Roll of the Dice: Working on a Dream

I’m tempted to prefix the title of this article with “In Defense of,” but “Working on a Dream” warrants no apologies.

In the chapter of his catalog entitled “Lovely Pop Songs,” “Working on a Dream” ranks high. It’s more than a trifle, though–it’s a summation of Bruce’s life’s work, and the perfect title track for the album that rightfully bears its name.

I think the reason why most fans and critics discount “Working on a Dream” may be the context in which we first heard it rather than the context for which it was conceived.

“Working on a Dream” made its debut late in the 2008 election season. Throughout the month of October, Bruce joined then-candidate Barack Obama at rallies in several key “swing” states. Just two days before the final vote, Bruce made one last appearance in support of Obama, in Cleveland, Ohio (a Springsteen town if ever there was one).

With Patti by his side and with no fanfare or explanation, a loose and clearly optimistic Bruce premiered a brand new song, dedicated to Senator Obama. Bruce never told us what the song was called that day, but it wasn’t hard to figure it out.

With no previous hints that the song even existed, fans could be forgiven for assuming that Bruce wrote it for the occasion. Certainly, the lyrics sounded in keeping with Obama’s campaign theme of hope.

For those who weren’t following election news at the time, however, the first time most people heard “Working on a Dream” was very likely at its next outing–at Bruce’s half-time Super Bowl show on February 1, 2009. Bruce’s latest studio album (also called Working on a Dream) had been released just five days prior, so it made a lot of commercial sense for Bruce to include it in the show that was seen by more people than had ever witnessed a single live Springsteen performance.

Unfortunately, though, it made terrible artistic sense. There are certainly songs that can follow “Born to Run,” but “Working on a Dream” is not one of them. Watch the painful transition at the eight-minute mark below, and you’ll see what I mean.

While Bruce’s performance overall that night has gone down in Super Bowl history as one of the best-ever half-time shows, the damage was done when it comes to “Working on a Dream.” The mid-tempo folk-pop paean sounded like a clunker when juxtaposed against Bruce’s anthem, and its political debut made it seem dated almost as soon as President Obama took office.

Unless, of course, you listen to “Working on a Dream” in the context it was meant for: as the title track and summation for one of Bruce’s finest (and most underrated) albums. Working on a Dream (the album) is one of Bruce’s most cohesive works: almost all the songs are united by themes of aging and mortality, and the title track anchors the album by making it clear that Bruce views aging as something satisfying, not frightening.

Advancing years provide the perspective to view and understand the life, the family, the work, the impact you’ve built over the course of your life, as well as the opportunity to appreciate and take satisfaction from it.

Bruce didn’t write “Working on a Dream” with a political context in mind. (He’s confirmed as much in interviews.) He wrote it as an intensely personal song, but the best kind: one that’s also universal, that we can all find meaning in.

“Working on a Dream” is a song about building a marriage, a family, a band, an album… anything to which we devote our energy, passion, and hard work. (In this respect, it is very much a sequel to “Prove It All Night.”)

And when we watch the official video below, it’s clear that’s exactly what Bruce is conveying:

Insert your own dream below–I guarantee the song works with it:

Out here the nights are long, the days are lonely
I think of you and I’m working on a dream
I’m working on a dream

Now the cards I’ve drawn’s a rough hand, darlin’
I straighten my back and I’m working on a dream
I’m working on a dream

I’m working on a dream
Though sometimes it feels so far away
I’m working on a dream
And how it will be mine someday

Rain pourin’ down, I swing my hammer
My hands are rough from working on a dream
From working on a dream

I’m working on a dream
Though trouble can feel like it’s here to stay
I’m working on a dream
Our love will chase the trouble away

I’m working on a dream
Though it can feel so far away
I’m working on a dream
And our love will make it real someday

Sunrise come, I climb the ladder
The new day breaks and I’m working on a dream
I’m working on a dream

The lyrics speak for themselves, so there’s not much point in my customary analysis. But I will at least draw your attention to the significance of the imagery and metaphors that Bruce employs: hammer-swinging, ladder-climbing, up and at ’em at daybreak, and rough hands in the rain. Bruce isn’t just appreciating what he’s built, he’s also taking pride in the work that went into it, and that’s significant.

For much of his career, Bruce was famously never satisfied with his own work. Albums took years to produce, with endless takes and tweaks. Bruce would often second-guess his final product, and those around him would have to convince him to release it.

But by publicly sharing his satisfaction with his own life’s work with us, he implicitly encourages us to take satisfaction in our own as well. And he does so not with words, but with a whistle.

And in concert, throughout the entire 2009 tour, he took a mid-song break to make that message explicit: together, on this night, we’re working on a dream together. Imagining the dream as a house, Bruce found a way to conjure and crystallize the relationship he’d built with his audience over the years and established an early, nightly moment of communion that underlined the tour’s theme.

Unfortunately, like most of the Working on a Dream album, the title track has mostly disappeared since the end of the 2009 tour. Bruce brings it out only rarely these days, as if to remind us from time to time that he is still very much working on his dream.

Working on a Dream
Recorded: 2007-2008
Released: Working on a Dream (2009), The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2015)
First performed: November 2, 2008 (Cleveland, OH)
Last performed: June 5, 2022 (East Rutherford, NJ)

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