[brucemas day 5]
Darlington County/Workin' On The Highway
I always think of these two songs as a set. I'm not sure *why* I'm so convinced they go together; just because they're back to back on Born in the USA, maybe. I mean, they can't really be about the same character, I don't think. Actually, maybe they could. Huh, that would be kinda cool.
Also, maybe it's because they're both uptempo, kinda happy, young-dumb-guy songs. The one in "Highway" comes to a bad end, but the song SOUNDS so happy, and he seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. He's in prison, on a chain gang, but at least he has his sense of humor. That's really the quintessential essence of the early-days Bruce-Stu, the one who tears out of town in a fast car, the one who just wants the girls to give him a kiss. Not the broken and/or martyred, sorrowful Bruce-Stu of the social-conscience songs. His sense of humor is sharp and twisted and brittle. But the younger version? The rebel with the cocky smile and the fast car? He just has to laugh at what gets kicked in his face.
He cares about his car, girls, his buddies, having a good time. Yeah, he has to go to work every day, but that's just The Man taking a piece out of his hide so he can pay for beer. He hasn't been worn down by life yet. He hasn't been broken. He thinks he knows everything, and he's not going to make the same mistakes his daddy did, because he has never, ever heard of the concept of compromise. He's the guy in The River before Mary gets pregnant. I do wonder if Bruce wrote these ones earlier and just saved them until BitUSA, because coming after The River and Nebraska, they feel a little bit like a throwback. But it's good to see the two versions of the Bruce-Stu narrator co-existing. It's interesting to watch those two visions of life play off each other. Because they do in reality, too, every day.
These are songs of inherent optimism, especially Darlington County; these are songs about a young guy with a big mouth and hopes and dreams just going for it. He's a big talker, he's a cocky little shithead, the kind of guy who grins and says he knows her daddy don't like him none, but SHE sure does, doesn't she? Like I've talked about so many times through this series over the last few years, he's an archetype, as much a myth constructed out of shared pop-culture references as anything that ever really existed. Except I think he's closer to being real than some of the other constructed references, because he's so recognizably human.
This is the character, in all his guises, that made Springsteen's songs resonate and endure. Because we all know that guy. He's our buddy, our cousin, our brother, the black-sheep uncle. He's real. We can see him doing the dumb stuff he does, and even if we don't quite get the thought process that makes him think this is POSSIBLY a good idea, we kinda root for him, we kinda want him to win.
Driving in to Darlington County
Me and Wayne on the Fourth of July
Driving in to Darlington County
Looking for some work on the county line
We drove down from New York City
Where the girls are pretty but they just want to know your name
Driving in to Darlington City
Got a union connection with an uncle of Wayne's
We drove eight hundred miles without seeing a cop
We got rock and roll music blasting off the T-top singing
Sha la la la la la la la la, Sha la la la la la la
Hey little girl standing on the corner
Today's your lucky day for sure all right
Me and my buddy we're from New York City
We got two hundred dollars we want to rock all night
Girl you're looking at two big spenders
Why the world don't know what me and Wayne might do
Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers
For a kiss and a smile I'll give mine all to you
Come on baby take a seat on my fender
It's a long night and tell me what else were you gonna do
Just me and you we could
Sha la la...
Little girl sitting in the window
Ain't seen my buddy in seven days
County man tells me the same thing
He don't work and he don't get paid
Little girl you're so young and pretty
Walk with me and you can have your way
And we'll leave this Darlington City
For a ride down that Dixie Highway
Driving out of Darlington County
My eyes seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
Driving out of Darlington County
Seen Wayne handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper's Ford
Sha la la...
And when he loses, we feel for him, because man, we wanted him to pull that one off.
Friday night's pay night guys fresh out of work
Talking about the weekend scrubbing off the dirt
Some heading home to their families some looking to get hurt
Some going down to Stovell wearing trouble on their shirts
I work for the county out on 95
All day I hold a red flag and watch the traffic pass me by
In my head I keep a picture of a pretty little miss
Someday mister I'm gonna lead a better life than this
Working on the highway laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway all day long I don't stop
Working on the highway blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway
I met her at a dance down at the union hall
She was standing with her brothers back up against the wall
Sometimes we'd go walking down the union tracks
One day I looked straight at her and she looked straight back
Working on the highway...
I saved up my money and I put it all away
I went to see her daddy but we didn't have much to say
"Son can't you see that she's just a little girl
She don't know nothing about this cruel cruel world"
We lit out down to Florida we got along all right
One day her brothers came and got her and they took me in a black and white
The prosecutor kept the promise that he made on that day
And the judge got mad and he put me straight away
I wake up every morning to the work bell clang
Me and the warden go swinging on the Charlotte County road gang
Working on the highway...
I always think of these two songs as a set. I'm not sure *why* I'm so convinced they go together; just because they're back to back on Born in the USA, maybe. I mean, they can't really be about the same character, I don't think. Actually, maybe they could. Huh, that would be kinda cool.
Also, maybe it's because they're both uptempo, kinda happy, young-dumb-guy songs. The one in "Highway" comes to a bad end, but the song SOUNDS so happy, and he seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. He's in prison, on a chain gang, but at least he has his sense of humor. That's really the quintessential essence of the early-days Bruce-Stu, the one who tears out of town in a fast car, the one who just wants the girls to give him a kiss. Not the broken and/or martyred, sorrowful Bruce-Stu of the social-conscience songs. His sense of humor is sharp and twisted and brittle. But the younger version? The rebel with the cocky smile and the fast car? He just has to laugh at what gets kicked in his face.
He cares about his car, girls, his buddies, having a good time. Yeah, he has to go to work every day, but that's just The Man taking a piece out of his hide so he can pay for beer. He hasn't been worn down by life yet. He hasn't been broken. He thinks he knows everything, and he's not going to make the same mistakes his daddy did, because he has never, ever heard of the concept of compromise. He's the guy in The River before Mary gets pregnant. I do wonder if Bruce wrote these ones earlier and just saved them until BitUSA, because coming after The River and Nebraska, they feel a little bit like a throwback. But it's good to see the two versions of the Bruce-Stu narrator co-existing. It's interesting to watch those two visions of life play off each other. Because they do in reality, too, every day.
These are songs of inherent optimism, especially Darlington County; these are songs about a young guy with a big mouth and hopes and dreams just going for it. He's a big talker, he's a cocky little shithead, the kind of guy who grins and says he knows her daddy don't like him none, but SHE sure does, doesn't she? Like I've talked about so many times through this series over the last few years, he's an archetype, as much a myth constructed out of shared pop-culture references as anything that ever really existed. Except I think he's closer to being real than some of the other constructed references, because he's so recognizably human.
This is the character, in all his guises, that made Springsteen's songs resonate and endure. Because we all know that guy. He's our buddy, our cousin, our brother, the black-sheep uncle. He's real. We can see him doing the dumb stuff he does, and even if we don't quite get the thought process that makes him think this is POSSIBLY a good idea, we kinda root for him, we kinda want him to win.
Driving in to Darlington County
Me and Wayne on the Fourth of July
Driving in to Darlington County
Looking for some work on the county line
We drove down from New York City
Where the girls are pretty but they just want to know your name
Driving in to Darlington City
Got a union connection with an uncle of Wayne's
We drove eight hundred miles without seeing a cop
We got rock and roll music blasting off the T-top singing
Sha la la la la la la la la, Sha la la la la la la
Hey little girl standing on the corner
Today's your lucky day for sure all right
Me and my buddy we're from New York City
We got two hundred dollars we want to rock all night
Girl you're looking at two big spenders
Why the world don't know what me and Wayne might do
Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers
For a kiss and a smile I'll give mine all to you
Come on baby take a seat on my fender
It's a long night and tell me what else were you gonna do
Just me and you we could
Sha la la...
Little girl sitting in the window
Ain't seen my buddy in seven days
County man tells me the same thing
He don't work and he don't get paid
Little girl you're so young and pretty
Walk with me and you can have your way
And we'll leave this Darlington City
For a ride down that Dixie Highway
Driving out of Darlington County
My eyes seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
Driving out of Darlington County
Seen Wayne handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper's Ford
Sha la la...
And when he loses, we feel for him, because man, we wanted him to pull that one off.
Friday night's pay night guys fresh out of work
Talking about the weekend scrubbing off the dirt
Some heading home to their families some looking to get hurt
Some going down to Stovell wearing trouble on their shirts
I work for the county out on 95
All day I hold a red flag and watch the traffic pass me by
In my head I keep a picture of a pretty little miss
Someday mister I'm gonna lead a better life than this
Working on the highway laying down the blacktop
Working on the highway all day long I don't stop
Working on the highway blasting through the bedrock
Working on the highway, working on the highway
I met her at a dance down at the union hall
She was standing with her brothers back up against the wall
Sometimes we'd go walking down the union tracks
One day I looked straight at her and she looked straight back
Working on the highway...
I saved up my money and I put it all away
I went to see her daddy but we didn't have much to say
"Son can't you see that she's just a little girl
She don't know nothing about this cruel cruel world"
We lit out down to Florida we got along all right
One day her brothers came and got her and they took me in a black and white
The prosecutor kept the promise that he made on that day
And the judge got mad and he put me straight away
I wake up every morning to the work bell clang
Me and the warden go swinging on the Charlotte County road gang
Working on the highway...