2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
EXIT RAMP<br />
ILLUSTRATION: WAYNE BREZINKA<br />
The Rising Revisited<br />
Twenty years later, Springsteen’s album feels like a fuller reflection<br />
than the 9/11 services we’re accustomed to. By Gary Phillips<br />
I<br />
was in first grade on September 11,<br />
2001, so I don’t recall much about a<br />
day that shaped the world I grew up<br />
in. But I’ve had help understanding<br />
the tragedy—and its aftermath—<br />
from a <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong> rocker.<br />
Raised as a Bruce Springsteen fan, I try<br />
to listen to The Rising every 9/11. While<br />
some songs were penned before the terrorist<br />
attacks, the album, now 20 years old, was<br />
meant to reflect on that day. My interpretation<br />
is that the record encompasses all the<br />
things we should never forget, but often do.<br />
Songs like the title track and “Into the<br />
Fire” are tributes to first responders. Others<br />
convey the grief that many still feel, such as<br />
“Waitin’ on a Sunny Day” and “My City of<br />
Ruins,” which was originally written about<br />
Asbury Park. Those topics and people deserve<br />
their time on the album and at annual<br />
9/11 services; there is certainly no shortage.<br />
But it’s the songs that dive below the surface<br />
and introduce other ideas that make The<br />
Rising a more complete rumination than the<br />
yearly remembrances we’re accustomed to.<br />
The country’s desire for revenge—and the<br />
further bloodshed it caused—is immediately<br />
examined on the opening “Lonesome Day,” as<br />
well as “Empty Sky.” “Better ask questions<br />
before you shoot,” Springsteen warns on the<br />
album starter. We didn’t do that enough then,<br />
and we don’t now, glossing over past errors<br />
with ceremonies that prioritize patriotism.<br />
Two decades later, many have confused<br />
patriotism with nationalism and xenophobia.<br />
Surely, 9/11 fueled some of that hate. It’s<br />
why “Worlds Apart,” a song about<br />
an interfaith relationship and a<br />
“troubled country,” strikes me as<br />
the album’s most poignant offering.<br />
With a blend of Qawwali vocals (a<br />
form of Sufi Islaamic devotional<br />
singing) and American rock,<br />
Springsteen begged for love and<br />
understanding between different<br />
cultures when anti-Muslim fear<br />
was on the rise. A similar plea can<br />
be inferred from “Let’s Be Friends<br />
(Skin to Skin),” but sadly, we are<br />
still struggling to achieve that.<br />
We have also failed, in many<br />
ways, to take care of those who lost<br />
someone or something besides<br />
their own life on 9/11. Health programs<br />
and victims’ funds have not<br />
received the financing, attention<br />
or urgency they require, further<br />
burdening survivors. The Rising<br />
highlights people in such positions:<br />
“You’re Missing” conjures<br />
images of a family without a father,<br />
while “Nothing Man,” written in<br />
the 1990s, can be repurposed as a<br />
story about a first responder battling<br />
PTSD and survivor’s guilt.<br />
Other thought-provoking tracks<br />
include “The Fuse,” which hints at<br />
self-medicating via vices during<br />
hard times. The haunting “Paradise”<br />
shifts perspectives—among<br />
a suicide bomber, a Pentagon<br />
widow, and a survivor desperate<br />
to reunite with a loved one—and<br />
challenges faith. Even the upbeat<br />
“Mary’s Place” comments on<br />
mourning and religion.<br />
Despite all the sorrow, The Rising<br />
still conveys resilience. “Countin’ on<br />
a Miracle” uses fairy-tale fixtures<br />
to overcome loss, and “Further On<br />
(Up the Road),” another pre-9/11<br />
creation, expresses a soldier’s hope<br />
for a brighter future. “One sunny<br />
morning we’ll rise I know,” Springsteen<br />
sings.<br />
That line, and much of The Rising,<br />
still sounds relevant. But it<br />
also feels unfulfilled, and much<br />
of the album’s messages appear<br />
ignored in a divided country.<br />
And so I’ll spend this 9/11 like I<br />
usually do: blasting the Boss and<br />
thinking about some of the things<br />
we’ve forgotten.<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>2022</strong> NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 127