Darkness on the Edge of Town

Wow! Its really neat to see how many ways people interpret this song. I think that is one of the marks of a great songwriter. A song can mean different things to different people and it just kinda depends on where you're at...or maybe where you've been.

I have a take on the phrase "darkness on the edge of town" that is a bit different from what i've so far read. "darkness on the edge of town" (doteot) symbolizes the sense that we all have about our selves. It is that sense that we were meant for greater things. Or maybe that we were meant to live a life for what we are passionate about and not just take the safe and easy way of life, the normal 9-5 suburbia lives that we complacently accept.

He is singing about the guy from Racing in the Streets. Sure he loved his wife, but he loved racing cars too. That was his passion. His wife didn't share that passion (But that blood it never burned in her veins) and he couldn't live a married life and give up racing. So for this character, he chose a life doing what he was passionate about instead of taking the path of least resistance. I think it was Thoreau who said that most men lead lives of quiet desperation. Thats because they choose to avoid the doteot. The secret that we carry with us, it think that he is not talking about a secret in the terms of only being a secret that we keep hidden and we hope no one will find out. I think of it a side of ourselves that we don't let others see. It is the thing that we are passionate about and we would live our lives for if we weren't so scared. Its our dream. Its what we dream we are all about. We are scared to let it go and we're scared to let it out. Till one day, we either give up on our dream or we live our whole lives never being satisfied with anything because nothing we ever do could measure up to our dream. (They carry it with them every step that they take Till some day they just cut it loose Cut it loose or let it drag 'em down)

When we realize I will be dragged down by this dream if I don't face it, then we realize that we will only drag down the people around us as well. This character came to that understanding and has no regrets about his choice. He sees that his ex-wife is still trying to maintain the image of having the good life.

I think the hill is a place where he goes to find himself. A place to pray perhaps or meditate or just do the soul searching that needs to be done. He's lost some things that were important to him and he has taken a leap of faith and realizes that he has to give it all he's got. To go the direction he is going was not a decision he made lightly and he has already paid the cost. But thats the price you pay if you are going to find things outside of the life you are born into.

The Darkness on the edge of town is the hinterland where the true artist and seeker thrives, away from the comforts of suburbia and the values of the bourgeois life style. It’s where a person can feel more alive and in touch with reality. It is the option any one of us can take if we are prepared to ‘pay the cost’ i.e. lose those material, mind numbing comforts. The only bitterness he may feel is not one of comparing his lot (or material wellbeing) against that of his erstwhile wife who is living in Fairview but that she couldn’t see what he could in living a life on the ‘edge’ of society; ‘that blood it never burnt in her veins’. Some of you would benefit from reading Colin Wilson’s Outsider then this whole album would truly come alive for you; but then again if the ‘blood doesn’t burn in your veins’ you wouldn’t ‘get’ that either.

Its no coincidence that this song ended side two, just as Racing in the Street ended side one. This song is a continuation of Racing In the Street, just a little further on down the road.

They're still racing out at the Trestles But that blood it never burned in her veins

***In Racing, same girl

When I come home the house is dark She sighs "Baby did you make it all right"

Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview And a style she's trying to maintain

***She has since left him for the promise of a better life with a more established man.

Well if she wants to see me You can tell her that I'm easily found Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abram's Bridge And tell her there's a darkness on the edge of town

*** I always took Abrams Bridge to be a spot where guys would meet up to duel in their race cars, as in "Brothers Under the Bridges 85"

"'Neath the trestless drinkin' the beer and the wine Now some came on run, some just to pass the time With the brothers under the bridges"

and

"Well me and my brother'd hitched a ride in Joey's pickup to the edge of town And we watched from the tall grass as the challenges were made and the duels went down"

Everybody's got a secret Sonny Something that they just can't face Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it They carry it with them every step that they take Till some day they just cut it loose Cut it loose or let it drag 'em down Where no one asks any questions Or looks too long in your face In the darkness on the edge of town

In Racing, the singers partner was a guy named "Sonny", and here in the second verse, he is again speaking to Sonny. Notice that the name is capitalized in the official lyrics, as it would be for a proper name. I think that gets overlooked, it is a direct tie back to Racing. As to the secret, I think he is referring to issues everyone carries around with them. Whether it be insecurity, fear of rejection, failure, success, whatever. Bruce always writes from a personal perspective, and while the song may not necessarily be about him, his characters also have many of the same insecurities, and fears he does. This is no longer the romantic Born to Run phase, but Darkness is a record about the transition from young rebel stage into adulthood, and the struggles that go along with it. It is the realization that you can't just live Born to Run, there is a more permanent existence, and you will either rise above your issues or they will drag you down. The entire record is about that defiance to not just give up and be one of the faceless hordes going to work every day, and living a meaningless existence.

Some folks are born into a good life Other folks get it anyway anyhow I lost my money and I lost my wife Them things don't seem to matter much to me now Tonight I'll be on that hill 'cause I can't stop I'll be on that hill with everything I got Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost For wanting things that can only be found In the darkness on the edge of town

Again Bruce is writing about the things he has seen. Its not necessarily from a point of being bitter, it's just he grew up in a working class suburb of NJ, and has seen that for some people they are born into a good life, and some others may do whatever they have to to get it, lie cheat steal, or being pretty enough to get that life, whatever. The last few verses is that defiance showing through, like an old Black and white movie where the hero rises up against all odds, and does the impossible, with no apologies.It's meant as a moment of triumph, just as:

I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these.. Badlands

or

There's a dark cloud rising on the desert floor I've packed my bags and I'm headed straight through the storm It's gonna be a twister that'll blow everything down That ain't got the faith to stand its ground.

It is a bold statement, a desperate cry against the life he so does not want to settle for.

The character in this song is the same character from racing in the street, just a later in his life.

Also, this song could be a set of four songs all about the same character, telling his story. The songs in order are, Thunder road, racing in the street, darkness on the edge of town, and the promise

I see this as a very bitter song.

The singer (I agree this is the same character from “Racing in the Streets”) is still clinging to a dream that racing is going to make him rich. His wife didn’t share his dream. She moved on to another man who is more successful. Fairview sounds like a nice suburb. By contrast, the singer says he’s living under a bridge. Whether he is literally homeless or is exaggerating how poor and outcast he feels, he certainly is not living as well as his ex-wife and her new man are living.

That bitterness is more clear in the third verse. “Some folks are born into a good life.” That’s his ex-wife’s new man, and the singer is suggesting that man did nothing to earn his wealth and happiness, he had everything handed to him; in contrast, the singer believes himself hard-working and honorable (“I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost”), a man who has paid his dues but has wound up with very little.

“Other folks get it anyway anyhow.” This is a biting description of his ex-wife. He’s saying she only cares about money, and she’ll do anything to get it — even break the heart of a good man (as the singer sees himself) and give herself with a less-deserving man (as the singer sees his rival) just to maintain a richer lifestyle.

“I lost my money and I lost my wife. Them things don't seem to matter much to me now.” This sounds like sour grapes. He claims he doesn’t care about these things, but he can’t shut up about them. His ex-wife is enjoying a new marriage with money, living in comfort, while the singer feels down and out. He feels like an outcast, living on the edge of society, relegated to the darkest parts. No one cares about him: no one asks him any questions or looks too long in his face. He is a nobody.

I think his “secret” is how much it hurts him, how much he still wants his ex-wife and the money he thought racing would bring him. He knows if he doesn’t cut himself loose from his bitterness and his longing, it will drag him down, keep him from getting on with his life. He tells himself he is cutting these things loose (“Them things don't seem to matter much to me now.”). But in fact, these things are dragging him down. Instead of looking for a new love, he’s sending messages to his ex-wife about where she can find him; he won’t accept the fact that she has moved on, she doesn’t want to see him. He’s easily found, but she hasn’t found him yet because she isn’t interested.

The man has lost what he loves, doing what he loves. Painful irony. If you really read the lyrics, it seems he's not all that upset about losing his wife. Maybe she was second on his list. But he still wants to see her if she wants. Brilliant stuff from my idol Bruce.

springsteen: the greatest

To me this is THE song about a man's quest to understand himself. It's a man in the process of becoming that which he wishes. He's on "that hill" struggling through all those barriers that might otherwise prevent him from reaching his destiny. He has cut loose those things that once dragged him down and now he's going for it with everything he's got.

For me, there is a definite sense of self-reliance in this song. It's a man searching for something (the undefinable, the unknowable). No religion will help. He must find it through perseverance. He must pay the cost. For those things that can only be found, he must struggle through the darkness on the edge of town.

There does feel like there is a degree of pain in this and a man who's just had enough. Though he was down and out or feeling crappy before, he's now got a new outlook and isn't prepared to take any crap. I think (as mentioned above) the hill represents rising above it all. His "secret" has been exposed and to his suprise, he doesn't really care. It's sort of liberating - being free from the weight, conveyed by the style of singing in the verses (starting off quiet and moody and then into a defiant kind of shout, representing before & after).

There's a bitterness in the first verse that I think you've missed Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview And a style she's trying to maintain Well if she wants to see me You can tell her that I'm easily found A resentment that he's hearing news about his ex-wife second hand, and that she's doing well while he's down here with his demons, whatever they are, and that she doesn't ask after him.

The demons are gambling, aren't they? The first two lines I presume is reference to a horse track, but that that's not where he places his money - his is lost - I lost my money, then I lost my wife - in the darkness on the edge of town.

The rest I think you've all got right - of putting something else before your loved ones despite your loving them.

By the way, it's Darkness On the edge of town, not At. I always interpret this song being about considering suicide, especially the line "tonight I'll be on that hill", and "I'll pay the cost"; it is a terrific, but depressing song.