As America wades further into corruption and fascism, Bruce Springsteen has proved himself an incredible ally to the American people.
The rock and roll star has always been an avid political writer; on his debut 1973 album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, he included the track ‘Lost in the Flood’, a brooding song that follows a Vietnam War veteran suffering from addiction, trying to navigate a future that seems to have left him behind. Pertinent stuff for a young artist at the very beginning of his career.
But now more than ever, it seems America needs a performer to lead the way through a growing thicket of sociopolitical turmoil and genuine dystopian decay: Springsteen fought the increasing unrest in Minnesota thanks to the appearance of ICE, who killed two citizens in broad daylight on the streets, with his song ‘Streets of Minneapolis’, a fiery, personal song which calls out “King Trump’s private army from the DHS”.
Springsteen’s powerful political provocations land so well because they rest upon his vast and versatile code of ethics, which is both wonderfully apparent in his work and at odds with the right-wing campaign of the Republican Party. His is an America that has always fought for the rights of the people: “Against smoke and rubber bullets in the dawn’s early light, citizens stood for justice, their voices ringing through the night,” he sings on ‘Streets of Minneapolis’.
But Springsteen didn’t just teach himself this little trick; through his scathing pen arise the echoes of Woody Guthrie, who had permanently written on his guitar, “This machine kills fascists,” as a symbol of music’s ability to combat tyranny.
Guthrie, like Springsteen, used his music to siphon power back to the people: It’s a folk singer’s job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people,” he once said, full of wit and charm. His teachings have not been forgotten.
Guthrie might’ve well been preaching directly into Springsteen’s ear from the comfort of his home: “I’ve always said that Bob Dylan was the father of my country, but Woody Guthrie was the grandfather of my country,” Springsteen said in 2021, when he was presented with the illustrious Woody Guthrie Prize during a virtual ceremony watched by members of the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Woody Guthrie Centre.
As America wades further into corruption and fascism, Bruce Springsteen has proved himself an incredible ally to the American people.
The rock and roll star has always been an avid political writer; on his debut 1973 album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, he included the track ‘Lost in the Flood’, a brooding song that follows a Vietnam War veteran suffering from addiction, trying to navigate a future that seems to have left him behind. Pertinent stuff for a young artist at the very beginning of his career.
But now more than ever, it seems America needs a performer to lead the way through a growing thicket of sociopolitical turmoil and genuine dystopian decay: Springsteen fought the increasing unrest in Minnesota thanks to the appearance of ICE, who killed two citizens in broad daylight on the streets, with his song ‘Streets of Minneapolis’, a fiery, personal song which calls out “King Trump’s private army from the DHS”.
Springsteen’s powerful political provocations land so well because they rest upon his vast and versatile code of ethics, which is both wonderfully apparent in his work and at odds with the right-wing campaign of the Republican Party. His is an America that has always fought for the rights of the people: “Against smoke and rubber bullets in the dawn’s early light, citizens stood for justice, their voices ringing through the night,” he sings on ‘Streets of Minneapolis’.
The annual prize is awarded to an artist whose work reflects that of the late folk legend, who raised awareness of the struggles of common people and human rights. His work reached Springsteen at the age of 28, who, at that complicated age, was “going through a period in my life when I felt strangely hopeless”.
He even took Guthrie’s music on the road with him, performing the classic ‘This Land Is Your Land’ across concerts in the 1980s, spreading the writer’s message far and wide. Accepting the award from Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, Springsteen gushed, “It wasn’t until I came across your father’s work that I found that hope.”
Better still, Guthrie’s music “was the first music where I found a reflection of America that I believed to be true”.
