| Bruce Springsteen – Dead Man Walkin' Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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This song, as we all know, is written about an inmate on death row, awaiting execution. We know his end is near, because he will "rise in the morning" with his "fate decided". Death rides the pale horse, and in the morning it will come for our protagonist and pull him onboard. We then see some background on this character. He is not just a faceless, generic criminal. Often in society we like to dehumanize criminals, reducing their identities to a series of letters and numbers, and categorizing them into "murders", "armed robbers" and "rapists". Who they are, and how they became what they are, remains buried. Here, Springsteen tells us about this man. He came from a family of faith, a family that loved and cared enough for him that they baptized him into God's family. He later grew to become a hard working traditional man, with a job and a woman. It seems he had it good for a long time, but as many of us can relate to, circumstances can change, life can throw us a curveball, and we can often find ourselves drifting far away from where we hope to be, simply because of the shots life throws at us. "Betwen our dreams and actions lies this world"...in other words, the events of society and our interactions with other people can greatly influence our life choices and what happens to us. We then learn that this man did indeed go off the rails and commit a terrible drug-fuelled killing, leading to his existence on Death Row. Despite being afraid at the time, we learn that he is not sorry for what he did. He refuses to beg for forgiveness, maintaining his responsibility, for his "sins are all I have". "There's a new day comin', and my dreams are full tonight"...here, he lies in bed, watching the clouds roll by the "summer sky" and is warmed by a sense of rebirth, of a second chance, and the forthcoming opportunity to leave this cruel society and move to a refreshing, cleansing world beyong the limitations of our own. |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel Of Love Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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The Tunnel of Love is a metaphor for the journey a man takes when following the path of marriage with his new bride. The Tunnel of Love is an old amusement ride, usually found in the lower-budget "carnivals" and smalltime fairs. In the ride, two lovers would sit closely together in a small "boat" and ride through an indoor cavern that was plunged in darkness. The boat would twist and turn through the dark, following the current of a narrow river, while dimly lit mannequins and models would occassionally appear. In a sense, you were largely helpess on the ride...you were at the mercy of the darkness, you had no control over the controls of the boat, and you never knew what lay around the next sharp turn - "Then the lights go out and it's just the three of us, yeah you me and all that stuff we're so scared of". Springsteen uses this ride as a metaphor for a new marriage. The feelings of fear, helplessness, nervousness, the unpredictability that come with the vows and new obligations. Two people are embarking on a journey that neither one has even been on before - "Cuddle up angel cuddle up my little dove and we'll ride down baby into this tunnel of love". The final third of the song is where the true "meat" lies - "It's easy for two people to lose each other in this tunnel of love". In the darkness, with the rocky waters and sharp turns in the river, it is easy to fall apart, to let fear and mistrust come between you, and quite easily make you lose your way. The song ends with two offerings from Springsteen - he gives us warning, followed by sage wisdom. His warning to his audience is that "...it ought to be easy, ought to be simple enough - Man meets woman and they fall in love...But the house is haunted and the ride gets rough". Perhaps riding down the "Tunnel of Love" isn't the sweet, innocent and fun-filled ride that we all hope and dream it is. Finally, Springsteen offers some wisdom, and it is the final line that provides the home run in this song: "You've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above if you want to ride on down in through this tunnel of love". Amazing song. Great solos and breaks that are just dripping with pain and emotion. The music is accented with fairground side effects, and in a chilling twist, the song fades to the sound of screams. Screams of helplessness, fear, anticipation and nervous energy. Do we take them literally as the sounds of a group of customers enjoying the thrills and scares of of a rollercoaster? Or are these screams indicating the fear and discomfort of serious commitment? |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Reno Lyrics | 19 years ago |
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There are a few things to take into consideration when analyzing the meaning of this song. First off, in a nutshell, it is about a man who finds himself having sex with a prostitute in a Reno hotel room. The first part of the song is pretty obvious, as they negotiate a deal and she begins to perform oral sex on him. We get the first indication that something isn't right with the lyric "My eyes drifted out the window and down to the road below". Here is this quite probably beautiful woman performing an intimate act on him, and yet his attention his elsewhere. Where? The Boss then tells us in the second part of the song..."Sunlight on the Amatitlan...we rode with the vaqueros...sunlight streaming through your hair". He is daydreaming, drifting away to thoughts and memories of another woman, possibly a wife or longterm partner. Perhaps she has died or they let their love slip away. While the prostitute continues her act, all the protagonist can think about our precious moments and images shared with his true love. We then return to the hotel room and they have sex. Later, the prostitute toasts him with a whiskey and congratulates him on the "best you ever had". The protagonist simply smiles to himself and admits that it wasn't the best, it didn't compare to the love and passion he shared with his love. Sex with the prostitude is "not even close" to what he shared previously with Maria. As many of us know, the art of making love and experiencing satisfing, fulfilling sex is only 10% physical and 90% mental/emotional. The protagonist does not have his heart and mind in the hotel room...the sex is a cold, clinical physical act..and at the end of it, he is left with an empty, hollow feeling of loss, regret and void for Maria. |
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