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I'm pretty sure I could give a contemporaneous 30 minute talk on how Bruce Springsteen's "The River" and "Youngstown" deserve renewed attention as working-class anthems and I want someone to make me do this.
One of Springsteen's best qualities was how he made the personal political and the political personal. He draws a direct line between capitalism and the decay of the American dream, between greed and misery.
The contrast between the third verse and the bridge in The River is a perfect example.
The rhyme scheme changes from ABAB when he sings about being underemployed and the personal toll it takes, to AABB when he shifts back to the memories of when he had hope for the future.
The rhyme scheme changes from ABAB when he sings about being underemployed and the personal toll it takes, to AABB when he shifts back to the memories of when he had hope for the future.
His voice rises throughout these four lines, but then eventually comes back down when he comes to the song's most recognizable lyrics:
"Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true,
Or is it something worse?"
"Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true,
Or is it something worse?"
Correction: The rhyme scheme is ABCB in the verses.
tried correcting the typo but just pasted it back in
https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/1264491115065102337?s=20
tried correcting the typo but just pasted it back in
https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/1264491115065102337?s=20
"Youngstown" is a more direct indictment of capitalism, and he goes so far as to call it worse than Naziism.
Well my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from world war two
Now the yards just scrap and rubble
He said, them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do
Well my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from world war two
Now the yards just scrap and rubble
He said, them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do
Not only does he level the song's cannonballs at capitalism, but at the American war machine, too.
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
These mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
But it's the chorus that brings it home, two simple words:
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown
He reminds the listener that the cost of this greed is human misery and suffering, that it rips away promises of the pursuit of happiness.
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here darlin' in Youngstown
He reminds the listener that the cost of this greed is human misery and suffering, that it rips away promises of the pursuit of happiness.
When you listen to these songs, you're not just mad at the system. You're sad for the *people* in the songs. You're enraged that they didn't get the "wedding day smiles" and "walk down the aisles".
You're mad they did what they were supposed to do, and got nothing in return.
You're mad they did what they were supposed to do, and got nothing in return.
They went and fought in the wars, they went and looked for work; when they got pregnant, they went and got married. They worked their ways up the ladder, all those things that they tell you you're supposed to do.
Work hard, keep your head straight, you'll be taken care of.
Work hard, keep your head straight, you'll be taken care of.
Except it was bullshit, it's always been bullshit, it's still bullshit.
But what makes this real is that we've all seen this. We've all known someone in this very same position. Millennials lived through the dot-com bust, endless war, wage suppression and wage theft, the great recession, the resurgence of fascism, and now the fucking pandemic.
Of course, those similar same things that the working class in Springsteen's era went through, that's why he wrote the songs, that's why they resonated so strongly then.
But where are those folks now?
A lot of them didn't make it.
But where are those folks now?
A lot of them didn't make it.
In "Youngstown," Springsteen sings about the Monongahela valley, the Mesabi iron range, the coal mines of Appalachia.
The life-expectancy gap in these areas is worsening. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/the-early-deaths-of-appalachians/536031/
The life-expectancy gap in these areas is worsening. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/08/the-early-deaths-of-appalachians/536031/
This story is still ongoing. From October last year, there are concerns that the resources are running out, and that these town risk seeing 100s of millions evaporate from their local economies practically overnight. https://www.startribune.com/hibtac-mine-on-iron-range-running-out-of-time/562190732/
