My Long And Noisy Prayer
Thursday, February 9, 2023 Entry #46
After the 2016 live concert recording, next up on my chronological #Springsteen Sabbatical road trip playlist was the officially released soundtrack to Springsteen’s Broadway show, which started in 2017. So, it was no more than an hour after my emotional epiphany described on the previous post, that I had another powerful experience driving through the night listening to the Boss. “Springsteen on Broadway” consisted of a series of narratives (stories, song backgrounds and personal/societal/political reflective monologues), each leading to a song in Springsteen’s vast cannon, performed solo on guitar or piano. Towards the end of the show, and of the soundtrack I was very actively listening to, Springsteen introduces “Dancing In The Dark” with a very personal statement. You can hear it in Springsteen’s own voice by playing the video at the top of this post. He starts out like this:
“I always thought I was a typical American, so I fought my whole life and I studied, and I played, and I worked, ’cause I wanted to hear and I wanted to know the whole American story. I wanted to know my story, and your story. It felt like I needed to understand as much of it as I could in order to understand myself. You know, who was I? And where I came from and what that meant. What did it mean to my family? Where was I going? And where were we going together as a people? And then, what did it mean to be an American? And to be a part of that story, in this place, and in this time. I wanted to be able to celebrate and honor its beauty, its power, and I wanted to be able to be a critical voice when I thought that that’s what the times called for.
This grabbed my attention. It sounded like a Bruce Springsteen mission statement. But, for me, the kicker came next:
“But most of all, more than anything else, I wanted to be able to tell that story well to you. That was my young promise to myself, and this was my young promise to you. From when I was a very young man, I took my fun very seriously, you know. And this is what I pursue as my service, I still believe in it as such. This is what I have presented to you all these years as my long and noisy prayer, as my magic trick. I wanted to rock your very soul, and have you bring it home and pass it on, and I wanted it to be sung and altered by you and your folks and your children, should they be interested. I wanted it to be something you could call on when things were good, and when things were not so good – that it might strengthen you, help make sense of your story and your life the way that you strengthen me and help me make sense of my life. You’ve provided me with purpose, with meaning, and with a great, great amount of joy. I hope I’ve done that for you and that I’ve been a good travelling companion.”
What I heard so viscerally in that moment was a validation by Springsteen himself of everything I had been thinking and feeling as described in Entry #44 of this blog, a confirmation of what I had just identified internally as my decades long “communion” with Bruce Springsteen.” Moreover, Springsteen seemed to be revealing that all of this was actually mutual (shared with me and millions of other fans of course), a relationship between the performer and his devotees that grows and deepens over time and makes an impact on both, making the “communion” more like a “conversation,” which is even better and more poignant.
Time to pull the car over for the second time in an hour as I needed some stillness to listen to that piece a few more times, let it all sink in and then allow the emotions to once again cathartically pour out of me.
If this ongoing, evolving but utterly familiar connection with his audience is Bruce Springsteen’s “service,” his “prayer” and “magic trick,” as he says, he has delivered on that mission magnificently, as far as I am concerned. He indeed “rocks my very soul,” provides me with a body of creative and meaningful work that I can “call on when things are good, and when things are not so good.” The way Bruce Springsteen carries himself, his voice and persona into the public arena has done for me all of those things he says here that he hopes to accomplish (and, he acknowledges that we do for him as well); Springsteen’s body of work helps me “make sense of my story and life,” and continues to provide me with “purpose, meaning and a great amount of joy.”
Bruce, you have certainly been an extraordinary “travelling companion” for me all along, and particularly on this epic road trip centered around following you and the E Street Band as you perform on this new tour, your first since the COVID lockdown temporarily halted your life-affirming, communal, all-encompassing ‘feel the music’ performances. As I said to you when I had the privilege of shaking your hand after seeing your incredible Broadway show in 2021, “I so appreciate you.”
Day 12