In addition to reading books about the Tudors and watching the draft on TV, I’ve been rediscovering my record collection. A few days ago, I listened to three Bruce Springsteen classics: “Born to Run”; “Darkness on the Edge of Town”; and “Born in the USA.” Here are my reactions:
- There’s so much you can say about “Born to Run.” It’s an American version of “Quadrophenia,” but much better. It could work as a musical. Every individual song is as vivid as a movie. It does for New Jersey what the Beach Boys did for California. Mostly, it’s perfect, and timeless. It sounds as fresh today as it did in 1975. I wouldn’t change a single note.
- “Darkness” is brilliant, too, but different. It’s much more raw, and edgy. You hear a lot more of Springsteen’s snarling guitar. The biggest change is that it isn’t timeless; it’s rooted in the apparent decline of America in the late 1970’s. The lyrics are largely about the decay of a way of life.
- “Born in the USA” is the least of the three, but outstanding in its way. After I listened to it, I went back and found that I was right; the songs were actually written during the depths of the 1982 recession. They are even more downbeat than the songs in “Darkness.” The combination of the apparently patriotic album cover, the glossy production, and the release of the record during “Morning in America” in 1984 gave it an optimistic meaning to stupid people that was completely unintended.
Why am I writing about this in a politics blog? Because the states that Springsteen was singing about in the late seventies and early eighties recovered. New Jersey today is a prosperous bright blue state. Pittsburgh is an attractive center for medical research, not a steel town. Destruction can be followed by creation; you just have to be smart and persistent and patient. Whining about how the government has screwed you over in favor of people who want cuts in line, screaming for tariffs, and voting for Trump doesn’t get it done.