Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
Bruce Springsteen is a busy man - playing at Obama's inauguration concert last week, again at the Superbowl this weekend and gearing up for a summer world tour. Albums and appearances used to be few and far between, but new album, Working on a Dream, comes just over a year after his last, Magic. In that time, Danny Federici, E Street Band organist, and a hugely significant part of the overall sound of the band, died of cancer, and this loss is a major part of the new album.
Final track proper, 'The Last Carnival', is perhaps the key - a sequel to 'Wild Billy's Circus Story' (from his second album in 1973), which presented circus life as a thinly-veiled metaphor for the romance of the rock 'n roll lifestyle; a vibrant brotherhood always on the road. But 35 years later, they're taking the tents down and Billy's gone:
Moonrise, moonrise,
the light that was in your eyes
has gone away.
Sundown, sundown,
empty are the fairgrounds,
where are you now my handsome Billy?
Springsteen has frequently addressed loss in his music (think back to the protagonist of 'The River' who asks "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?"). Given the current global state of affairs, the album's variations on the theme will doubtless resonate. And herein artists like Springsteen issue a challenge to the Christian community - have we the vocabulary to enable people to confront and explore the reality of loss?
If we haven't, then we've lost something integral to a truly biblical outlook on life. From David's lament for Jonathan to Christ weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, Scripture is shot through with honest expressions and explorations of loss.
Springsteen doesn't address loss in the context of a living relationship with God, but he shares the scriptural conclusion that the certainty of loss should inspire a passion for the here and now. "He who waits for the day's riches will be lost", he sings on 'Tomorrow Never Knows' - echoing Christ's teaching about letting tomorrow worry about itself. Perhaps this goes some way to explaining Springsteen's recent burst of activity:
I don't see the summer as it wanes,
just a subtle change of light upon your face
... this is our kingdom of days.
('Kingdom of Days')
There is something profoundly biblical about Springsteen wrestling with life in all its complexity. Christians are not released from this struggle; rather, they are compelled to embrace it. To have life to the full means bringing the whole of life under the lordship of Christ now - this is our kingdom of days.
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