| Bruce Springsteen – Johnny 99 Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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| Bruce Springsteen – The Price You Pay Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Notice how the song features both musical and textual metareferences to "The Promised Land". Their piano intros are (deliberately) crafted in very similar patterns and melodies, and in the lyrics, we read a clear-cut statement that the dreams that were somewhat alive on the previous albums, are now dead and gone. "Do you remember the story of the Promised Land? How he crossed the desert sands and could not enter the chosed land On the banks of the river he stayed To face the price you pay" |
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| Bruce Springsteen – The New Timer Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Another subtle link is found in this song, that stresses the influence of John Steinbeck's novel on "The Ghost of Tom Joad". In Steinbeck, the Joads also take a job 'picking peaches', just as this song's protagonist does. Like "Youngstown", this song is also inspired by Dale Maharidge's 1985 book "Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass". |
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| Bruce Springsteen – The Line Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| I guess this is true for nearly all Springsteen songs. They're all like short stories, usually telling a person's life story (or part of it) in just three or four minutes. Very intense and incredibly touching at times. | |
| Bruce Springsteen – The Line Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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As with the rest of the dark, grim songs on this album, the protagonist is left with nothing in the end. A year ago, he has already lost his wife. Now, he is taking the risk of giving up his job in order to save a woman and help her cross the border. However, he does not receive much thankfulness from her part - instead, he never sees her again. In the end, he has lost everything he had in his life: his work and his love - the two vital parts of a man's life in nearly all of Springsteen's songs. |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Sinaloa Cowboys Lyrics | 13 years ago |
| There is a striking prophetic truth in the words of their father, who claims that "for everything the North gives, it exacts a price in return". At the end of their story, the brothers have indeed been 'given' ten thousand dollars for their work, but the price they had to pay (the death of Louis) is a terrible one. | |
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