Springsteen's Thwarted Hillary Assist?

Reader Response from The Fray:


Bruce Springsteen:
1) Has never evinced any interest whatever in electoral politics (save when Ronald Reagan tried to hijack him) and has not voted, according to his own recollection, since 1972
2) Has no interest whatever in the Clintons and has refused repeated entreaties to visit the White House during their term of office
3) Has never written a song about any political campaign
4) Has indeed written quite a few songs in the past inpspired by real live political events, such as Three Mile Island and the LA riots
5) Does not live in New York, and probably does not care who its senator is
6) Premiered the song after Rudy dropped out, as Tim Noah admits.

--Eric Alterman

(Author of the book It Ain't No Sin to be Glad You're Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen.)

(To reply, click here.)

Eric: While I agree with you generally and certainly don't believe Bruce wrote "American Skin" to help Hillary's chances, he has shown some interest in the NY Senate race. At the opening night concert at the Garden Bruce shouted "Forget that joker from Long Island, the next Senator of the State of New York--Big Man Clarence Clemons!"

--Tom Donahue

(To reply, click here.)


Timothy Noah gets points for creativity in his attempt to link Bruce Springsteen's new song, "41 Shots" to Hillary Clinton's Senate race. And if he's been to the Greasy Lake web site, he gets points for being a fan. But his claim of a covert Springsteen effort to boost Hillary Rodham Clinton is lacking in several respects:

1. To the extent Springsteen's public performances and statements reflect personal politics, they are radicalized and issue-based in nature, and extremely distrustful of parties and candidates. While he's allied himself strongly with causes ranging from affirmative action to nuclear disarmament to anti-poverty advocacy, he's yet to cough up an endorsement for a candidate. I'm not even sure he votes.

2. With Hillary Clinton having played perhaps the decisive role in support of welfare reform passage in 1996, and with Bruce having denounced said "reform" almost nightly from the stage when he toured behind his album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, she seems a highly improbable target for his covert support, if he were even inclined at all to be interested in political candidates.

3. If there's any cynicism at all behind "41 Shots," a much more likely intended audience would be the media representatives who will attend his upcoming stand at Madison Square Garden, and who otherwise might be apt to wonder just what the point is behind another two-week reunion stand in the Tri-State Area. (I, for one, ain't wondering--the band is now playing far better than they were at the Meadowlands last year.)

The song "41 Shots" gives Bruce a shot at some relevance and at changing the context in which his performances will be viewed. Noah's article reflects just how well he has succeeded--and yet just how much his performance remains misunderstood by those who try to view it in conventional political terms.

--Brian Svoboda
Webmaster, The Hitter An Online Springsteen Commentary

(To reply, click here.)


Considering that he played the song in Atlanta June 4th, and that Lazio entered the race before then, I doubt it was to help Clinton win the Senate race. It could be that Bruce deliberately waited till after the post-verdict riots had calmed down. Or to debut the song in a city with a large black population. As for not referencing specific events in his songs, have you read the lyrics of the title cut of Nebraska recently? Or "Youngstown", from The Ghost Of Tom Joad?

Latest on "41 Shots"--the NYC Patrolman's Benefit Association website has announced a boycott of the Madison Square Garden shows by PBA members, either in moonlighting as security, or attending (See Chatterbox's take on this here).

--Jen

(To reply, click here.)

(6/9)

• Eugene Robinson: African American Patriotism
• Edward J. Larson: The Founding Mudslingers
• Stumped: America, Don't Be Afraid of Mexico