With the 2016 presidential election process gaining steam in the wake of Tuesday’s Democratic candidate debate (did you Feel The Bern?), a patriotic quote seemed appropriate for this week’s Springsteen Wit &Wisdom. It comes from Bruce’s Oct. 7, 2007 interview with Scott Pelley on “60 Minutes,” in which he discussed the country’s travails during the Bush Era and hope for the future.
From the interview:
“There’s a part of the singer going way back in American history that is of course the canary in the coalmine. When it gets dark, you’re supposed to be singing. It’s dark right now. And so I went back to Woody Guthrie and Dylan and the people who said, say take Pete Seeger, who wants to know, doesn’t want to know how this song sounds, he wants to know what’s it for.
“I think we live in a time when what is true can be made to seem a lie. And what is lie can be made to seem true. And I think that the successful manipulation of those things have characterized several of our past elections. That level of hubris and arrogance has got us in the mess that we’re in right now. And we’re in a mess. But if we subvert, the best things that we’re about in the name of protecting our freedoms, if we remove them, then who are we becoming, you know? Who are we, you know? The American idea is a beautiful idea. It needs to be preserved, served, protected and sung out. Sung out on a nightly basis. That’s what I’m going to try to do.”
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