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Spingsteen

Great interview with Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen Talks Politics, Marriage and Why He Won't Write an 'Anti-Trump Diatribe'.

I really liked his reason for not writing political pieces. Its a perspective you rarely hear from a lefty like Bruce:

I still believe people fundamentally come to music to be entertained – yes, to address their daily concerns, and yes, also to address political topics, I believe music can do that well. But I still believe fundamentally it's an affair of the heart. People want you to go deeper than politics, they want you to reach inside to their most personal selves and their deepest struggles with their daily lives and reach that place; that's the place I'm always trying to reach. I'd never make a record that's just polemical, I wouldn't release it if I did. To me, that's just an abuse of your audience's good graces.

In other words, not everything has to be political, and it's an abuse of your position as an entertainer to do otherwise. What a better culture it would be if ESPN, the NFL kneelers, and Hollywood understood that.

The problem is, the Left believes in the State. It wants the State everywhere and, therefore, politics belongs everywhere. Leftists simply can't comprehend what Springsteen is saying. The mere fact that Springsteen (definitely a man of the left) gets it, is little short of astounding.

Aside: There's a Flannery O'Connor reference in that interview. He was apparently reading a lot of American Gothic literature, including O'Connor, when he wrote his dark "Nebraska" album.

Also: Here is a good review of Bruce's autobiography, Born to Run. Excerpt from the book (lifted from the review):

This was the world where I found the beginnings of my song. In Catholicism there existed the poetry, danger and darkness that reflected my imagination and my inner self. I found a land of great and harsh beauty, of fantastic stories of unimaginable punishment and infinite reward. It was a glorious and pathetic place I was either shaped for or fit right into. It has walked alongside me as a waking dream my whole life.

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