On the morning of September 11, 2001, with the skies so clear that the Twin Towers across the river appeared to be within reach, the very essence of what our country stands for – freedom, tolerance, and the pursuit of happiness – was attacked.
This memorial is dedicated to New Jersey’s innocent loved ones who were violently and senselessly murdered that day at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and in Shanksville, PA.
Let this memorial reflect the legacies of those whose lives were lost, that their unfulfilled dreams and hopes may result in a better future for society. Their unique qualities and characteristics enriched our lives immeasurably, and through this memorial their stories shall live on.
Inscribed on Empty Sky, the New Jersey September 11th Memorial
It’s fitting that New Jersey’s official September 11th Memorial borrows its name from a Bruce Springsteen song, because that song captures the loss and grief of those who lost loved ones on that day better than any other–and it does so in only eight unique lines.
The Rising is widely considered to be a response to the events of September 11, 2001, and from a curated perspective it certainly is. However, many of the album’s songs were written well before the events of 9/11 and only take on that resonance by theme and proximity.
But “Empty Sky” is not one of those songs. It was the very last song Bruce wrote for The Rising–so late in fact, that it was inspired by an image of a cloudless blue sky that was a candidate for the album’s cover.
Long before any of us heard Bruce’s song, the empty sky was already a powerful and deeply felt symbol of 9/11. For those who lived and worked in proximity to New York City, it represented the glaring absence of the Twin Towers in the city skyline. For the rest of us, it represented the empty, flight-less skies that united us in a shared and unprecedented experience.
Bruce borrowed the image of an empty sky and fashioned it into a metaphor for the void in our hearts and in our world that comes with losing a loved one. With spare yet elegant simplicity, he instills aching empathy in us in the very first line.
I woke up this morning, I could barely breathe
Just an empty impression in the bed where you used to be
I want a kiss from your lips, I want an eye for an eye
I woke up this morning to an empty sky
Bruce never names his protagonist, and he barely hints at their relationship to the missing. It could be a spouse, a parent, a sibling, friend, a child; the songwriter wisely refrains in order to allow us to experience the song through our own personal lenses. (Although he does at least hint that our narrator is grieving a blood relation through the “blood of my blood” reference in the second verse.)
Blood on the streets, yeah blood flowing down
I hear the blood of my blood crying from the ground
It’s clear though, that these are the very early days of grief. The loss is still fresh; the bed still bears the imprint of its missing occupant. The wreckage of the attack has yet to be cleared, and the bodies have yet to be recovered. Blood still flows, and the missing loved one is likely still buried under rubble, not earth.
While Bruce takes great and delicate care to imbue us with a sense of his narrator’s loss, the purpose of “Empty Sky” is to help us understand the confusion that follows. The mourner misses his loved one and aches for their kiss; he also seethes with rage and craves revenge. As he often does, Bruce employs biblical imagery to drive the point home:
On the plains of Jordan I cut my bow from the wood
Of this tree of evil, of this tree of good
When we lose someone to an act of horrific evil, Bruce tells us, we have a choice in how we respond. We might feel the pull of both love and hate, grief and revenge, and it would be very human to succumb to both.
There’s no sermonizing or moral message in “Empty Sky.” Bruce doesn’t attempt to instruct or persuade. He simply understands and gives voice to the experience of all those who were robbed of their loved ones that day, and in doing so he memorializes it as enduringly as a concrete memorial could.
Of course, just because Bruce meant his song as an expression of grief rather than a desire for vengeance, that didn’t preclude some fans from inferring the latter. Enough fans cheered at the “eye for an eye” line enough times that the artists was finally moved to address it during his 2003 concert in Atlantic City.
Other than the rare exceptional occasion, Bruce typically found his audiences receptive to his quiet, introspective song. That was very likely due at least in part to the arrangement he used in concert: a quiet, plaintive acoustic duet with Patti Scialfa that betrayed not a hint of anger.
“Empty Sky” made a handful of appearances on Bruce’s solo Devils and Dust Tour, including the tour finale in Trenton.
In the years since, “Empty Sky” has been essentially relegated to the history books (apart from a couple of cameos), too quiet for Bruce’s rock setlists and too far removed from the original events for modern audiences to appreciate its nuance. On vinyl, though, it remains one of the central, essential tracks that gives The Rising its enduring power.
Empty Sky
Recorded: March-April, 2002
Released: The Rising (2002)
First performed: July 19, 2002 (Colts Neck, NJ)
Last performed: July 14, 2012 (London, England)
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