at the end of every hard earned day, people find some reason to believe [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

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Rae
05-03-2007, 12:19 PM
I was in a hungover bad mood this morning and decided to spin Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska before I showered and went to work. Now I've got the last track stuck in my head and I've been turning it over all day long... what a depressing song! I mean, nobody writes 'em like Bruce writes 'em and the whole record is covered with pathos for lives of desperation and resignation, but this has got to be the darkest and least hopeful of the bunch.

Anyway, no reason for this post other than to get you humming the same song.

seen a man standin' over a dead dog lyin' by the highway in a ditch
he's lookin' down kinda puzzled pokin' that dog with a stick
got his car door flung open he's standin' out on highway 31
like if he stood there long enough that dog'd get up and run

struck me kinda funny
seem kinda funny sir to me
still at the end of every hard earned day
people find some reason to believe

now Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean and true
she said "baby, I'll work for you every day and bring my money home to you"
one day he up and left her and ever since that
she waits down at the end of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back

struck me kinda funny
seemed kind of funny sir to me
how at the end of every hard earned day
people find some reason to believe

take a baby to the river Kyle William they called him
wash the baby in the water take away little Kyle's sin
in a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray

lord won't you tell us
tell us what does it mean
still at the end of every hard earned day
people find some reason to believe

congregation gathers down by the riverside
preacher stands with his bible, groom stands waitin' for his bride
congregation's gone and the sun sets behind a weepin' willow tree
groom stands alone and watches the river rush on so effortlessly
wonderin' where can his baby be

still at the end of every hard earned day
people find some reason to believe.

~Rae

Mr MidFi
05-03-2007, 01:25 PM
My father's house shines
Hard and bright
Guiding me through
This long winter's night
Calling and calling,
So cold and alone...
Across this dark highway
Where our sins lie unatoned


...or how about:

Well your honor, I do believe I'd be better off dead
And if you can take a man's life for the thoughts in his head
Then won't you sit back in that, think it over just one more time
An' let 'em shave off my hair and put me on the execution line


...or even:

Mister State Trooper,
Please don't stop me...
Please don't stop me...
Please don't stop me...
(followed by an insane, blood-curdling howl)

Yeah, man. Bleak. But sometimes, nothing else will do.

PeruvianSkies
05-03-2007, 04:45 PM
The album Nebraska is my favorite of Springsteens'. The rest of his albums are luke-warm to me, but not this particular album. And for some reason I always think of the movie HUD when I think about this album. I guess it's barrren, lonely, and desolate just the same.

Does this album resonate with anyone else about a particular memory or is it just me?

SlumpBuster
05-03-2007, 07:53 PM
The album Nebraska is my favorite of Springsteens'. The rest of his albums are luke-warm to me, but not this particular album. And for some reason I always think of the movie HUD when I think about this album. I guess it's barrren, lonely, and desolate just the same.

Does this album resonate with anyone else about a particular memory or is it just me?

I never thought much of Springsteen either until recently.

Okay, so for the record I'm 32 years old. Which means I was in the fourth grade when Born in the USA came out. I even remember the kid on Silver Spoons that tried to dress like Bruce. So, you think I would have discovered Bruce before 2005, but I didn't. Yes, I literally only got into Springsteen three decades after everyone else. Better late than never I guess.

I was listening to one of those Doug/Bob/Frank radio stations. You know "We're like your ipod on shuffle" is their tag line with computers instead of DJs. Anyway, they played I'm Going Down off of Born In The USA. I had never head this song. Sure it went to like #5 on the Hot 100 in 1985, but I apparently missed it and it stayed under my radar. The song instantly hooked me. It's like in one sudden rush I "got" Springsteen.

Next thing I'm at the record store buying all the Springsteen on vinyl they got. I mean the works: Born to Run, USA, The River, Live 75-85, Tunnel of Love. $1 each, $2 for the Live record. I haven't gotten to Nebraska yet, but I'll look for it this weekend.

I'm Going Down is still my favorite Springsteen song.

Slosh
05-04-2007, 05:19 AM
Funny that you posted this now because I finally got around to ripping Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River, Nebraska, and Tunnel Of Love to my hard drive. Haven't listened to Bruce in ages and it's about time I remedied that (me being from Jersey [originally] and all :) )

NP:

flippo
05-04-2007, 01:43 PM
I really like his first album "Greetings from Asbury Park"