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I'm, very loudly, from New Jersey. So I've always been more than aware of Bruce and what he means to music, America, and NJ. But I can't say I always "got" it. As a kid and teen he was mostly just music my parents listened to while they drank with their friends.
But this (linked) video came out when I was like a freshman in college and I remember coming across it and everything clicked. Maybe it was because it coincided with the first time I was ever really away from home, but it really unlocked the boss for me. Something heartbreaking and honest about him believing so earnestly and helplessly in an America that has never existed but you can only hope one day will happen.
also being 20 and hearing "If I could take this moment into my hands. I ain't a boy, no I'm a man" is too perfect.
Related Recs
Nov 29, 2024
Specifically "Canola Fields" by James McMurtry. I feel like the older I get, the more this sort of songwriting resonates. It's impossible to escape. Even if you're not a dad yet, the dad rock finds you. Be warned.
Anyway, one of the lines is so simple, yet poignant, and, to me, that's the true hallmark of good songwriting. The line: "cashing in on a thirty year crush, you can't be young and do that". It reorients aging in a way that really struck me. Smashing together the childish and the mature and flipping the usual loss/gain calculus. Showing that just as there are certain things unrecoverable to the old (that humming freshness of youth!), there are also things that are incomprehensible to the young. It's a dialectic, and romance and beauty come in many forms.
Mar 4, 2024
Aug 26, 2024
Top Recs from @will
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School made us think reading is a holy act. It is not. Its just something to do. Like watching a movie or sports. You aren’t going to be tested by anyone. Read high. Read drunk. Read 2 pages. Read half awake. Remember nothing or just some of it. It really doesn’t matter
May 2, 2024
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Just do it who cares she probably knows better
Feb 27, 2025