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“The Rising!” Bruce Springsteen’s Brilliant 9/11 Tribute!

By johnrieber on September 11, 2014 • ( 13 )

The Rising!

In the aftermath of the horrific 9/11 attacks in 2001, Bruce Springsteen went into the studio and recorded an album of music that captured the mood of our country: anger, fear and ultimately, hope.

“The Rising” holds up as an amazing collection of music that reflects our times – and is as relevant today as it was fourteen years ago…

As the singer said to The Guardian newspaper shortly after the terror attacks:

“You have to come to grips with the real horrors that are out there, and then all people have is hope. That’s what brings the next day and whatever that day may bring. You can’t be uncritical, but just a hope grounded in the real world of living, friendship, work, family, Saturday night. And that’s where it resides. That’s where I always found faith and spirit. I found them down in those things, not some place intangible or some place abstract. And I’ve really tried to write about that basic idea my whole life.”

“The Rising” was Springsteen’s 12th album, released in 2002. The album is full of emotional music that captures the mood of America post 9/11…

Look at the lyrics for the song “Into The Fire”:

The sky was falling and streaked with blood
I heard you calling me then you disappeared into the dust
Up the stairs, into the fire
Up the stairs, into the fire
I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher
Somewhere up the stairs, into the fire

May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love

That is so incredibly powerful. As The Guardian also reported:

“A few days after 11 September, Bruce Springsteen was pulling out of a beach parking lot in the Jersey Shore town of Sea Bright when a fan rode by. The man rolled down his window, shouted ‘We need you!’ and drove on. It was the kind of moment, Springsteen says, that made his career worthwhile. ‘That’s part of my job. It’s an honour to find that place in the audience’s life.'”

“The Rising!”

Look at the lyrics for the title track:

Sky of blackness and sorrow (a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness (a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear (a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow (a dream of life)
Your burnin’ wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life (a dream of life)

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Here is the official music video for “The Rising”:

“The Rising” debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart, selling 520,000 copies its first week out. It is a hauntingly beautiful tribute to those who dies on 9/11…and our country’s reaction to the terrorist attack….

The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 2003.

“Lonesome Day…”

“Lonesome Day” is the first song on the album, and it sets the tone for “The Rising”. The narrator sings that:

“It’s going to be okay/If I can just get through this lonesome day.”

There are pointed reference to loss, betrayal, anger and revenge…here are the lyrics to “Lonesome Day”:

Better ask questions before you shoot
Deceit and betrayal’s bitter fruit
It’s hard to swallow come time to pay
That taste on your tongue don’t easily slip away
Let kingdom come
I’m gonna find my way
Through this lonesome day.

Hell is brewing, dark sun’s on the rise,
This storm’ll blow through by and by.
House is on fire, vipers in the grass,
A little revenge and this too shall pass.
This too shall pass, darling, I’m gonna pray.
Right now, all I got’s this Lonesome Day.

Here is the music video…

The entire album is a brilliant tribute to those who perished on 9/11, and how it impacted those who survived…and always worth listening to so that we never forget.