Looking for
the light
in the
darkness of September 11th,
Springsteen
takes to the rock & roll pulpit on
"The Rising"
The
Rising is Springsteen's response to
the tragedy
of September 11th.
The title song,
and first single,
sums up the
feel of many
of the album's
fourteen other tracks.
It ostensibly
unfolds from the
point of view
of a New
York
firefighter
entering one of
the burning towers.
Yet, as on many
songs on The Rising, Springsteen
takes an unexpected turn,
lyrically
and musically,
moving from
a dark opening verse --
"Can't
see nothin' in front of me
Can't
see nothin' coming up behind"-
into a hand-clapping,
sanctified chorus,
as the image
of a man rising
up a smoke-filled stairwell
merges into
a religious image ofascension.
Like the
album as a whole,
the song
uses the events of September 11th
as a metaphorical
springboard.
Images of
rising -- Rising smoke,
rising spirits,
rising waters, even
(yes)
rising of a sexual sort-
recur in
several songs,
serving as a formidable counterpoint
to that
other image, etched
into our
collective consciousness,
replayed
endlessly on every
network,
of falling, of
collapse.
Springsteen
acknowledges
the
album's gospel element,
and as further
evidence points
to "Into the Fire," which happens to
be the first song he wrote after
September
11th -- he began
working
on it a few days after
the attack.
It covers ground
similar to
the title
track, and also features a chorus
that doubles
as a prayer:
"May
your strength give us strength--
May your
hope give us hope. . . ."
