Blasphemy: I think Sting performs "The Rising" better than Bruce Springsteen does. You can see the footage from the Kennedy Center Honors; Mr. Springsteen watches from a box. Sting has a sexy beard, and he seems to have the right amount of reverence for Springsteen. It's a moving clip. https://www.google.com/search?q=sting+the+rising&oq=sting+the+rising&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1394j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Springsteen writes so well, if you're not careful, you can take the words for granted. Beyond that: In the wake of 9/11, just hearing Springsteen's famous voice, backed by a chorus, felt cathartic. But if you look closely at the words, there's an actual story, a one-act play, in the great tradition of Stephen Sondheim. The astonishing first section puts us in the present. It both is and isn't about a firefighter climbing the stairs of one of the Towers on 9/11. The language is precise enough to make that clear: The climbing man is...