The Seeger Sessions Tour was a nightly treasure chest of revitalized American folk songs and reinvented Springsteen originals, full of marvelous and meaningful performances. On any given night, Bruce might debut an old chestnut in a brand-new yet familiar arrangement, drawing heavily on classic folk melodies to connect his own work to a long lineage of social songwriters. (It remains to this day my all-time favorite Springsteen tour.)
But there’s one thing that tour was not, however: a showcase for brand new music.
That’s why it was so startling on the evening of June 22, 2006 when Bruce and the Sessions Band took the stage at Madison Square Garden and launched into a song that none present had ever heard before but that sounded perfectly in keeping for the occasion.
“American Land” is (as Bruce introduced it) an immigrant song, and like much of the Seeger Sessions Tour set list, it drew upon traditional musical tropes–in this case, the music of the Irish, who were well-represented among the immigrants Bruce writes about.
(Many have pointed out the similarities the melodies of “American Land” and The Pogues’ “Sally MacLennane”–and there are indeed many–but one can easily hear the echoes of much traditional hornpipe music in “American Land.”)
The lyrics of “American Land,” however, have their own very distinct lineage.
In 1947, Pete Seeger was performing for the International Workers’ Order in Pittsburgh. One of the workers introduced himself to Seeger as a songwriter; Seeger, a natural song catcher, asked the man (whose name was Andrew Kovaly) to teach him one. The songwriter demurred: the lyrics were in his native Slovak.
But Seeger’s friend and fellow song catcher Jacob Evanson knew Slovak and transcribed both the lyrics and tune, and in 1958 Seeger recorded it–which is why we still today know the song called “He Lies in the American Land.”
Ah, my God! What is this land of America?
So many people traveling there
I will go too, for I am still young
God, the Lord will grant me good luck there
You, my wife, stay here ’til you hear from me
When you get my letter, put everything in order
Mount a raven-black steed, a horse like the wind
Fly across the ocean to join me here
Ah, but when she arrived in this strange land
Here in McKeesport, this valley, this valley of fire
Only his grave, his blood did she find
Over it bitterly she cried
Ah, my husband, what have you done to this family of yours?
What can you say to these children, to these children you’ve orphaned?
Tell them, my wife, not to wait, not to wait, not to wait for me
Tell them I lie here, in the American land
While the first five lines are instantly recognizable as close cousins to Bruce’s first verse, Kovaly’s song takes a much darker path than Bruce’s does. In the original, the immigrant dies before his wife arrives, making the meaning of the song’s title crystal clear.
Bruce took the first verse as the inspiration for “American Land,” along with the original song’s theme of risking all for the long-shot prospect of a better life in a foreign land–and then he built an entirely new song around it.
Kovaly’s song is a dirge; we recognize it as a tale of despair and tragedy from the opening bars. Bruce’s song, by contrast, bristles with passion–first in the form of optimism, later as anger. While Bruce ultimately carries the song to a similar conclusion as Kovaly and Seeger, he never allows his narrator to relinquish hope–the most he permits is righteous fury at the treatment of his fellow migrants.
The first third of the song conjures a romantic scene of the early New York City that greeted immigrants arriving by sea at Ellis Island.
What is this land America, so many travel there
I’m going now while I’m still young, my darling meet me there
Wish me luck my lovely, I’ll send for you when I can
And we’ll make our home in the American land
Over there the women wear silk and satin to their knees
And children dear, the sweets, I hear, are growing on the trees
Gold comes rushing out the rivers straight into your hands
If you make your home in the American land
There’s diamonds in the sidewalks, there’s gutters lined in song
Dear, I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
There’s treasure for the taking, for any hard working man
Who’ll make his home in the American land
Of course our narrator knows that the Land of Opportunity isn’t quite as literal as he makes it out to be, but the idea of a land where reward is directly commensurate with the investment one makes in one’s work… well, to a European immigrant that must have sounded just as sweet as trees bearing candy and faucets flowing beer.
In the second verse, our new American arrival is confronted with reality, and while it’s not as idyllic as he imagined, he digs in and takes pride in his work.
I docked at Ellis Island in a city of light and spire
I wandered to the valley of red-hot steel and fire
We made the steel that built the cities with the sweat of our two hands
And I made my home in the American land
In the final verses–which actually differs between the Sessions Band and E Street Band versions–Bruce name checks the clans who crossed the seas to build the United States into the country it is today. It’s important that Bruce actually names them: they are indeed the ones who built the country, and yet they are largely unknown to us.
The McNicholas, the Posalskis, the Smiths, Zerillis too
The Blacks, the Irish, Italians, the Germans and the Jews
The Rodriguezes, the ???, the Asians, Arabs miles from home
Come across the water with a fire down below
They died building the railroads, worked to bones and skin
They died in the fields and factories, names scattered in the wind
They died to get here a hundred years ago, they’re dying now
The hands that built the country we’re always trying to keep down
I can’t speak to whether Bruce was thinking of specific people or whether he simply chose representative names (although we certainly know the names Zerilli and McNicholas have particular family significance to him), but ascribing names–whether true or fictional–is very much a statement.
When Bruce re-recorded “American Land” in the studio with the E Street Band, he altered the last verses, changing the “Rodriguezes” couplet to:
They came across the water a thousand miles from home
With nothing in their bellies but the fire down below
…as well as making two very subtle but significant changes to the final two lines:
They died to get here a hundred years ago, they’re still dying now
The hands that built the country we’re always trying to keep out
That’s Bruce sending another message, reminding us that even today, especially today, we treat the people who build and power this country with neglect at best and contempt at worst.
And yet.
There’s diamonds in the sidewalk, there’s gutters lined in song
Dear, I hear that beer flows through the faucets all night long
There’s treasure for the taking, for any hard working man
Who’ll make his home in the American land
Bruce ends the song not with condemnation, but with a reminder of the American promise, of the country that–as Bruce once famously put it–waits for us, carried in our hearts.
Bruce may have only debuted “American Land” 14 years ago, but he’s played it with a vengeance ever since–a whopping 250 times as of this writing–and we are fortunate enough to have several wonderful, professionally filmed performances to choose from.
My favorite is from Live in Dublin. By the end of the Seeger Sessions Tour, the band had “American Land” down, and this energetic performance is (for my money, at least) the best performance of the song you are ever likely to see.
In my humble opinion, the E Street Band version never quite measured up to the Sessions Band’s performance. The Sessions Band had a brio that the E Street Band–as mighty as they are–can’t quite match. In fact, it may be because the E Street Band is so mighty that they’re not as well-suited for “American Land”–they can’t help but rock, and “American Land” is meant to be more sprightly than rocking.
Compare this E Street performance from Glastonbury in 2009 and judge for yourself:
Admittedly, the E Street Band grew into “American Land” over time (how could you not, after playing it 250 times?), and until it was supplanted as the traditional show closer by “Shout,” for a time it served as Bruce’s summational end-of-show-statement and communal tribute to the band.
“American Land” went missing after the Perth performance above, making only a single cameo appearance on St. Patrick’s Day during the entire 2016 River Tour. But immediately following the inauguration of Donald Trump, “American Land” pointedly returned for most of the brief Australian tour that followed.
Bruce has been off the road ever since, but I have to imagine that if the rumored 2020 E Street Band Tour comes to pass, we’re going to hear a lot more of “American Land.”
We certainly need the reminder.
American Land
Recorded: ?
Released: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions: American Land Edition (2006);Wrecking Ball (2011)
First performed: June 22, 2006 (New York City, NY)
Last performed: May 29, 2020 (Boston, MA)
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