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Jackson Cage Lyrics
Driving home she grabs something to eat
Turns a corner and drives down her street
Into a row of houses she just melts away
Like the scenery in another man's play
Into a house where the blinds are closed
To keep from seeing things she don't wanna know
She pulls the blinds and looks out on the street
The cool of the night takes the edge off the heat
In the Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage
You can try with all your might
But you're reminded every night
That you been judged and handed life
Down in Jackson Cage
Every day ends in wasted motion
Just crossed swords on the killing floor
To settle back is to settle without knowing
The hard edge that you're settling for
Because there's always just one more day
And it's always gonna be that way
Little girl you've been down here so long
I can tell by the way that you move you belong to
The Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage
And it don't matter just what you say
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
Baby there's nights when I dream of a better world
But I wake up so downhearted girl
I see you feeling so tired and confused
I wonder what it's worth to me or you
Just waiting to see some sun
Never knowing if that day will ever come
Left alone standing out on the street
Till you become the hand that turns the key down in
Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage
Well darlin' can you understand
The way that they will turn a man
Into a stranger to waste away
Down in the Jackson Cage
Turns a corner and drives down her street
Into a row of houses she just melts away
Like the scenery in another man's play
Into a house where the blinds are closed
To keep from seeing things she don't wanna know
She pulls the blinds and looks out on the street
The cool of the night takes the edge off the heat
Down in Jackson Cage
You can try with all your might
But you're reminded every night
That you been judged and handed life
Down in Jackson Cage
Just crossed swords on the killing floor
To settle back is to settle without knowing
The hard edge that you're settling for
Because there's always just one more day
And it's always gonna be that way
Little girl you've been down here so long
I can tell by the way that you move you belong to
Down in Jackson Cage
And it don't matter just what you say
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
But I wake up so downhearted girl
I see you feeling so tired and confused
I wonder what it's worth to me or you
Just waiting to see some sun
Never knowing if that day will ever come
Left alone standing out on the street
Till you become the hand that turns the key down in
Down in Jackson Cage
Well darlin' can you understand
The way that they will turn a man
Into a stranger to waste away
Down in the Jackson Cage
Song Info
Submitted by
oofus On Jun 05, 2004
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Jackson, New Jersey is a nondescript suburban town adjacent to Freehold, Springsteen's home town, in central New Jersey. Six Flags Great Adventure is there. I used to work there. It was the most miserable job I ever had.
To me this song is about the way we imprison ourselves, or become imprisoned, by unfulfilling lives and the challenge to just keep our bills paid and a roof over our head, putting our dreams on hold or giving them up entirely.
In this case, Springsteen is probably imagining someone in a low-paying, dead end, pointless job, who works just to keep their head above water - a common theme in Springsteen's lyrics as any fan will recognize.
If you follow the lyrics, he's talking to someone who clearly seems tired, dispirited, and resigned to her fate. And he's wondering, basically, if they are damned.
I feel the same way.
Can't believe no one has commented on this one...
This, to me, is one of the few standouts off of the Boss' double-album "The River". The lyrics are gut wrenching... the song seems to tell the story of a woman who cannot escape from the enviornment in which she lives - The Jackson Cage. I guess it's open to interpretation as to what the "Jackson Cage" really is. I like to think of it as a city where all of this happens. My favorite lyric is in the chorus: "You can try with all your might But you're reminded every night That you've been judged, and handed life Down in the Jackson Cage" That line about being "handed life" kinda sums up the life that the two characters are living in this song.
@springseger Yes, that line (“you've been judged, and handed “life”) is a killer, that’s a “Songwriter’s” lyric, which may seem a silly thing to say, but Bruce and other greats who obviously work at their craft day-in day-out, toss lines like this in their sleep, while there are other acts whose entire career highlight would be if they could come up with a lyric like that. But I digress…
@springseger Yes, that line (“you've been judged, and handed “life”) is a killer, that’s a “Songwriter’s” lyric, which may seem a silly thing to say, but Bruce and other greats who obviously work at their craft day-in day-out, toss lines like this in their sleep, while there are other acts whose entire career highlight would be if they could come up with a lyric like that. But I digress…
That line, which is kinda just “lost and floating” around the fuckjn middle of the song, when it’s good enough to be a CAPPER, the kind of line that...
That line, which is kinda just “lost and floating” around the fuckjn middle of the song, when it’s good enough to be a CAPPER, the kind of line that ties it all together…(sorry, this is what I care about, and I am subject to reveries and tangents. Deal with it ????)…
Ok, anyway, two points: 1) “life”, of course, means a Sentence Passed, but it’s also demonstrative of how “life”, that which all humans will struggle before losing, is really a double-edged sword; yes, you can’t do SHIT if you don’t have “life”; By the same token, when “life” isn’t going well, if we find ourselves “out of step”, feeling like we don’t “belong” anywhere, the very fact that you have “life” can also make you wish you didn’t…
2) she/they have judged THEMSELVES, in that they have taken the opinions others (they believe) have of them and just accepted it, therefore condemning themselves… See, she/they are so DOWN on themselves and life in general that they believe they’re MORALLY CULPABLE, i.e., “I DESERVE this”, an easy trap to fall into, as I’m sure you all already know…they’ve been taught that people get what fate they “deserve”, which is of course a huge lie, but HUGE LIES/ MYTHS/RELIGION are all tools used to keep you guessing… It might SEEM as though these little Nuggets of wisdom like “Everything happens for a reason” are there to help you - And maybe that was their original intention - but that’s not, generally, how people USE them, no, people use those sayings to MUDDY the waters, not make things Clearer for you…Which Is how we begin to DOUBT ourselves…
Whenever I hear anybody say “Everything Happens For A Reason”, I start fuckin SWINGING, like Slapsy-Maxie hearing the bell ???? to begin the next round, I can’t help myself…absolutely RUINED Christmas of ‘92…but I digress…
@springseger Yes, that line (“you've been judged, and handed “life”) is a killer, that’s a “Songwriter’s” lyric, which may seem a silly thing to say, but Bruce and other greats who obviously work at their craft day-in day-out, toss lines like this in their sleep, while there are other acts whose entire career highlight would be if they could come up with a lyric like that. But I digress…
@springseger Yes, that line (“you've been judged, and handed “life”) is a killer, that’s a “Songwriter’s” lyric, which may seem a silly thing to say, but Bruce and other greats who obviously work at their craft day-in day-out, toss lines like this in their sleep, while there are other acts whose entire career highlight would be if they could come up with a lyric like that. But I digress…
That line, which is kinda just “lost and floating” around the fuckjn middle of the song, when it’s good enough to be a CAPPER, the kind of line that...
That line, which is kinda just “lost and floating” around the fuckjn middle of the song, when it’s good enough to be a CAPPER, the kind of line that ties it all together…(sorry, this is what I care about, and I am subject to reveries and tangents. Deal with it ????)…
Ok, anyway, two points: 1) “life”, of course, means a Sentence Passed, but it’s also demonstrative of how “life”, that which all humans will struggle before losing, is really a double-edged sword; yes, you can’t do SHIT if you don’t have “life”; By the same token, when “life” isn’t going well, if we find ourselves “out of step”, feeling like we don’t “belong” anywhere, the very fact that you have “life” can also make you wish you didn’t…
2) she/they have judged THEMSELVES, in that they have taken the opinions others (they believe) have of them and just accepted it, therefore condemning themselves… See, she/they are so DOWN on themselves and life in general that they believe they’re MORALLY CULPABLE, i.e., “I DESERVE this”, an easy trap to fall into, as I’m sure you all already know…they’ve been taught that people get what fate they “deserve”, which is of course a huge lie, but HUGE LIES/ MYTHS/RELIGION are all tools used to keep you guessing… It might SEEM as though these little Nuggets of wisdom like “Everything happens for a reason” are there to help you - And maybe that was their original intention - but that’s not, generally, how people USE them, no, people use those sayings to MUDDY the waters, not make things Clearer for you…Which Is how we begin to DOUBT ourselves…and out ourselves “in jail”, or “time out”…
Whenever I hear anybody say “Everything Happens For A Reason”, I start fuckin SWINGING, like Slapsy-Maxie hearing the bell ???? to begin the next round, I can’t help myself…absolutely RUINED Christmas of ‘92…but I digress…
I suppose if I have a final point, it’s that, it’s HARD to get truly FREE in life, The human mind is a maze, haunted house, porn film, SNUFF film, The source of all the good in the world and also the source of all the evil out there (and, maybe, in your heart ????) so be careful not to shoot before aiming, you might just be shooting yourself…BUT, if you figure out HOW to keep your mind together enough to learn exactly who’s fucking with you, and you’re 100% sure you will only be shooting THEM, I say fire away ????…
Idk how I wound up here, I jist follered mAHHHHHNNNND
@springseger Yes, that line (“you've been judged, and handed “life”) is a killer, that’s a “Songwriter’s” lyric, which may seem a silly thing to say, but Bruce and other greats who obviously work at their craft day-in day-out, toss lines like this in their sleep, while there are other acts whose entire career highlight would be if they could come up with a lyric like that. But I digress…
@springseger Yes, that line (“you've been judged, and handed “life”) is a killer, that’s a “Songwriter’s” lyric, which may seem a silly thing to say, but Bruce and other greats who obviously work at their craft day-in day-out, toss lines like this in their sleep, while there are other acts whose entire career highlight would be if they could come up with a lyric like that. But I digress…
That line, which is kinda just “lost and floating” around the fuckjn middle of the song, when it’s good enough to be a CAPPER, the kind of line that...
That line, which is kinda just “lost and floating” around the fuckjn middle of the song, when it’s good enough to be a CAPPER, the kind of line that ties it all together…(sorry, this is what I care about, and I am subject to reveries and tangents. Deal with it ????)…
Ok, anyway, two points: 1) “life”, of course, means a Sentence Passed, but it’s also demonstrative of how “life”, that which all humans will struggle before losing, is really a double-edged sword; yes, you can’t do SHIT if you don’t have “life”; By the same token, when “life” isn’t going well, if we find ourselves “out of step”, feeling like we don’t “belong” anywhere, the very fact that you have “life” can also make you wish you didn’t…
2) she/they have judged THEMSELVES, in that they have taken the opinions others (they believe) have of them and just accepted it, therefore condemning themselves… See, she/they are so DOWN on themselves and life in general that they believe they’re MORALLY CULPABLE, i.e., “I DESERVE this”, an easy trap to fall into, as I’m sure you all already know…they’ve been taught that people get what fate they “deserve”, which is of course a huge lie, but HUGE LIES/ MYTHS/RELIGION are all tools used to keep you guessing… It might SEEM as though these little Nuggets of wisdom like “Everything happens for a reason” are there to help you - And maybe that was their original intention - but that’s not, generally, how people USE them, no, people use those sayings to MUDDY the waters, not make things Clearer for you…Which Is how we begin to DOUBT ourselves…and out ourselves “in jail”, or “time out”…
Whenever I hear anybody say “Everything Happens For A Reason”, I start fuckin SWINGING, like Slapsy-Maxie hearing the bell ???? to begin the next round, I can’t help myself…absolutely RUINED Christmas of ‘92…but I digress…
I suppose if I have a final point, it’s that, it’s HARD to get truly FREE in life, The human mind is a maze, haunted house, porn film, SNUFF film, The source of all the good in the world and also the source of all the evil out there (and, maybe, in your heart ????) so be careful not to shoot before aiming, you might just be shooting yourself…BUT, if you figure out HOW to keep your mind together enough to learn exactly who’s fucking with you, and you’re 100% sure you will only be shooting THEM, I say fire away ????…
Idk how I wound up here, I jist follered muh mAHHHHHNNNND
I live in Jackson, NJ. I live in the Jackson cage. It suffocates you more each day, and whether or not this was actually written with this town in mind, he sure as hell hit the nail on the head. Only Bruce could describe things so perfectly.
This might be stretching it, but the phrase "Jackson cage" appears in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, and Faulkner and Springsteen talk about a lot of the same types of people even if from diff. areas - I'm sure Bruce has read this book at any rate.
@ExitFlagger Thank you...i never much Faulkner, but I will look at this connection.
@ExitFlagger Thank you...i never much Faulkner, but I will look at this connection.
I believe this song is about Bruce's mother. He masks this by a) calling her "girl" , b) saying she "grabs something to eat, which never would have happened at the time and c) making it a loud rocker rather than the plaintive cry that it really is. I picked all this up listening to John Wesley Harding's wrenching cover, which is a quiet and haunting acoustic version that brings the lyrics out front.
After the first verse, the song tracks almost word for word what Bruce has said from the stage and elsewhere about his home life, but this time from his mom's perspective.
"Every day ends in wasted motion Just crossed swords on the killing floor To settle back is to settle without knowing The hard edge that you're settling for"
Wasted motion/crossed swords: Bruce and his dad fought all the time in the kitchen and wound up screaming at each other.
Settling back: Bruce has said that his mom would "set her hair" and fall asleep watching TV.
The singer asks: will you just do your time and fade away? - This Bruce's question to his mother.
"Just waiting to see some sun Never knowing if that day will ever come Left alone standing out on the street Till you become the hand that turns the key down in"
From an early age Bruce has been obsessed with using music to break free of his father and the life he thought was his destiny. In this verse, he is expressing his doubts about whether it will happen. He has said that his fights would always end up with him running out of the house, standing outside still screaming at his father. But then the singer looks forward to the day that his "hand will turn the key" opening the Jackson Cage.
In the final verse, Bruce explains himself to his mother one more time, saying "darlin' can you understand, the way that they will turn a man into a stranger to waste away, down in the Jackson Cage." This was Bruce's great fear: that he would turn into his father, a bitter and likely bipolar person (as reported in the latest Bruce biography, I'm not making this up). The singer is telling the girl, it can't be that person, I hope you understand and take some solice in my escape.
Two songs later on the first side of the original River double LP is the song Independence Day, which Bruce has said is his declaration of independence from his dad.
Last point if you haven't heard this before: the title track tells the story of Bruce's sister Ginny, who got pregnant and married her high school boyfriend (they are still married, btw). Bruce debuted the song at No Nukes saying, "This is about my sister."
Besides listening carefully to Bruce over the years, the main sources for this analysis are the recent bio "Bruce" that includes interviews with his mother, and the story Bruce would tell during concerts in the 70s as the intro to "It's My Life."
PS - Thanks for the interpretations of the term Jackson Cage above. They all seem devastatingly accurate.
Yeah these are great lyrics. Basically it's just a comparison between a place that someone is stuck living in and a jail. That line about being judged and handed life is an awesome one, because it drives home that concept of a town like jail and also the notion that sometimes you can feel stuck because of forces outside your control, almost like a punishment for something you don't know you did.
also, Jackson is a town in nj, where bruce grew up
I always pictured this song as being about a prostitute. He says "Little girl you've been down here so long, I can tell by the way that you move". He later talks about her "left standing out on the street". The first verse about going into the house where the blinds are closed could also be meeting a client.
Basically she is trapped in the cage of being a prostitute... the song is sung from the perspective of her male client/love interest
Jackson Cage by Bruce Springsteen relates to the struggle Bruce's parents experienced in his early life he's spoke about this a few times at concerts its really about everyday life stuck in the ghetto and how depression sets in take it from me. Mark UK Ghetto.
I agree with many of the thoughts so far presented, saying it's about having dreams thwarted by the needs of working-eating-keeping a roof, etc, and how it can grind us down to a nub, sapping our spirit. I specifically want to comment about the final lines "til you become the hand that turns the key to the Jackson Cage", as the way I see this line is a thought that has long fascinated me about human nature.
Regardless of how miserable the working life makes a specific person, my general perception and experience has been that parents' advice to their children seems to usually be practicality as opposed to actually following dreams. Making sure that a college major is one that will result in the greatest chance for employment, instead of actually learning to do what the child's love is and taking a chance on actually being happy. It may not be a parent's intention, but the result of such advice seems to me to be Misery Loves Company. And I to me that's what that line in the song brings to mind - that yes, this life has made me miserable, but when the time comes, I'm going to give advice, based on nothing but practicality, that will likely result in repeating prior generations' mistakes, resulting in continuing misery.
I understand that life is more complicated than just Follow Your Dreams, but at the same time, Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, and a "Job", meaning something you're doing JUST to pay bills and stay alive, something you have no love for, is always in the hands of the owner/,anger of said business, and can always be taken away, resulting in nothing but wasted time. Yes, even doing what your love can have the same consequence, but the time isn't wasted....and yet very single piece of advice I've ever seen a parent give a child was based on nothing but pragmatism.
As Jackson Browne said: "No matter what you THINK you have, you have nothing to lose". Not an easy code to live by, and most of us don't.