Sentimental Springsteen won't rock the boat [It's no Rock the Casbah]

Newark Star Ledger ^ | 8/20/02 | Paul Mulshine

[Incorrigible]

People have been asking me what I think of the new Bruce Springsteen CD.

It's got a good beat. The tunes are catchy.

But it fails the Jersey guy test.

Tommy Moore is one Jersey guy I'm thinking of. He lives in Belmar, not far from E Street. Back when Bruce was becoming a rock star, Moore was becoming a Port Authority cop.

[Incorrigible]

ROCK THE CASBAH
(THE CLASH)

Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a' cruisnin' down the ville
The muezzin was a' standing
On the radiator grille

CHORUS
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah

By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouin they brought out
The electric camel drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the shareef
Had cleared the square
They began to wail

CHORUS

Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a wiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive

CHORUS

The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way

As soon as the shareef was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare

As soon as the shareef was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed

CHORUS

He thinks it's not kosher
Fundamentally he can't take it.
You know he really hates it.

[AppyPappy]

Springsteen went from being the working man's Bob Dylan to a sellout to the marketing machine. Sad.

[RepoGirl]

This was a great post and a good read. I know The Boss started losing touch with the Jersey Guy fan base when he wrote that moronic song 57 Channels. Yeah--if that's the extent of the working mans worries, Bruce, you've been in LA eating Sushi and drinking Kristal a BIT too long.

Rock the Casbah is and will always be one of my favorite songs, ironic that the Clash, those erstwhile Brit rebels, are such thumb-sucking, march-in-lock step commies, though. Well, at least Strummer is--I don't know about Simonen, Jones and Headon.

[Whitebread]

Paul Mulshine is the best of Jersey journalism.
Thanks for the post, it really hits the bullseye

[tet68]

I'm just one of those who has NEVER liked Springsteen,
how can you like a singer you can't understand, and who sings in a nasel monotone.
Hey Boss, you're fired!
PS. Meatloaf is better, and that should tell you something.

[Aggie Mama]

Agreed. I never did understand what was so special about him.

[egarvue]

How dare you say that The Boss sings in a nasal monotone?

"Heylittlegirlisyourdaddy....mumble mumble didhegoaway...mumble mumble...I'm on fire..."

Ok, wait. You're right. I always thought Springsteen sucked, too.

[bulldawg]

Right on. This guy has always been worshipped in the media for his assumption of the "working man" persona. Read the Wall St. Journal review of the record at

http://www.opinionjournal.com

That about says it all.


Bulldawg

[RepoGirl]

PS. Meatloaf is better, and that should tell you something.

Mmmmmmmm...meatloaf....

I've actually had a softspot for Mr. Meat since his turn as Eddie in Rocky Horror Picture Show-- I never much liked his solo stuff, but I do love his voice, and Hot Patootie Bless My Soul is such a corker of a 50s tribute.

Springsteen was always too dull, maudlin, and just a tad pretentious for me (despite the workin' man motif...)

[Cogadh na Sith]

ironic that the Clash, those erstwhile Brit rebels, are such thumb-sucking, march-in-lock step commies, though. Well, at least Strummer is--I don't know about Simonen, Jones and Headon.

Yeah, I really like The Clash too. I always have. The punk thing was generally a rebellion of the English working class against 'the powers that be'. It was initially capitalist and individualist, but got caught up in the Workers Unite crap.

[GATOR NAVY]

For my tastes, Neil Young did it better and earlier with "Let's Roll"

Neil Young bump!

[Dems_R_Losers]

I guess I will wade in here with something of a defense of Springsteen. It's too bad he has made himself so easy to take shots at. Some of his songs are almost parodies of himself. I don't like everything he's done, including the "41 Shots" song, some of his early testosterone-laden anthems, and the entire "Ghost of Tom Joad" album (which only won a Grammy for best folk album); but nobody else has made music for over 25 years that I can still enjoy listening to. And he is a fabulous entertainer in person. I've seen him four times and never been to a better show.

It isn't fair to expect Springsteen to come out with a "Let's Roll" kind of album about 9/11. That's never been the kind of artist he is. He has always written about ordinary people with ordinary lives, and how the world affects them as people. This new album is very much in keeping with that style. Yes, the broad populace of America wants to blame, wants revenge, wants victory over those that hurt us. But those who actually lost their loved ones on 9/11 have very different emotions. Springsteen lives in a county in New Jersey that lost 150 people on 9/11. Nuking Afghanistan isn't going to bring those people back or erase the pain and loss their loved ones feel. Springsteen just felt that was worth writing about. What is wrong with that?

I think it's a beautiful album, and one of the things that the critics pro and con have missed is that it captures America's newfound spirituality after 9/11. There are a surprising number of references to God, faith, prayer, hope, love, and heaven, which is entirely new for Sprinsgteen or any other act besides a "Christian rock" band. The song "Into the Fire" says about the firefighters going into the World Trade Center:

The sky was falling and streaked with blood
I heard you calling me
then you disappeared into the dust
up the stairs, into the fire
up the stairs, into the fire
I need your kiss...
but love and duty called you someplace higher
Somewhere up the stairs
into the fire
May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love

This is a beautiful song. In concert he performs it as the closing number, and by the end everyone is on their feet singing like a church choir.

BTW, he has dropped the "41 Shots" song from his shows on the current tour. I liked it when I heard it for the first time, but it isn't one of his best songs and it is polarizing.

[cubreporter]

Exactly. Take an issue. Make a song. Seems some people can only try for a comeback in this manner. Bruce is of the past and that's where he should have stayed instead of trying to get political. Sometimes they underestimate the crowd the DON'T play to!!! That's their mistake. Too bad. He was good at one time. Oh well....

[x]

Good criticism of Springsteen's poses and pretenses, though not having heard the record, I can't say how successful it really is. But as for the rest: how would we feel if rock and roll imperialism were directed against our own institutions? Maybe rock will bring peace and an end to tyrannies, but that sounds like so much Lennnonist wishful thinking. And that dream is more likely to stiffen resistance than to weaken it.

[ohioman]

Springsteen has always been a liberal wuss.

[ohioman]

I wish Metallica would come out with a good pro-war "Kill 'em All" song. Of course, country seems to be the only form of music that is openly patriotic to what most Americans think (i.e., ......a boot up your ass.....). Rock and Roll is missing out on a great opportunity. Damn, I wish I could sing.

[weegee]

The baby boomers who want to rock Teheran

Garage rockin' the Casbah...

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Rock the Casbah is and will always be one of my favorite songs, ironic that the Clash, those erstwhile Brit rebels, are such thumb-sucking, march-in-lock step commies, though. Well, at least Strummer is--I don't know about Simonen, Jones and Headon.

This is a public service announcement (with guitars). Know your rights. Number 1, you've got the right not to be killed. Murder is a crime . . . unless it was done by a policeman. Or an aristocrat. Know your rights.

The rest of the song is pretty commie, though.

I've always loved these:

Clampdown

Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
'Cause they're working for the clampdown
They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
When we're working for the clampdown
We will teach our twisted speech
To the young believers
We will train our blue-eyed men
To be young believers

The judge said five to ten-but I say double that again
I'm not working for the clampdown
No man born with a living soul
Can be working for the clampdown
Kick over the wall 'cause government's to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D'you know that you can use it?

The voices in your head are calling
Stop wasting your time, there's nothing coming
Only a fool would think someone could save you
The men at the factory are old and cunning
You don't owe nothing, so boy get runnin'
It's the best years of your life they want to steal

You grow up and you calm down
You're working for the clampdown
You start wearing the blue and brown
You're working for the clampdown
So you got someone to boss around
It makes you feel big now
You drift until you brutalize
You made your first kill now

In these days of evil presidentes
Working for the clampdown
But lately one or two has fully paid their due
For working for the clampdown
But ha! Gitalong! Gitalong!

Happy 50th, Joe.

[Dems_R_Losers]

I wish Metallica would come out with a good pro-war "Kill 'em All" song. Of course, country seems to be the only form of music that is openly patriotic to what most Americans think (i.e., ......a boot up your ass.....). Rock and Roll is missing out on a great opportunity. Damn, I wish I could sing.

You need to really listen to "The Rising." Not everybody in America feels only bloodlust after 9/11. What did everyone do immediately afterward? We went to church....."what most Americans think" is that God is the answer. Alan Jackson has the #1 country song of the year about 9/11, and his song is about faith, hope, and love getting us through, not bombs and guns. That's what Springsteen is singing about on "The Rising." It is as far from liberal tripe as you can get. In fact, a lot of his liberal fans are unhappy about all the religiosity in the songs. I think it is going to be hugely popular because it has captured this feeling so well.

Conservatives should be happy this album is #1 instead of The Eminem Show.

[ohioman]

Maybe so. But I believe in the Machiavellian principle of instilling pure fear in the hearts of your enemies. Nothing like a good heavy rock song to convey that message. This would also follow the Churchill's statement that he would align himself with the devil, if it would defeat Hitler. With Radical Islam and Iraq, you can also put me in that category.

BTW>>>I do like Alan Jackson.