This is it. The song [see below] on "Magic" that made it happen for me. It nestled its way into my brain and it took hold, and it won't let go. KILLER hook and fucking powerful use of Kerry's testimony and Bruce's knack for making *pop*/rock songs about shit that matters: war, death, real/flawed love and people's lives. Using the Vietnam ref in a song about Iraq works, for obvious reasons, but it's the Kerry + Springsteen connection that hits me so hard every time I hear it...I think of Vote for Change and how relevant it was then. Now, it's almost 4 years later and we're in a *worse* spot. Makes me sick. But, as always, Bruce is there. By asking us to join him in his disgust and rage and then to party to the pop--it makes us not forget or ignore the horrors that exist, but to keep the sanity. And, I have FINALLY realized that all of "Magic" is doing just that and the show on Nov. 2nd will be the most cathartic therapy one could hope for.
P.S. "Anger can be power/do you know that you can use it?" also applies....Strummer, wish you were here.)
Here's that killer:
LAST TO DIE
Album's version
We took the highway till the road went black
We'd marked, Truth Or Consequences on our map*
A voice drifted up from the radio
And I thought of a voice from long ago
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The kids asleep in the backseat
We're just counting the miles, you and me
We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The wise men were all fools, what to do
The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart
A downtown window flushed with light
"Faces of the dead at five" (faces of the dead at five)
Our martyr's silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who'll be the last to die
Who'll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin' your tyrants and kings fall to the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you're the last to die for a mistake
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