[su_box title=”Editor’s Note”]<\/p>\n
Editor’s Note:<\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0For four years, I’ve been working my way through Bruce’s catalog, song by song, day by day. I’ve had some great guest-writers along the way, but always in the “Where the Band Was” series. When it comes to analyzing Bruce’s songs, I’ve held the Roll of the Dice series with a pretty tight grip.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n But then I met Katy Crane. Katy caught my interest from the very first of a string of deeply insightful comments in response to my Roll of the Dice articles, featuring provocative takes, surprising connections, broad musical knowledge, and a writer’s voice I only aspire to.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n We usually found ourselves in agreement about a particular song, but my favorite days were the ones where Katy would provide counter-takes so persuasively written and backed up that I couldn’t help but see a song I thought I knew in a brand new light.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n So what do you do when you discover a reader whose comments deserve a “Hold my beer” subject line? Well… I hold her beer.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Meet Katy Crane, a writer and teacher from interior Alaska. She recently moved from a small town to a big city and dealt with the culture shock by becoming an obsessive Springsteen fan. Her favorite Springsteen album is Nebraska,\u00a0<\/em>and she thinks “Crush on You<\/a>” is a good song and “Jungleland” is overrated.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Katy makes her first of what I fervently hope will be many appearances here today, in a new series we’re calling Two Faces<\/strong>, featuring alternative interpretations to the ones I’ve put forward in the Roll of the Dice series.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Take it away, Katy!<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n [\/su_box]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am become a name; Push off, and sitting well in order smite \u201cWestern Stars\u201d is a song about someone living in the past: a portrait of an aging, washed-up star of Hollywood Westerns, who still hangs on to enough shreds of fame to keep him in commercials and free drinks. That much we can all agree on. (And by \u201cwe\u201d I mean me, Ken, and Bruce Springsteen, who weighed in on the meaning of the song in his Western Stars<\/em> feature film.)<\/p>\n Where opinions get divided, though, is on the question of how we\u2019re supposed to feel about it. Is the song, as Springsteen suggests in the film, an admiring portrait of someone who may be past his prime but still knows who he is? Or is it something darker, more akin to \u201cGlory Days,\u201d a portrait of someone taking refuge from the present in an idealized dream of the past?<\/p>\n Ken has already written a great analysis of the song from the first viewpoint<\/a>, the optimistic one. And now he\u2019s very kindly offered me the chance to present the opposite take: \u201cWestern Stars\u201d as a day in the life of a depressed and lonely alcoholic.<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>For always roaming with a hungry heart
\n<\/em>Much have I seen and known
\n<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 — Tennyson, \u201cUlysses\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
\n<\/em>To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
\n<\/em>Of all the western stars, until I die.
\n<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 — Tennyson, \u201cUlysses\u201d (toward the end)<\/p>\n
\n