Springsteen: make it real

["L Spencer" <L.SPENCER@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Briefly,
Bruce Springsteen's "characters" are haunted by dreams. Even the
pattern of their dreams is predictable. They are dreams of escape.
After the workday week ("It'll be tonite") they get dressed up and go
out on the streets. They strut their stuff. They act tough. But "this
town rips the bones from your back". The real American dream is of
escape down the highway, toward a new, bigger horizon.

   "Oh come take my hand
    we're riding out tonight
    to case the Promised Land..."
                       {Thunder Road]

Let me just quote a little more from Thunder Road, for me the
ultimate, the paradigmatic Springsteen song. It begins:

   The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves
   Like a vision she dances across the floor as the radio plays
   Roy Orbison sings for the lonely
   Hey, that's me, and I want you only
   Don't turn me loose, I just can't stand myself alone.

The rest of the song is addressed to Mary, who, - says the singer -
has "wasted summer praying in vain for a saviour to rise from these
streets". He admits...

   Well, I'm no hero that's understood
   All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
   With a chance to make it real - somehow
   Hey, what else can we do now

   Except roll down the window
   and let the wind blow back your hair
   Well the night is busted open
   and these two lanes will take us anywhere

   We've got one last chance to make it real
   To trade in these wings on some wheels

The power of the music give credibility to the sentiments expressed
but you now that it is a momentary credibility. And if in that
moment, there is a real chance - however small - then for the many
fans listening to the song over again once more then it is already
only a distant memory of a moment of decision, a will to renew...

As the songster says a track or two later... "Tramps, like us, baby
we were born to run..."

Here endeth the reading.

Lloyd