| Bruce Springsteen – Backstreets Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| @[elissamac7:2355] Yes, I'm replying to my own post. I've listened to this song 20 more times, and I think I'm changing my tune. Ha ha. I still think Terry is most definitely a man, and that the narrator is a man. But the intense bond, the anguish, the loss, the hiding, and the guilt? They aren't lovers--they're junkies. | |
| Bruce Springsteen – Backstreets Lyrics | 10 years ago |
|
Firstly, I want to say how much I enjoyed reading all of the suggested meanings for this song. I've considered all of them as I've tried to dissect B's powerful, elusive lyrics. For me, only one interpretation consistently fits with the lyrics and it's this: Terry is a guy. The narrator is a guy. And there's no girl in sight. Debunking the "Terry is a Girl" theory: Other than the obvious ambiguity of the name, guys and girls don't typically get wasted together or try to learn to walk like heroes together. There's something decisively masculine about Terry and the narrator's friendship. Debunking the "Terry is a Guy, But There's Also a Girl" theory: It seems that people gravitate most to the second verse when positing the "best friend and the best girl" interpretation. This includes "Slow dancing in the dark...where desperate lovers park" and also "But I hated him and I hated you when you went away" from verse three. In the second verse, the narrator is clearly speaking about--and then to--Terry. There's nothing in the lyrical structure to indicate a third individual in this verse. Also, Terry can be a man, and the narrator can still hate "him" (i.e. the man who stole Terry away) in the third verse as well as "you" (Terry himself). Most telling is the chorus of the song. Why would the narrator and his lady friend have to hide on the backstreets in the first place? The entire theme of the song is one of unbearable shame. To me, that doesn't jive with a stereotypical male-female courtship. The narrator and Terry became friends, they drank together, they slept in the old abandoned beach house together... and then they became something else entirely. Their love is already "filled with defeat" in the first verse, because they know they can never be completely open about their relationship. The narrator also can't be completely open about his own desires, even at the end of the song. And really, his personal struggle with himself is what makes the song so heartbreaking and haunting. If this were about a girlfriend or a love triangle, the stakes simply wouldn’t be high enough to warrant the anguish the narrator expresses about Terry's loss and the time they spent together. Simply put, the best friend and the lover in this song are one and the same. |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.