Skip to main content

On Bruce Springsteen

At the same time Bruce Springsteen released "The Rising," he released a lesser song, "Lonesome Day," which I also enjoyed:

Baby, once I thought I knew
Everything I needed to know about you
Your sweet whisper, your tender touch
But I didn't really know that much
Joke's on me, it's gonna be okay
If I can just get through this lonesome day
Lonesome day

 I like these lines first because they're funny. "I didn't really know that much": A slogan for the human condition! I also like that the speaker is sort of old and wise; he can laugh at himself. ("Joke's on me.") And these lines also set up a problem we'll follow through the song: how to get through a lonesome day.

Hell's brewing, dark sun's on the rise
This storm will blow through by and by
House is on fire, viper's in the grass
A little revenge and this too shall pass
This too shall pass, darling, yeah, I'm gonna pray
Right now, all I got's this lonesome day
Lonesome day

 We get some cliches, but there's playfulness, if you ask me. The dark sun, the hidden viper, the storm: Who could fail to relate? I love that the narrator ponders "a little revenge" as a cure. We're not talking about a saint.

Better ask questions before you shoot
Deceit and betrayal's bitter fruit
It's hard to swallow, come time to pay
That taste on your tongue don't easily slip away
Let kingdom come, I'm gonna find my way
Yeah, through this lonesome day
Lonesome day

 Here, the narrator seems to question whether he should go through with his tentative revenge plan. Maybe revenge won't help with erasing "that taste on your tongue." And I love that Springsteen doesn't resolve the issue. That's what it's like to endure loneliness: make a plan, abandon it, return to it, abandon it. A little portrait of chagrin. Maturity, or semi-maturity--tested.

Springsteen captures a sense of ambivalence and weakness. He paints a struggle with some standard, often Biblical, images: bitter fruit, a scalded tongue, a gun with a beckoning trigger. His work is an expression of empathy: He isn't preaching to us. In that sense, he is so different from many lesser songwriters.

Not "The Rising"? Well, we're dealing not with a guy in a burning tower, but simply with a guy who is a jilted date. There's nothing really transcendent, and some of the work in the verses feels a bit stale. (That said, yes, I understand that the "jilted date" in question may be--one one level--America itself, licking big wounds after 9/11)

Anyway, "Lonesome Day" is one B-level Springsteen effort that has delighted me for many years. "It's all right....it's all right....it's all right...yeah....."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

Joshie

  When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...
2 comments
Read more

Josh at Five

 Joshie's project is "flexibility"; the goal is to see that a plan is just an idea, not a gospel, not a guarantee. This is difficult. Yesterday, we went to a restaurant--billed as "open," with unlocked doors--and the owner informed us of an "error in advertising." But Joshie couldn't accept the word "closed." He threw himself on the floor, then climbed on the furniture. I felt for the owner, until he nervously made a reference to "the glass windows." He imagined that my child might toss himself through a sealed window, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, or like Bruce Willis, in "Die Hard." Then--thank the Lord!--I was able to laugh. The thing that really has therapeutic value for Joshie is: a firetruck. If we are out in public, and he spots a parked truck, he wants to climb on each surface. He breathlessly alludes to the wheels, the door, the windows. If an actual fire station ("fire ocean," in Joshie's parla...
Post a Comment
Read more