| Bruce Springsteen – Darlington County Lyrics | 3 years ago |
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There are some very interesting interpretations in this thread, HOWEVER they are all incorrect. This song is about a brief psychotic break episode of the DC Comic character Batman, AKA "The Dark Night." After years of the stresses of living the double-life of a wealthy playboy philanthropist by day and crime-fighting vigilante at night, Bruce Wayne's psyche breaks down and he goes into a fugue state and leaves Gotham; either to quit crimefighting altogether or either just for a short vacation. It is so obvious from the very first line that this is indeed the setting of the song ... "Driving into Darlington County, me (ie, the singer -- BRUCE) and WAYNE on the 4th of July (symbolizing freedom/independence). Later in the same verse: "We drove down from New York City (aka GOTHAM), where the girls are pretty but they just want to know your name." Everybody was always trying to figure out who Batman "really" was. The "union connection with an uncle of Wayne's" refers to either Philip Wayne (a paternal uncle, from Batman #208, or Philip Kane, a maternal uncle introduced in the New 52 Batman series. In both arcs, the uncle takes care of the management of Wayne Industries while Bruce is away. "We drove 800 miles without seeing a cop ..." Bruce Wayne is noting the lack of law enforcement presence, reminding him of the need for his vigilantism. The "sha-la-la, la-la-la-la-LA-lah" refrain is a lighthearted homage to the "na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BATMAN" from the opening and closing credits of the 1960s Batman TV series. The entire second verse is about how Bruce, though originally intending to be low-key while he was AWOL in Darlington County, still had access to his vast fortune; which he is tempted to use in connection with seduction of the girl that he meets. Bruce continues living this life as an anonymous man in a rural county for a week (the lyrics say that he "hasn't seen [his] buddy (Batman) in 7 days." "County man" could be Commissioner Gordon, who keeps telling Bruce that "he" (Batman) isn't working (but then he is not getting paid, either). Finally, after a week away, recognizing the nihilistic futility of the human condition, and having adopted this third personality, he proposes that a young lady (perhaps the same one from the second verse?) accompany him on a road trip to the southern United States. It is never tacitly expressed whether she did accompany him or not; but in either case by the time Bruce leaves Darlington County to the south, he has an epiphany that he has shed BOTH his Batman identity, as well as that of the heir to the Wayne family fortune -- having "seen" Wayne "handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper's Ford." Bruce is now free to start his new life. That is the actual meaning of the song. Nice guesses though! |
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