Much of Bruce Springsteen’s music, and especially the huge rolling sound of “The River”, is made for summer. Roll down your windows, crank up the stereo, and cruise to the pool or the lake or the river or where ever it is you go to be into summer. Many of Springsteen’s lyrics, and especially those on “The River” and “Born In the USA”, can at times contrast sharply with the underlying tunes. “Hungry Heart” is not about getting a Denny’s Grand Slam. It’s about trying and failing to make a place in this world. It’s about getting invested, losing heart, and chucking it all.
Chucking it all just to start all over again. Why? Why why why keep going to Kingstown? What is it we need? To be fed. To be home. As the Boss himself says, “Ain’t nobody likes to be alone.” Sometimes in his songs, the two go off together in search of something. Other times, they go their separate ways. Together or separately, however, the search is never really over. Getting home can be tough.
And so many places can look like home, or a nice place to live anyway. A union card and a wedding coat, or a shared memory of nights by the resevoir. The one thing that keeps coming back, that Bruce keeps acknoledging, is that only the real thing will do. If there is one thing we keep demanding, it is authenticity. We want to know, be known, and be ok. The river doesn’t know where it is going, but it does keep going.