The 500 - #424 - The Rising - Bruce Springsteen

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Album # 424

Album Title: The Rising
Artist: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Genre: Rock, Heartland Rock
Recorded: January - March 2002, Bruce's Home Studio
Released: July, 2002
My age at release: 37
How familiar was I with it before this week: A little 
Song I am putting on my Spotify Mix: My City of Ruins
Selected by my friend Jeff Lewis, who also Guest Blogs below.

The Rising is the tweflth studio album by Bruce Springsteen and one of eight records he has on The 500 List. It was also his first record with the E Street Band since the 1984 release, Born in the USA. The reunion between Springsteen and his supporting players was intentional. Many of the songs on the record were based on Springsteen's reflections following the September 11 Terrorist Attacks in 2001. Many of the themes focus on pain, struggle and existential heartache, but there are also moments of hope, social uplift and unity. Reuniting with his long-time bandmates and dear friends was natural and, many would say, necessary.

The Rising album Cover Bruce Springsteen

The album was a critical and commercial success and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 2003. Critic Thom Jurek of AllMusic, an American music database, hailed it wonderfully when he wrote:

"The Rising is one of the very best examples in recent history of how popular art can evoke a time period and all of its confusing and often contradictory notions, feelings and impulses."

When I saw this record on The 500 List, I reached out to my good friend Jeff Lewis who is one of the biggest Springsteen fans I know. 

Jeff Lewis with his daughter Stella (2016)

He shared the following as a guest blogger.

The Rising is an album that has achieved great acclaim and deserves its place on The 500 List. It contains a catalog of songs that any music lover would embrace. It shows the depth of Springsteen’s maturity as a songwriter, but also as a human. 

There is one story about the creation of The Rising that has always resonated with me. Shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the New Jersey, was walking a city street. A car pulled up beside him and a stranger rolled down the window and said only four words to him: “We need you now.”   

Springsteen was moved. He had been feeling the pain that so many were struggling with and had intended to write a song. So far, he had been unsuccessful.  After many attempts he realized he had already written and recorded a song that fit the situation perfectly: My City of Ruins. 

I’ve always seen Springsteen as a kind of lyrical prophet, writing a song that somehow finds its connection rather than using an event to inspire his art. Sometimes, it is an event that no one could possibly have imagined. The lyrics to My City of Ruins are touching and powerful. I imagine they must be painful for the families of victims to hear. But there is also hopefulness, especially in the call-to-action at the song’s dynamic conclusion when he challenges the listener to “rise up”.

He and many other well-known musicians performed at the America: A Tribute to Heroes Benefit Concert on December 4, 2011.  He chose to perform a simplified version of My City of Ruin, only accompanied by his acoustic guitar, harmonica and a small choral group. It can be seen here. As I watched and listened to those lyrics I couldn’t help but think of the countless New York City citizens and their stories of loss, heartache and tragedy. Bruce the prophet became Bruce the healer. He absorbed the pain and stood as a figure of inspiration for the people who were still reeling from this tragedy. In five, short minutes he gave them permission to relate to one another and come together. This song, and the album The Rising, inspired the battered to crawl from the ashes of their city of ruin and rise up to become something greater than they were.