"Without Bruce Springsteen there would be no Vietnam veterans movement." —Bob Muller, head of the Vietnam Veterans of America, 1981 Bruce Springsteen recorded this song for the closing credits of the movie Thank You For Your Service. The film drama is based on the real-life experiences of Iraq War veteran Adam Schumann. Springsteen recorded the [...]
Though written sometime prior to 2001 about the dilapidated condition of Asbury Park, New Jersey, "My City of Ruins" became associated with the terrorist attacks of 9/11 when Mr. Springsteen performed the song live on television on September 21, 2001 for the "America: A Tribute to Heroes" fundraiser for families of the victims, particularly those [...]
Can it really be the case that Western music’s deep reservoir of creativity had, by the middle of the 20th century, almost entirely run dry? This somewhat implausible view is often implicit in conservative-leaning cultural commentary when it touches on the subject of rock music. There is, to be sure, much to despise—the peculiar [...]
Bruce Springsteen has called "We Are Alive," the final song on his 2012 album, "Wrecking Ball," a "ghost story." That it is, but it is also a song of high spirits and hope, one that deals with the Christian themes of resurrection and the communion of saints. There's a cross up yonder up on Calvary [...]
"Hunter of Invisible Game" is a short, post-apocalyptic film directed by Bruce Springsteen and Thom Zimny that was released on July 9, 2014. The film is also the music video for the eponymous song, which appears on Mr. Springsteen's eighteenth studio album, High Hopes. —Editor I hauled myself up out of the ditch And built [...]
I fell asleep on a dark and starlit sea With nothing but the cloak of God's mercy over me I come upon strange earth and a great black cave I dreamt I awoke as if buried in my grave We've been swallowed up We've been swallowed up Disappeared from this world We've been swallowed up [...]
Well they built the Titanic to be one of a kind, but many ships have ruled the seas They built the Eiffel Tower to stand alone, but they could build another if they please Taj Mahal, the pyramids of Egypt, are unique I suppose But when they built you, brother, they broke the mold When [...]
Bruce Springsteen covers “Rhinestone Cowboy” in the closing credits of his new film "Western Stars," which he made to promote the album of the same name. Why did he choose this one to wrap up the movie? I think it’s a sly confession. Glen Campbell and Bruce Springsteen are not so far apart as they [...]
Bruce Springsteen's "Chasin' Wild Horses" was released on his 2019 album "Western Stars," a set of songs told from the viewpoint of an older man, about remembrance, regret, and the search for redemption in the American West. The album marks a musical departure for Mr. Springsteen, as it features a classical chamber orchestral and a [...]
Bruce Springsteen's unrivaled stage presence comes across remarkably well in the film "Western Stars," as he performs his recent album in its entirety. But it is the brief, meditative, and confessional vignettes he uses to introduce each song that reveal just how much the entire album serves as his own version of St. Augustine's "Confessions." [...]
As Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen turns 70 years old, one finds it a daunting task to make an exhaustive list of his artistic accomplishments and the accolades he has received for them: Mr. Springsteen, who has been performing live for more than a half-century now, is the 15th highest-selling artist of all-time; his first album, [...]
Editor's Note: In the days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Bruce Springsteen, who had watched the smoking devastation of lower Manhattan from a point across the river in New Jersey, and who had lost friends as the World Trade Center towers crumbled, was in Rumson, when a passing driver yelled at him: [...]
Early in the morning factory whistle blows Man rises from bed and puts on his clothes Man takes his lunch, walks out in the morning light It's the working, the working, just the working life Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in [...]
The old men who narrate the songs of Bruce Springsteen's cinematic "Western Stars" are broken, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Seeking a land of sunshine, open roads, and new beginnings, they find that the fabled American West cannot provide salvation for the lost and lonely. But "Western Stars" will surely provide balm for the soul. Western Stars, [...]