Even casual Springsteen listeners quickly realize that Bruce’s music is replete with religious themes and imagery.
Sometimes Bruce addresses religion directly (for example, “Jesus Was an Only Son“), but more often than not he employs its vocabulary and mythology to comment on more earthly matters. Either way, though, when Bruce writes about religion, he tends to do so thoughtfully and respectfully.
And then there’s “Resurrection.”
Raging with guitar-laden fire and brimstone, “Resurrection” is an early Steel Mill crowd-pleaser (Bruce was still getting requests for it during the early E Street Band era, in fact) that seethes with the fury that only a boy forced by his parents to attend church could understand.
Take a listen below and hear for yourself. (Note: Vini Lopez’s microphone was dialed up way too high in the mix; if you’d been at the show, his voice would almost certainly be much less prominent. But since this is the cleanest recording we have of Steel Mill performing “Resurrection,” I’ve used it here.)
Not very subtle is it?
No deep insight or close attention required to understand this one–this is simply how Bruce Springsteen grappled with religion in song at age nineteen.
Ever since I was a young man
I’ve known the devil too well
I can still hear my mama screaming
“Boy you gonna burn some day in hell”
Drag me to church on Sunday
Get down, get down, get down on your knees and pray
When he comes he won’t forget to call your name
Well I can’t say that I’m a believer
I can’t say that I ain’t
Oh but reading words off a piece of paper
It sure ain’t gonna make me no kind of saint
Ah, how many of us have said (or at least thought) words to that effect at one point or another? We may not be sure what we believe, but how is reading someone else’s beliefs going to help us figure it out?
And redemption by confession seems awfully easy, as Bruce notes:
They drag us to church on Friday
And we confess our sins
For a special low price of three Hail Marys my soul was clean again, yeah!
As the song progresses, Bruce’s sarcasm deepens:
You must believe what we say to believe
For without belief you are dying
They told me you must believe what we tell you to believe
And yours is not to question why
For the sisters never lie
Yours is not to know why
Might as well not even try
The song opens up here, as Bruce leads us away from the church and toward more pagan pleasures:
Hail, hail resurrection day
You’re all invited to come and dance on my grave
Oh we’re gonna have a lot of fun
I say my prayers to the earth and the sun
(And lest we miss the point, during the near endless “Hail, hail, Resurrection!” litany that comprises the back half of the song, Vini can clearly be heard interspersing “hail, hail, the erection” from time to time.)
“Resurrection” may have been a reliable crowd-pleaser during the Steel Mill era (the boys played it from 1969 through 1971), but it was far from Bruce’s best early work. We’re not likely to ever hear Bruce play it again; maybe that’s why he gave Vini his blessing for Steel Mill Retro to record it instead. (You can find it on their 2009 album, All Man the Guns for America.)
Resurrection
Never recorded
Never released
First performed: September 20, 1969 (Richmond, VA)
Last performed: January 22, 1971 (Asbury Park, NJ)
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