't it? I sing worse than a frog... Occupy was the first time people actually asked me to move closer when I was singing. (I play guitar pretty good, I'd guess...Others might argue... lol)
And yes, I will use this experience along with the many others on this long road to try to leave this place a little better.
Peace
The song has some good points and pointed lyrics but the video doesn't show the diverse demographics that make up America. There is a whole lot of other people who exist outside the television and Hollywood images but you wouldn't know it from looking at this video. Now maybe that was the point, that many of those who are not being taken care of are white and those who have turned their back on the poor and homeless, need to have that fact in front of them because those are 'their own' and the only ones in whom they may recognize a kindred spirit. But even if so, I think the mostly male, white and well fed casting is disgraceful and so is the fact that as far as I could see no one else here has commented on it.