Monday Morning Music: “For A Mistake”
“Charting the distance between American ideals and American reality”
I caught Bruce Springsteen on 60 Minutes this evening.
I’m interested in what it means to be an American,“ Springsteen says. “I’m interested in what it means to live in America. I’m interested in the kind of country that we live in and leave our kids. I’m interested in trying to define what that country is. I got the chutzpa or whatever you want to say to believe that if I write a really good song about it, it’s going to make a difference. It’s going to matter to somebody.“
“I guess I would say that what I do is I try to chart the distance between American ideals and American reality. That’s how my music is laid out. It’s like we’ve reached a point where it seems that we’re so intent on protecting ourselves that we’re willing to destroy the best parts of ourselves to do so,“ Springsteen says.
Asked what he means, Springsteen tells Pelley, “Well, I think that we’ve seen things happen over the past six years that I don’t think anybody ever thought they’d ever see in the United States. When people think of the American identity, they don’t think of torture. They don’t think of illegal wiretapping. They don’t think of voter suppression. They don’t think of no habeas corpus. No right to a lawyer … you know. Those are things that are anti-American.“
Go read the rest of it - good stuff. I love the part where he explains why he still gets up on stage, despite being worth “somewhere north of 100 million dollars…“
Was it Frank Zappa who said “shut up and play yer guitar?“
This is not an indication that I disagree with Mr. Springsteen’s views.
Posted by gerry rosser on 07/28/08 at 07:59 AMPowerful song, powerful.
Posted by gerry rosser on 07/28/08 at 08:01 AMSpringsteen’s The man.
Didn’t know you were a fan.
Posted by Ted on 07/29/08 at 02:01 PMNot hugely. But I liked him in the interview and I like this song a lot.
Posted by George on 07/29/08 at 03:36 PMAmazon.com has great MP3 deals. Every day they have a relatively classic album for anywhere from $0.99 to $3.99 for a whole album. Different each day and DRM free.Very high quality bit sampling—I’m waay happier with this store over iTunes. My first internet stop every day since they started the service.
Also there’s a recent charity album from Springsteen available, “Magic Tour Highlights” with 4 live songs for $2.99—they’re good classics that sound real good, about 25 minutes of music and for charity. And I think they’ve got Alejandro Escovedo on at least one, and Tom Morello on another track. Two pretty good guys.
If you’ve never heard Springsteen sing “My Ride’s Here” on Warren Zevon’s posthumous tribute album, is excellent.
Posted by Ted on 07/31/08 at 08:43 AM
Next entry: How do YOU explain file management?
Previous entry: NOW, with mechanical brakes