
But then I pay attention to what the man is saying.
One song such as this is "American Land", a real stem-winder of a song that stirs the emotions and pride in American history through each verse. Until this stanza:
They died building the railroads, worked to bones and skinIt was just not in the man to give our nation untainted praise.
They died in the fields and factories, names scattered in the wind
They died to get here a hundred years ago, they're dyin' now
The hands that built the country we're always trying to keep down
There was a video some time back of Springsteen doing solo acoustic on a British street and asking people to make requests. If only someone could have said to him, "Man I love anything you do as long as you aren't trashing our country!"

Whomever has influenced "The Boss", the Great Depression is the America Springsteen visualizes and writes about, making him the darling of the guilt-ridden limousine liberals:
It was a good career choice because he is the darling of the left, adored in Hollywood, university campuses, liberal millionaires and the entertainment industry around the world. A musical Howard Zinn, if I may.
It would be courageous but not a good career move for Springsteen to write about the America we have seen all too often today:
Tom Joad would be disgusted
Yet here is the real story; the decline of a great nation that has always confessed its sins and worked to make them right, yet all the while being the bulwark oppressed nations rush to for comfort and protection.

This twenty-first century decline of America is the stuff of songs, but there seems to be nobody capable of writing them, including Bruce Springsteen.
Bill Hayden, the Tunnel Dweller
The music industry clones these guys: Rapper Lil Wayne stomps on U.S. flag while making music video