{"id":67940,"date":"1988-08-03T11:02:38","date_gmt":"1988-08-03T18:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=67940"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:50:29","slug":"dustland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1988\/08\/03\/dustland\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">&#8220;Dustland Fairytale&#8221; was always a Springsteen song in spirit. It had the cinematic scale, the desperate romanticism, and that specific brand of &#8220;get-out-while-we\u2019re-young&#8221; energy. But it was wrapped in the velvet and glitter of 21st-century indie rock. It was a tribute from a distance.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-3hyrkzFRss?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">Until it wasn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">In the earliest days of the pandemic\u2013literally as the world was in the process of shutting down\u2013Brandon Flowers received an unsolicited text from an unknown contact, suggesting they re-record The Killers&#8217; 2008 hit together.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">The message was signed &#8220;Bruce.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">Bruce Springsteen? Bruce Hornsby? A forgotten acquaintance?<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">Flowers figured it was probably a practical joke, but he soon learned it wasn&#8217;t. Bruce Springsteen had caught The Killers&#8217; set at Glastonbury the previous year and he was impressed by their performance of &#8220;Dustland Fairytale&#8221; in particular.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">In an Instagram post announcing their collaboration, Flowers revealed that he&#8217;d written the song &#8220;in the middle of [my mother&#8217;s] battle with cancer. It was an attempt to better understand my dad, who is sometimes a mystery to me. To grieve for my mother. To acknowledge their sacrifices and maybe even catch a glimpse of just how strong love needs to be to make it in this world. It was my therapy. It was cathartic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBruce has written a lot about people like my parents and found a whole lot of beauty in otherwise invisible people\u2019s hopes and dreams\u2026 their struggles, and their losses. I\u2019m grateful to him for opening this door for me. I\u2019m grateful to my parents for their example to me. Now go find something new out about your dad, give your mom a big hug, and for God\u2019s sake listen to Bruce Springsteen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s listen to Bruce Springsteen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/M3BZ8hnLyRc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>When Bruce&#8217;s gravelly baritone kicks in, he jolts the song from fairy tale to history, giving voice to Flowers&#8217; father and lacing his performance with aching empathy. It&#8217;s fitting, therefore, that Flowers dropped the &#8220;Fairytale&#8221; from the retitled &#8220;Dustland&#8221; when he released it to the world.<\/p>\n<p>Springsteen had spent his entire career writing about characters like Flowers&#8217; parents and had become indelibly associated with them. He must have instinctively known how his presence would affect the song when he suggested the collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t just lend his voice; he lent his mythology. And in doing so, he turned a great song into a timeless performance\u2013a performance he reprised on stage in 2022 in a surprise appearance at The Killers&#8217; set in New York City.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QgIXt_mi9qA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p><strong>Dustland<br \/>\nRecorded:<\/strong> Late 2020<br \/>\n<strong>Released:<\/strong> &#8220;Dustland&#8221; (single, 2021)<br \/>\n<strong>First performed:<\/strong> October 1, 2022 (New York City, NY)<br \/>\n<strong>Last performed:<\/strong> October 1, 2022 (New York City, NY)<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 February 23, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Dustland Fairytale&#8221; was always a Springsteen song in spirit. It had the cinematic scale, the desperate romanticism, and that specific brand of &#8220;get-out-while-we\u2019re-young&#8221; energy. But&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3612],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-great"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/The-Killers-Springsteen-1e53407108a047e7ad74fc6295ad0238.jpg?fit=1500%2C830&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s9w3Lk-dustland","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57092,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/16\/kingdom-of-days-june-16-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":67940,"position":0},"title":"June 16","author":"Ken","date":"June 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On this date: Clarence's final music video debuts, Bruce plays his first show in Finland, and rumors spread about an upcoming Broadway run.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/helsinki03.jpg?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/helsinki03.jpg?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/helsinki03.jpg?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/helsinki03.jpg?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15479,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/25\/matr-steve-earle-and-bruce-springsteen-dead-flowers\/","url_meta":{"origin":67940,"position":1},"title":"MatR: Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen: Dead Flowers","author":"Ken","date":"January 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"One time only: Bruce joins Steve Earle for a faithful cover of The Rolling Stones\u2019 country rock classic, \u201cDead Flowers.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/deadflowers.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/deadflowers.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/deadflowers.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/deadflowers.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57813,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/25\/kingdom-of-days-july-25-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":67940,"position":2},"title":"July 25","author":"Ken","date":"July 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On this date: Soozie Tyrell joins the E Street family, and Evan James joins the Springsteen family. Plus: Bruce plays... an IPO party?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/meadow92.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/meadow92.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/meadow92.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/meadow92.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/meadow92.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23738,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/15\/matr-bruce-springsteen-and-john-eddie-aint-that-lovin-you-baby\/","url_meta":{"origin":67940,"position":3},"title":"MatR: Bruce Springsteen and John Eddie: Ain&#8217;t That Lovin&#8217; You Baby","author":"Ken","date":"December 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Twice only: Bruce covered Elvis Presley's 1964 hit during two appearances in the same week at Jersey Shore clubs.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/aintthatlovin.jpg?fit=600%2C597&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/aintthatlovin.jpg?fit=600%2C597&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/aintthatlovin.jpg?fit=600%2C597&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":59750,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/01\/kingdom-of-days-october-1-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":67940,"position":4},"title":"Kingdom of Days: October 1","author":"Ken","date":"October 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Vote for Change Tour kicks off, The Rising Tour winds down, and Bruce kicks off a mini-tour of Italy with the Sessions Band. 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