You know, even as a card carrying Republican loyalist, I still feel that Bruce Springsteen is the voice of America's own soul. So I wasn't surprised to learn this little tid-bit. I was surprised to learn it from the BBC website though. CNN and MSNBC were too busy teetering between hard hurricane news and the Bradgelina debacle.
While I'm on the subject, and I'm still in the mood to wax poetic about other authors' views of the warrior soul (See the quote from Folk of the Air below), I want to print some lyrics from Bruce's latest album...
Now every woman and every man
They wanna take a righteous stand
Find the love that God wills
And the faith that He commands
I've got my finger on the trigger
And tonight faith just ain't enough
When I look inside my heart
There's just devils and dust
Well I've got God on my side
And I'm just trying to survive
What if what you do to survive
Kills the things you love
Fear's a DANGEROUS thing
It can turn your heart black you can trust
It'll take your God filled soul
Fill it with devils and dust
Yeah it'll take your God filled soul
Fill it with devils and dust
15 comments:
He's not 'The Boss' of me.
If that's true, then:
This material is inappropriate for you because you don't know how to rock.
Springstein sings worse that you!!! He and John "Cougar" Melenkamp are card-carrying members of the Jane Fonda "American Trader Bitch" club.
wow.
You've got some emotional issues there. I suggest you commune with your Vulcan mentor and cleanse yourself of these erratic passions.
He's an artist. Not a policymaker. You're safe until he runs for office.
Truth be told, I thought that he was singing with his lunch in his mouth way back in the '80s.
He has stepped in the political arena during the last election, raising money for Move-On.org, John Kerry and others. Therefor he is in the political arena and has been a force and a voice for the left. Jane Fondle, John Mellonhead, Bruce Move-onsteen, the Dixie Shits and the like are no longer on my listening list. I change the radio station when they come on. He is paid when he is played, his money talks and gives him power. But if I don't listen to the commercials that follow his songs advertisers don't make money from the ads. They have a say of what is played before their ad. If he doesn't help them, they don't want us to hear him. He makes no $. Don't give me this "He's an artist" line of BS. I might have bought that when he was a Jersey club band in '73 playing at the Stone Pony, but not any more.
Blah, blah, blah.
The man's entitled to his opinion. (However wrong it may be.) And so are you. That's what makes America great.
I know plenty of right-wingers who listen to Springsteen. Just because he votes for the Left doesn't necessarily mean any of the following:
a.) That his fans will vote Liberal.
b.) Any Liberal politicians will win office.
c.) That his music sucks.
Springsteen is an artist, and he's doing his job. I happen to think (and you can see from the article I posted that I'm not alone) that Springsteen's lyrics follow in a great tradition of American literature that is traditional liberal-with-a-small-L and includes Roth, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Wharton, Cather, back to (in some degree) to Cooper, and Hawthorne. These are critics of the status quo; examining the way Americans live their lives and call for them to make it better.
That is what artists do, sorry. That doesn't mean everything they say is blessed with a shielded aura of being ABSOLUTELY TRUE. But they usually contain enough truth to make us uncomfortable and examine the reality that gives rise to changes that make us all better.
And make no mistake, the story of America is about extending freedom to the people. That is a liberal idea from the Enlightenment. (Not a "Liberal" idea.) And America's ideals are indeed liberal ideals born in the Enlightenment.
That's why when this country started (to pick perhaps the most dramatic example) there was a three-fifths compromise over the slavery issue. The politicians actually argued over whether or not slaves should be counted as "people." As time went on, African-Americans fought, and struggled and achieved in this country against the odds. And the political recognition of their rights followed. Today things may not be perfect, but I think it is appalling that political opportunists are saying no one was helping the people trapped in New Prleans because they are Black. That's insulting to all Americans who looked on and saw desperate people, not a specific demographic group. In other words, things got better over time. And they got better partly because of artists who drew attention to the dilemma over the years: Twain, Stowe, Hurston, DuBois, Douglass, etc. I may not agree with everything each person had to say on the subject, but they did their job as artists to criticize the world around them.
And several of the artists I've mentioned got rich off their work, just like Springsteen, so don't give me the "sell-out" speech. Being poor is not a pre-requisite to being a serious artist.
I forgot:
You're certainly welcome to not listen to Springsteen and still read this blog.
I'd be a poor host indeed if I insisted all of my guests thought the same as me.
I beg 1000 pardons,
I forgot to list the Dixie Chicks on the Jane Fonda, Americian Trador Bitch Club.
That's "Traitor."
And, I can't believe I'm going to actually bother to defend this, but...
Fonda's actions in Vietnam were absolutely reprehensible and probably legally treasonous. The Dixie Chicks voicing their political opinion was simply unwise given the nature of their fan base. Saying you don't agree with the president, even during a war, is hardly treason. Sorry. Otherwise, I and most of my friends would be just as guilty for things we said about Bill Clinton in the 90's.
You can be a Democrat and still love this country. No matter what side we're on, we all need to calm down about calling the other side "bad" for the good of the country. A simple difference of opinion is not treason.
I'm a Democrat...does that surprise you?
HMEph - No, it doesn't but that's OK.
jrf - We are all permitted to say quite a bit about each other, about our politicians, and political process. What I find upsetting is that those who like/enjoy an artist's work still support them when the tickets and cd royalties for their entertainment are used to fund causes contrary to their personal beliefs. Long ago I stopped supporting, even with my meager funds, many charities because those charities, while doing good deeds, supported groups that I did not support. In effect my money was working against me and my beliefs. I only support a few groups now, but asking for copies of their financial statements and taking the time to read them is time consuming. If Springsteen, the Dixie Chicks are going to openly support what I don't believe to be right or true, why should I support them, regardless of the quality of their music? The political scales balance is close, every dollar, every voice and every vote counts.
I agree with your a) b) c) list, they are all true, but the likes of Mr. Springsteens affect the apathetic. And a few more apathetic voters at the polls and we would be saying President Gore or President Kerry.
1. You could say the same about your tax money. I pretend my tax dollars go only to provide body armor for soldiers. So equally I pretend my dollars to Bruce go only to pay for his daughter's horseback riding habit. Somebody else's money goes to the stuff I disagree with.
2. If you take the money arguement to the logical conclusion, you will find that you'll be surprisingly limited in the number of places you spend money on anything. Every organization spends money on charities, causes, political parties, whathaveyou... However, I respect that you'll make the effort you do in the obvious cases.
3. The truly apathetic will never vote. And there are plenty of right-wing personalities pushing their agenda too: Arnold, Bruce Willis, Toby Keith, Ted Nugent... On the balance, it all evens out. I doubt too many people vote simply because some celebrity told them to go a certain way. But then again, they buy overpriced sunglasses based on a celebrity endorsement...
4. Maybe I like hearing what Bruce thinks in his music, even if I don't agree with the way he votes. Paradox? (No thanks, one dox will do just fine..) I don't agree with everything the Republicans stand for, just as I don't disagree with everything the Democrats stand for. I tend to agree more with Republicans than with Libertarians, but I find myself agreeing with a number of principle Libertarian platform issues. No one and nothing is monolithic. You take the good and the bad with everything.
I apologize for my spelling error. When I talk about these left of Lenin (or Lennon) types, it makes me see red.
No pun intended.
Shinobi.wind,
I'd have let it go, but you misspelled it twice with two different spellings.
And you were just being plain, old mean.
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