Menachem Mendel

While going over this past week’s Torah reading, something which was always in my mind was how much Bruce Springsteen has used material from Genesis in his songs. As some of you may know, I am a rabid Springsteen fan, and his songs were in my head maybe more than usual because of both his new album, Magic, and his current tour. His use of material from the first chapters of Genesis is quite varied as shall be seen below.

In one of his less serious songs, Pink Cadillac, Bruce sings that,

Well now way back in the Bible
Temptations always come along
There’s always somebody tempting
Somebody into doing something they know is wrong
Well they tempt you, man, with silver
And they tempt you, sir, with gold
And they tempt you with the pleasures
That the flesh does surely hold
They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple
But man I ain’t going for that
I know it was her pink Cadillac…

At the other extreme is one of his angst-filled father-son themed songs, Adam Raised a Cain.

In the Bible Cain slew Abel
and East of Eden he was cast
You’re born into this life paying
for the sins of somebody else’s past
Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain
Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame
You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames
Adam raised a Cain

Bruce once remarked that it was incredible that he wrote that song before he even payed a penny for therapy. The theme of being punished for someone else’s sins is revisited by Springsteen a number of times. In Long Time Comin’ he sings,

Now down below and pullin’ on my shirt
I got some kids of my own
Well if I had one wish in this god forsaken world, kids
It’d be that your mistakes would be your own
Yea your sins would be your own

His post 9/11 Empty Sky is filled with a number of Biblical allusions.

On the plains of Jordan
I cut my bow from the wood
Of this tree of evil
Of this tree of good
I want a kiss from your lips
I want an eye for an eye
I woke up this morning to an empty sky

One of the less well-known references to Genesis is from his song Iceman which was only released after sitting in the “vaults” for over twenty years.

We’ll take the midnight road right to the devil’s door
And even the white angels of Eden with their flamin’ swords
Won’t be able to stop us from hitting town in this dirty old Ford

There are a number of other Springsteen songs which allude to other Biblical figure and/or images. In Lion’s Den Bruce describes the main character as “I’m Daniel waitin’ in the lion’s den
Daniel waitin’for that lion to come”. A more erotic allusion is from Leap of Faith,

Now you were the Red Sea I was Moses
I kissed you and slipped into a bed of roses
The waters parted and love rushed inside
I was Jesus’ son sanctified

Bruce’s relationship with Catholicism can probably be described as one of alienation, yet also a strong emotional attachment coupled with a life-long struggle for finding meaning and a place for one’s self within a religious tradition. From his early unreleased song If I was the Priest, to his song from a few years ago, Jesus was an Only Son, to his most recent, I’ll Work for Your Love, one finds Catholic allusions and imagery. See this interesting post at Catholic Sensibility about Bruce and Catholicism and this article from America. Another song Human Touch, contains the following,

Ain’t no mercy on the streets of this town
Ain’t no bread from heavenly skies
Ain’t nobody drawin’ wine from this blood
It’s just you and me tonight

“I’ll Work for Your Love” includes lyrics such as,

Pour me a drink Theresa
In one of those glasses you dust off
And I’ll watch the bones in your back
Like the stations of the cross

‘Round your hair the sun lifts a halo
At your lips a crown of thorns
Whatever other deals goin’ down
To this one I’m sworn

Bruce was not hesitant about expressing his searching for the divine in this world. After his first child was born, Bruce wrote Living Proof,

Well now on a summer night in a dusky room
Come a little piece of the Lord’s undying light
Crying like he swallowed the fiery moon
In his mother’s arms it was all the beauty I could take
Like the missing words to some prayer that I could never make
In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused
Searching for a little bit of God’s mercy
I found living proof

By far my favorite Springsteen Bible reference is from one of his best songs, IMHO, The Price You Pay, a song about the price that we have to pay for all of our actions.

Little girl down on the strand
With that pretty little baby in your hands
Do you remember the story of the promised land
How he crossed the desert sands
And could not enter the chosen land
On the banks of the river he stayed
To face the price you pay

Many others before me have discussed this and related issues (see here for a list of lectures given at a conference), and there is more to say about the subject, so I haven’t come to say anything that hasn’t been said by others, just to relate some recent thoughts of mine.

Posted on October 8th, 2007 under Bruce Springsteen, Popular Culture • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback