The Song By Bruce Springsteen

In Roxanne Harde’s essay, “ Living in your American skin: Bruce Springsteen and the Possibility of Politics”, she argues that many of“Springsteen's lyrics is portrayed as literature and political narratives” since he uses his music to discuss many of society’s underlying social and economic issues. (125). Her targeted audience is to fans of Springsteen who has a strong interest in politics. From her essay, Harde “draws on political theorist to examine Springsteen’s politics and the way of being political he has exemplified for more than thirty years” (125). Harde uses ethos and structure to develop many her arguments, providing an effective essay that supports her thesis statement.

When songwriters begin to pen the lyrics of a song, I believe their ultimate goal is to transcend time in hopes of reaching listeners for generations to come. J.R. Cash, professionally known as Johnny Cash, wrote a song that did just that. “Ragged Old Flag” is a patriotic song that speaks to every generation. Written in 1974, “Ragged Old Flag” was meant to tell the story of our country. Johnny Cash recorded “Ragged Old Flag” live at the House of Cash. Cash wanted the song to be recorded live because it was raw, untouched, and unapologetically real. The basis of this analysis is to show how patriotism spans generations, but also why a song such as, “Ragged Old Flag” is an important part of patriotism in the United States of America.

The 1960’s was an era of revolution and social change in the United States. Painters, dancers, actors, musicians and many more artists all wanted to portray societies immoral issues through their art. Musicians played a very prominent role in providing society with an outlet on the importance of this change. Within these musicians was a folk rock singer and songwriter by the name of Robert Allen Zimmerman, or as America knows him, Bob Dylan. He is known and honored around the world for his influence on popular music and culture, however, he is much more than that (Wood 313). The beginning of Bob Dylan’s career as a singer and songwriter was marked by his repetitive emphasis on social change throughout his protest songs which include “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” “Masters of War,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”; with each song, Dylan exposes many issues that affected, not one, but many lives as he aimed to spread social and political consciousness to society.

Since the Constitution of the United States was written, Americans have practiced their right to freedom of speech as a way to express their point of view on issues facing the country. Over time, voicing one’s opinion went from outspoken newspaper articles to large rallies, and during the Vietnam War, music was a prevalent tool in aiding the protests. Allowing political messages to be shared nationally, the music had touched the lives of the younger generation. Author Jerome L. Rodnitzky explains in his journal, “The Sixties between the Microgrooves: Using Folk and Protest Music to Understand American History, 1963-1973”, how music was “trying to be all things

As the American people hear this powerful message, they are more likely to believe the argument, and begin to take action in supporting America’s fight for independence from Great Britain by fighting in the war. The other texts, “América” by Blanco and “Let America be America Again” by Hughes, and the musical number, “America” use various rhetorical devices to powerfully convey similar messages regarding how much more difficult it is to live in America when you are underprivileged than when you are a privileged American citizen. As the authors successfully utilize pathos, descriptive imagery, juxtaposition and other techniques, they more powerfully convey their message to their audiences, causing the audiences to be more likely to feel strongly about the issue and actively advocate for equality . Rhetoric is also utilized in political texts and speeches to convey messages and promote social

The 1970’s, filled with unraveling American society and global uncertainty, spawned many of music’s greatest artists. One of these artists was Bruce Springsteen, who has paved the way for the rock genre since his 1975 album, Born to Run. While global issues continued at the hands of politicians, no one quite captured the average Americans issues like Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run. Preformed and composed entirely by Springsteen, with primary producer Jon Landau and incredible accompaniment by the wide-range E Street Band, the album flawlessly depicted normal Americans problems with the decaying American dream and crumbling ideals. Bruce Springsteen, through insightful lyrics and instrumentation, successfully and emotionally showcased common American ideals through his Born to Run album.

We can use the words of Akeel Bilgrami in his essay “Notes toward the definition of ‘identity’” to help us analyze and question Chesney’s song. In his essay Bilgrami says there is an “outset between the ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ aspects of identity. Your subjective identity is what you conceive yourself to be, whereas your objective identity is how you might be viewed independently of how you see yourself” (Bilgrami 5). These definitions can easily be applied to say that Chesney only provides us an objective view of the overall group. This causes wonder as to what the subjective identity of being an American these teens may have, then bringing us to question, is it possible for an objective identity to represent the subjective identity of a person? To answer this question, we must analyze how Chesney builds this identity and use outside texts such as that of Bilgrami, “The Citizen and the Terrorist” by Audrey Lorde, as well as “What does it mean to be an American?” by Sarah Song to assist in this analysis.

Arguably one of the most powerful of Dylan’s social issue charged song is The Death of Emmet Till, a young black man who was unrightfully killed by the Ku Klux Klan. By 1963, Dylan and his on and off lover Joan Baez were both very well known in the civil rights movement. Baez and Dylan would sing together at rallies including the famous March on Washington. Dylan was on stage with Martin Luther King Jr. when his gave his infamous I Have a Dream speech. Though Dylan sang of American injustices, he was never incredibly interested in politics and he was ultimately frustrated by people defining him solely as a protest singer. Dylan’s frustrations with the unsought political branding are expressed in It Ain’t Me Babe, which “appears to be a song about rejected love, [it] was actually his rejection of the role his reputation and fans had thrown on him” (Carlson).

Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography and personal memoir, “Born to Run,” covers all of exactly who he is and how he got to be that way. From his family life to the making of his albums, from his mental heath to his concerts, it all coincides with one another, clearly identifying who he is as a person. This book would thrill even the most hardcore Springsteen fanatics and keep them on the edge of their seat. Born to Run adds little that’s new, but its narrative voice proves to be extremely insightful

For example, there was this one time when his father took Cash’s puppies and put them in a box together with rocks then later throwing them into the river making Cash watch as they drowned. Cash further stated that his father also shot the dog that had given birth to the puppies, (Tunnel& Hamm, 2009. Pp. 272). This implies and shows how Johnny Cash used his life experience to create a productive and meaningful life to himself and others who felt an impact through his music. Therefore, in general country music has motivated artists such as Johnny Cash into engaging both in music and politics at the same time and having an influence on other people’s lives and change them for the better. The evidence is how even Johnny Cash was jailed to his political engagement but never quit since he went on to fight for social justice even after he was released from jail, (Tunnel & Hamm, 2009. Pp. 270). This shows that in the music industry and his own personal life, there were cultural biases that affected musicians in some negative manner. Another example is Johnny Cash was jailed due to his expression of politics through country music. They were not allowed to stand against what they did not believe in and express it through

Americans before the Civil War came to the United States to acquire self-preservation and to explore the foundation of capitalism. Songwriters such as Stephen Foster, felt the American people needed an image to follow a need for Puritan mentality. Without a doubt, music purposely expressed these movements by the usage of musical lyrics to analyze the discrimination against African American slaves and the secession of the United States, which reflected the turmoil of the separated Puritan communities. In short, after the American Revolution, many Americans feared the idea of self-preservation within communities, expressing that Americans had no real endeavor in working together. Moreover, writers like J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur, practiced to establish a diverse America, not only to separate Americans and show how different they act according to their surroundings, but helped to express how an environment can change one’s self-preservation. Nevertheless, Americans left a deliberate standing point to follow as countless Puritans did before. The purpose of how music can diversify a community and make Americans’ self-preservation move toward their surroundings remained the example left by these idols. Undoubtedly, the environment itself obtained the biggest challenge for American Puritans. In any case, with the help of Foster’s intuition about how Americans should act as a community and the emotions that thrived within the musical lyrics of his songs—Beautiful Dreamer, Oh!

Let freedom ring, is a song you think of, when thinking about America right? The song stands for everyone being welcome it did not matter if you were Mexican, German, Portuguese, Russian, etc. The song talks about how great our Nation is. In today’s time if you are born in America, you are a full-fledged American, and can do anything anyone else can do. Different races do not go to different schools, drink out of different water fountains, or ride in a certain area on a bus. But during World War I, and World War II, America needed men to fight. They would segregate the men by their race, but let other races fight in the War.

The United States has a storied musical history, shaped by a massively diverse population and geography. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Dixie’s Land” are two of the most important songs to American popular music history, and shaped the outcome of the Civil War and much of the past two centuries. Historically they represent entirely opposite ideals, but they interact immensely over the course of American history. Their complicated evolving relationships with society and each other represent the changing politics and culture of the United States from the Civil War to present day.

The 1960’s in America was often referred to as an age of protest because of not only the social protests that have taken place, but also for the upbringing of protest music, which became very popular during that era. The roots of protest music were largely from folk music of American musicians during 1950’. Folk musicians, such as Joe Hill, composed labor union protest songs and distributed song booklets, hoping to “fan the flames of discontent.” (Rodnitzky pg. 6) Symbolically, this meant that the songs, the fan, would reduce the uncontrollable social protests that the United States government caused with the misleading information that they did not keep their word on, or the flames of discontent. Other folk musicians, such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, traveled around the United States spreading their “message music” and becoming involved in political movements. Guthrie and Seeger were the pioneers of protest music, bringing their folk music to New York City and merging it with urban music. Woody’s songs were about the masses, often identifying problems and offering solutions. While Seeger was cautious about referring to his music as folk music, preferring the term “people’s music,” meaning that not everyone may had the same thoughts, but they all expressed it in their own unique musical sense. For both Woody and Seeger, folk music was a necessity in these protests, when the needs

Lynskey, Dorian. “Neil Young's Ohio – the Greatest Protest Record.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 6 May 2010, www.theguardian.com/music/2010/may/06/ohio-neil-young-kent-state-shootings.