Springsteen and Empty Streets

I was driving to work this morning at about 5:15, hoping to get a jump on the workday, enjoying temperatures at 70 degrees instead of the 90+ we will have later, and listening to Bruce Springsteen's Magic (2007). I realized this morning that Springsteen to me is what Roy Rogers has been for my father, in that both embody a type of American ideal, somewhat romantic and principled, rooted in the same traditions of aspirations, yearning for freedom, willing to fulfill duty, thinking of legacy. This morning, the moist air was cool enough not to be oppressive, and rolling the windows down in my truck let me feel the fresh day before it got fully started. Then the track "Gypsy Biker" started, and the theme of being sold out by the Powers That Be had so much resonance with our current political ordeal that the song shook me again. Just as Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) has helped to shape this path of American Romanticism, Born in the USA (1984) defines the Reagan Era in its contrasting American hope ("No Retreat, No Surrender") with deteriorating American standards (the title track), and The Rising (2002) gives us a much-needed, cathartic 9-11 requiem, Magic evaluates the George W. Bush administration time and again; these songs still apply to the legacy of that administration, as the darkness creeps from the edge of town, deeper and deeper into our neighborhoods, our neglected parks, our underfunded schools, our crumbling infrastructure, and our distracted and frightened electorate.