| Bruce Springsteen – Jackson Cage Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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This is a song about dire poverty, it's about people trapped in a ghetto. "You're reminded every night, That you've been judged and handed life, Down in the Jackson Cage" Like a prison sentence, they've been "judged and handed life" The song gets scarier and more depressing as it goes on, although his poetry is excellent. "Are you tough enough to play the game they play Or will you just do your time and fade away Down into the Jackson Cage" The people have developed a prisoner's mentality, a self destructive urge to sabotage themselves and remain where they are: "Left alone standing out on the street, 'Till you become the hand that turns the key to the Jackson Cage" And finally the last 2 lines, we have the most nightmarish image of all, as the song reaches a climax. The narrator becomes "a stranger who fades away, down into the Jackson Cage". Being a "stranger" represents alienation, he's become alienated from everything. "Fades away", he sees himself dying. "Oh, darling can you understand, The way that they can turn a man, Into a stranger who fades away, Down into the Jackson Cage!" His worst fears are realized, becoming alienated from everything and dying. Never living to escape the "Jackson Cage" A horrifying finale for a very sad song, although very well written |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town Lyrics | 5 years ago |
| He's seeking something beyond the 9 to 5. His wife didn't "get it". "The blood it never burned in her veins." "I hear she's got a house up in Fairview, in a style she's trying to maintain". She didn't "get it", she copped out, took the easy way out, a 9 to 5 job and a house in the suburbs. He's seeking something more, perhaps the divine, perhaps the secret of life, perhaps his own destiny. He's doing meditation and prayer at a "spot 'neath Abram's bridge". What he's seeking is never defined, it's only alluded to as "the darkness on the edge of town". Seeking what he's seeking has made him an outsider, he's under a bridge like a hobo. He uses the same analogy in "streets of fire", a hobo, a "loser down the tracks". "No one asks any questions or looks too long in your face in the darkness on the edge of town". His quest has made him an outsider. "I lost my money and I lost my wife, them things don't seem to matter much to me now!" With no money or wife, he's now a total outsider, but he doesn't seem to care. He's gone to the "darkness on the edge of town" to find the REAL ANSWERS! And he's passionate about his quest. "With lives on the line where dreams are found and lost!" "I'll be up there with everything that I've got!" He's seeking the divine, spiritual enlightenment. And he's willing to "pay the cost" for "wanting the things that can only be found, in the darkness on the edge of town!" Truly a passionate song! Is this guy like, the most passionate poet of all time or what? Some listeners have postulated that this song is a continuation of "Racing in the Streets" Perhaps the entire album is one long story about the same character. The album opens on one side with "Badlands" and the other side opens with "The Promised Land". One side is purgatory, the other side is heaven. Similar themes seem to run through all the songs. A depressed, aimless character on a spiritual quest, seeking redemption, seeking enlightenment. The songs seem to be about cars and girls on a superficial level, but on a deeper level, they're about a spiritual quest. | |
| Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Fire Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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When the night's quiet, And you don't care anymore, You're eyes are tired, And someone's at your door As the song opens, the character is depressed, at the end of his rope. Springsteen's characters are often depressed and hopeless. Springsteen himself has suffered from life long depression. And you realize you want to let go, And the weak lies and cold walls you embrace, Eat at your insides And babe I ain't no liar, I walk streets of fire! Perhaps he finally lets go and has some type of spiritual awakening. He's tired of "the weak lies and cold walls", now he lets go and finds himself in a new place, an elevated place spiritually, he's walking "streets of fire" Now I'm wondering', A loser down the tracks And I'm lyin', But babe I can't go back! "Cause in the darkness, I hear somebody call my name! Again, the character is depressed and aimless. "A loser down the tracks"--perhaps a hobo. But he hears "somebody call my name!" Now he has hope, he's ready to fight back. "When you realize how they tricked you this time, 'Cause it's all lies, But I'm strung out on the wire, In these "Streets of Fire, Streets of Fire...etc" He's back to the "Streets of Fire". Perhaps similar to Johnny Cash's concept of "I Walk the Line". He walks life's narrow, tough road. "I live now, only with strangers, I talk to only strangers! I walk with angels that have no place!" From his new spiritual perspective, the people around him are now "Strangers". He's walking a divine path with "angels that have no place". And don't look at my face, Don't come to my place, Cause I'm strung out on my wire! Cross Streets of Fire, Streets of Fire! I'm not sure about the meaning of this part. Perhaps he's in a new spiritual place and he doesn't want any of the "strangers"--regular people-- to look in his face or to come to his place. He returns to the analogy of "streets of fire!" |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Something In the Night [Red Bank, Nj 76] Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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I think this is essentially a spiritual song. Well, I'm drivin' down Kingsley, Figurin' I'll get a drink, Well, I turn the radio up loud, So I don't have to think' He's depressed and aimless at the beginning of the song. His characters so often are. "So I don't have to think" could also symbolizes meditation, in meditation the goal is to silence one's thoughts. The song is spiritual, but he makes a song about common things like cars and radios and the spiritual stuff is often beneath the surface. His songs are filled with earthy images, cars, radios, drinking alcohol and his characters are often at the end of their rope. Springsteen comes from a traumatic background, because his father was a schizophrenic who couldn't hold a job. I take to the floor, Lookin for a moment when the world seems right, And I tear into the guts, of something in the night "Something in the night" is the divine, it is unknowable, a mystery. He's "torn into the guts" of "something in the night". Perhaps he's entered the divine. He leaves "something in the night" undefined, it's a mystery. So, he's gone from being aimless and depressed to entering the divine. You're born with nothing and better off that way! Bruce gets philosophical here. Spiritually, your born with nothing (no material possessions). He philosophizes that you're better off without possessions. Soon as you got something They send someone to try to take it away! We live in a dog-eat-dog world, if you have something, someone is going to try to take it from you! You can ride this road 'till dawn, Without another human being in sight! Yeah, just kids wasted on, Something in the night! Springsteen gets snobby here, he sees himself as the "only human being in sight" Everyone else he sees as "kids wasted on something in the night" I wonder if that went past his fans? "Something in the night" is still undefined, a mystery. Nothing is forgotten or forgiven if it's your last time around! Springsteen continues in this vein of seeing himself from an elevated position--and guess what? He's getting away with it! Music and lyrics are gorgeous, passionate! "when it's your last time around!" He sees himself as a spiritually evolved being who's stepping off the wheel of birth and death, he's on the verge of becoming an enlightened Master, One with God! I got stuff runnin' around my head that I can't live down! Now he's more vulnerable, more human again. He's not quite "there" yet. He's still not able to quieten the mind and achieve the mental silence that leads to spiritual awakening. "We found the things we loved, They were crushed and dyin' in the dirt! We tried to pick up the pieces' And get away without getting hurt!" Broken dreams, crushed ideals, so many Springsteen songs are about this type of thing. But they caught us at the State line, Burned our cars in one last fight! And left us runnin' burned and blind, Chasin' somethin' in the night! The characters in this part of the song have lost everything. Yet, they still have some kind of hope, they're still chasing "something in the night". A mystery, the divine, no one knows? They're just chasing something. So the song ends tragically, but perhaps with a ray of hope as they continue chasing "something in the night" |
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| Bruce Springsteen – Candy's Room Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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No, she's not a prostitute, I think Springsteen's gonna' be dating classier chicks than that! I don't know what it means, but has everyone missed the spiritual aspects of this song? Lot's of Springsteen songs have spiritual and religious references. Usually Christian, but sometimes reference to Eastern religious concepts.: "Cause in the darkness, they'll be hidden worlds that shine, When I hold Candy close, she makes those hidden mine!" The "hidden worlds that shine" are the Divine. They've entered another dimension, the dimension of the divine! "I go drivin' into the light in Candy's eyes" The "light" is the divine light of God. On the surface level Springsteen's songs seem to be about romance, cars, girls, stuff like that, but if you dig a little deeper you'll realize that there's a spiritual meaning underlying the cars&girls stuff! |
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