The Land of Hope and Dreams

I hadn't planned on writing about this guy again so soon but sometimes these things happen, don't they? When The Muse says jump, you jump.

For Father’s Day this year Top Management bought us tickets for Bruce Springsteen’s show in Greensboro. It’s his second solo tour ever and I thought it was going to be his first tour in 21 years where I wouldn’t be able to see a single show. Into the breach rode Top Management, waving her white hat (not so much because she was acting like a hero as because she hates wearing hats, even though she looks adorable when she does). The fact that she gets to go see The Boss as well hasn’t escaped my notice, but I was polite enough not to point that out. And she never reads Left of the Dial, so I’m safe.

To prepare her for the concert, I downloaded the setlists to all the shows he’s done so far on this tour and I’m making her three sort of primer discs to ensure she’s properly acquainted with his oeuvre. See, anything from 1973-1987 she knows like the back of her hand. And from 1992-2005 she knows selected stuff quite well indeed, but there are some gaps, particularly with his last three studio albums. So I took the songs that he’s played at virtually every show this tour and alphabetized them. That’s the first disc. The next disc is an alphabetical bunch of the songs that he’s played at about half the stops on the tour and the final disc is comprised of the songs he’s played between three and five times on this tour. I alphabetized them because part of the fun is seeing which order he plays things in—following this song with that song and then playing this other one changes the way you view each song, after all.

And one of the things I’ve found, as I’m compiling all these lists, is that Bruce Springsteen is not only one of the great writers and performers in the history of rock and roll. I mean, duh, right? No, the thing that struck me is this: he also hasn’t lost a step.

I know, why should I be surprised? After all, he’s not only been my favorite for twenty-five years, I’ve bought each album on the day it was released for the past 21 years. I’ve seen at least one show per tour and more if I could swing it.

But a lot of my fellow Bruce fans don’t really care for his newer stuff. In fact, some of the most devoted of his hardcore followers have seen him hundreds of times, from back in New Jersey dives before he even had a record deal. They’ll still angle to see him a dozen times per tour and buy each and every release. But they don’t really like his new stuff. And in some cases, when I saw "new stuff" I’m talking about anything from the last twenty-five years.

I can sorta kinda almost relate, in least in theory. I’ve been working on a piece for months about the way we listen to music and how I think it changes as we get older, and I suspect much of that ties into this. But I can’t truly relate, because the best of his stuff over the past decade and a half is just stunning.

At one point, even I had heard the stuff from Born in the USA so many times that I’d switch to a different station when anything off that album came on. But a friend suggested I actually sit down and listen to the album as an album, rather than as a collection of songs. And damn if he wasn’t right. Which is funny, since I think there may be less thematic cohesion on that album than any of his others. And yet when heard in context, even as song as overplayed as "Glory Days," say, still sounds to these ears fresh and just right.

After that blockbuster—at one point I believe it was the third-best-selling album ever worldwide—there was no place to go but down. Wisely and not surprisingly, Springsteen decided to take advantage of that fact to release an almost-solo album, much quieter and more subtle, exploring the ideas of fame and married life. I say he chose to go that route, and undoubtedly he did. But more than any other album in his career except perhaps Nebraska, Tunnel of Love feels like The Muse reached down and slapped him around, giving him less choice in material than every before or again.

So it may not have been the huge-seller that Born in the USA was, but it still went to Number One and multi-platinum and all that. Next, in 1992, he released his two post-E Street Band albums with, again, very, very good but not immense sales; released on the same day, they went to Number Two and Number Three on the charts. But while his concerts were still setting sales records, the albums dropped off the charts quickly.

Then came 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad. Although not acoustic, it was solo and very nearly as sparse as Nebraska, with only minimal musical accompaniment. Its sales were nearly as minimal. This being Bruce Springsteen, of course, it still went platinum. But just barely.

Along the way he released a greatest hits collection with a few new songs and a boxset of previously-unreleased material. And then came The Rising, 2002’s reunion with the E Street Band and his response to the attacks of September 11th. Being Bruce Springsteen, his songs were both stirring and subtle, with the expected results: big sales, many misreadings.

Finally, he released this year’s Devils & Dust, a continuation of many of the themes from The Ghost of Tom Joad but with a decidedly more rock and roll approach (while still lightyears away from straight out rock and roll, for the most part).

He may not have the sales he once had—in fact, his contract with Sony is up and rumor has it that Sony is balking at giving him the props an artist of his stature deserves, given his recent sales—but on each and every album he’s dropped gems that likes of which other artists would give almost anything to have written.

The entire Tunnel of Love album is simply one of the two most perfect and mature rock albums ever, made by a grown-up for grown-ups; only Bob Dylan’s brilliant Blood on the Tracks can rival it and even the mighty Mister Z can’t surpass it. Nothing else comes close.

Human Touch’s "With Every Wish" and Lucky Town’s "If I Should Fall Behind" and "Book of Dreams" are amazing songs while "My Beautiful Reward" is even better. The Ghost of Tom Joad’s "Youngstown" and title track are, likewise, able to stand with anything he’s ever written. I’ve already posted a long piece about "Long Time Comin’" while he has never written a more powerful song than The Rising’s "Paradise," a recording so intense I can barely listen to it.

Perhaps best of all is "Land of Hope and Dreams," a song that sort of sums up in just a few minutes the post-1980 Bruce Springsteen the way "Born to Run" did the pre-1980 Bruce Springsteen.

Musically, it’s magnificent. Kicking off with The Mighty Max’s patented drums, it’s soon joined by Bruce’s mildly distorted guitar line, pure rock and roll. Next comes Danny Federici’s organ, bringing with it a hint of gospel, and then finally the entire band kicks in. Of particular note is Roy Bittan’s piano—always tasteful and technically perfect, his lines here are especially interesting, with his almost contrapuntal playing lending a subtle darkening of tone. And perhaps the nicest touch is the most basic—the tambourine played by The Big Man. Syncopated, it gives the slightest hint of a hip-hop groove and opens the entire arrangement up.

Every single time I listen to the first fifteen seconds of this song I marvel that it’s not a staple of rock and roll radio, the way "Rosalita" and "Born to Run" are. Mainly it reminds me of the promise The Band held and occasionally delivered, but never quite as gloriously as this. "Land of Hope and Dreams" may not be Bruce Springsteen’s best song. But he has never released a better one.

Interestingly, "Land of Hope and Dreams"—unlike "Blinded by the Light" or "Rosalita" or "Hungry Heart" or "Dancing in the Dark"—lacks a traditional chorus, a relative rarity for a Bruce Springsteen song…but is something it has in common with both "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road."

The lyrics, though, are pure Bruce, filled with promise yet never denying that hard times led to this place and that there’s still hard work ahead:

Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder's rolling down the tracks
You don't know where you're goin'
But you know you won't be back
Darlin' if you're weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We'll take what we can carry
And we'll leave the rest

Big wheels rolling through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

I will provide for you
And I'll stand by your side
You'll need a good companion for
This part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows
Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there'll be sunshine
And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

This train
Carries saints and sinners
This train
Carries losers and winners
This train
Carries whores and gamblers
This train
Carries lost souls
This train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This train
Faith will be rewarded
This train
Hear the steel wheels singin'
This train
Bells of freedom ringin'
This train
Carries broken-hearted
This train
Thieves and sweet souls departed
This train
Carries fools and kings
This train
All aboard

This train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This train
Faith will be rewarded
This train
Hear the steel wheels singin'
This train
Bells of freedom ringin'

The train imagery is of course pure Americana and has anchored countless blues, country, gospel, folk and rock songs and grounds the entire thing securely in the American tradition. More striking is the faith Springsteen still has in the promised land, a land he first sang about as a young man back in 1978. He doesn’t claim to have gotten there, or even to have caught sight of it yet. Yet he’s positive that there’s a way to get there and that he and all who care to will get there eventually, with help and by helping, and that there’ll be room for all who are interested in making the journey.

In the end, he’s sure, dreams and faith will—in fact, must—prevail. And that’s just one more reason Bruce Springsteen is my hero and why I wish every schoolchild learned this song in first grade, why I wish it were handed out to each and every new immigrant to our nation and why, as you walked into the polling place each election day, you were handed a copy of the lyrics.

Dreams will not be thwarted and faith will rewarded.

All aboard.

Comments

[Lissa]

<< And she never reads Left of the Dial, so I’m safe.
>>

Liar! Liiiiiiii-yaaaaahhhhhh!

Humph.

Now I can go back to reading this piece with peace of mind.

Love,
Your Biggest Fan

[Lissa]

And now that I've read the rest....wow.

I am the luckiest woman in the world.

So when do I get to listen to my new CDs? You do realize the concert is next Tuesday?

[Scott]

Some chick wrote:
Liar! Liiiiiiii-yaaaaahhhhhh!

Who are you?

And now that I've read the rest....wow.
I am the luckiest woman in the world.

Good for you! But, seriously, who are you? Have we met?

So when do I get to listen to my new CDs? You do realize the concert is next Tuesday?

What concert? You…you didn’t think this Bruce Springsteen guy is for real, did you?

[Scott]

So people have written, asking what was on the discs I made for Top Management. Below I’ve listed their contents. You’ll note that this doesn’t include all the songs he’s playing on a regular basis. Some I excluded because they’re amongst Top Management’s very favorites and she therefore doesn’t need to get to know them any better, and hearing them at the show will be a pleasant surprise--as though anything could be more pleasant than simply sitting next to me. (Alas, only one of her Top Five is a regular on this tour). Others, such as "Nebraska," I’ve omitted because it’s not one of her favorites but she knows it extremely well.

Why is, say, "For You" or "This Hard Land" included then, since she knows them backwards and forwards too? Mainly because I liked mixing in some older stuff with the newer stuff. Or because I just felt like it, dammit. So there.

Disc One (stuff played at virtually every show)
All I’m Thinkin’ ‘Bout
Devils and Dust
For You
Further On (Up the Road)
Highway Patrolman
Jesus Was an Only Son
Leah
Lonesome Day
Long Time Comin’
Maria’s Bed
Matamoros Banks
My Best Was Never Good Enough
Part Man, Part Monkey
Ramrod
Real World
Reno
Silver Palomino

Disc Two (stuff played at 8-20 shows)
All the Way Home
Black Cowboys
Bobby Jean
Empty Sky
If I Should Fall Behind
Land of Hope and Dreams
Man at the Top
My Beautiful Reward
Paradise
State Trooper
The Hitter
The Rising
This Hard Land
Tougher than the Rest
Two Faces
Waitin’ on a Sunny Day

Disc Three (stuff played at 3-7 shows)
All that Heaven Will Allow
American Skin
Book of Dreams
Countin’ on a Miracle
Does This Bus Stop?
Highway 29
I Wish I Were Blind
Into the Fire
Lost in the Flood
Nothing Man
Point Blank
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Line
The Promise
The Wish
With Every Wish
You’re Missing

[Tim]

Yikes, I did the same thing - made five CDs from the playlists for my show-going colleagues. I did not have the time or patience to rank them by times played - that's going over and above the call. I did make a five CD set, though ...

I saw the Bridgeport, CT, show and my best friend from college days (just after Bruce was on the cover of Newsweek and Time) saw the show you saw in Greensboro.

[Scott]

Yikes, I did the same thing - made five CDs from the playlists for my show-going colleagues. I did not have the time or patience to rank them by times played - that's going over and above the call. I did make a five CD set, though ...

You know, I realized in retrospect, I should have just played his last three studio albums over and over, rather than make up the special discs. I think I really did that for myself, under the pretence of doing it on Top Management’s behalf.

my best friend from college days (just after Bruce was on the cover of Newsweek and Time) saw the show you saw in Greensboro.

I trust your friend’ll confirm the opinions of me and Top Management, that it was a fantastic show–about which I’ve been meaning to write, but several folks have emailed me asking to do so, which is why I haven’t yet. :)