[brucemas day 9]
Long Time Comin'
This song comes very strongly out of the fucked-up, emotional-maturity-of-a-blueberry-scone school of Bruce-Stus...but it's the one where he gets his shit together and develops some emotional self-awareness and maturity. The one where Bruce actively and textually breaks some of those old cycles coded so firmly into his lyrics, to the point of a lyrical throwback to make it explicit (1).
This is definitely in the category of "universal story with a few concrete details to ground it." It's a young family on a camping trip. *Something* about this trip has prompted the husband/father, the male narrator, our Bruce-Stu, into realizing things he never realized before: that he's a man, and his *own* man, not a prisoner of fate and history, and that he really, truly loves his family. I have no idea what prompted said realization. But it makes for a beautiful, truly joyful song that provides some welcome, balancing light to the contemplative darkness of Devils and Dust.
If I had one wish in this godforsaken world, kids/It'd be that your sins would be your own. Direct link back to "Adam Raised A Cain," where the line is You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames. Here in "Long Time Comin'," Bruce steps away from the Catholic school. He's finally old enough and mature enough and...self-aware enough, I guess, to look at his life and his body of work and the messages he's woven into it for so long and go "You know what? I think maybe I got that one wrong." Catholic school, guilt and sin, inherited and trapped in the circle forever...well, maybe not. Maybe you can wake up one day and find yourself saved and in the middle of something good.
And Rosie. This song has a Rosie. I remember when the album came out, the Entertainment Weekly reviewer speculated that Rosie was Rosalita, all grown up, and this is the Bruce-Stu of that song and her, still together after so many years. Maybe it all worked out for them. And there's no way to know if that's what Bruce meant or not, but oh, I want it to be, and the beautiful thing about these songs is that you can bring to them whatever you want and make it so, because those concrete details coexist with the universal and both leave blanks that you can fill in. So to me, yes, this is Rosalita and her rock-star boy, older and wiser and a little more tired and still cracklin' like crossed wires. Still throwing sparks when they touch each other. And what her daddy thought, and what his daddy did, none of that matters, because they made good.
And sometimes things turn out *okay*, even in Bruceland.
(1)- Actually, I'm never sure with Bruce whether the lyrical connections between songs are deliberate devices or, er, how to put this kindly...him forgetting he already used that one. I mean, "Further On (Up The Road)" and "Maria's Bed" share an entire *verse*, and I go back and forth between going "OMG that makes it CLEAR that he has the Joe/Frankie/Maria saga as crossing multiple songs!" and "Oh, *Bruce*, nobody even TELLS you when you're re-using your own stuff?" So draw your own conclusions.
Out where the creek turns shallow and sandy
And the moon comes skimmin' away the stars
The wind in the mesquite comes rushin' over the hilltops
Straight into my arms
Straight into my arms
I'm riding hard carryin' a catch of roses
And a fresh map that I made
Tonight I'm gonna get birth naked and bury my old soul
And dance on its grave
And dance on its grave
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here
Well my daddy he was just a stranger
Lived in a hotel downtown
When I was a kid he was just somebody
Somebody I'd see around
Somebody I'd see around
Now down below and pullin' on my shirt
I got some kids of my own
Well if I had one wish in this god forsaken world, kids
It'd be that your mistakes would be your own
Yea your sins would be your own
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here
Out 'neath the arms of Cassiopeia
Where the sword of Orion sweeps
It's me and you, Rosie, cracklin' like crossed wires
And you breathin' in your sleep
You breathin' in your sleep
Well there's just a spark of campfire burning
Two kids in a sleeping bag beside
I reach 'neath your shirt, lay my hands across your belly
And feel another one kickin' inside
I ain't gonna fuck it up this time
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here
This song comes very strongly out of the fucked-up, emotional-maturity-of-a-blueberry-scone school of Bruce-Stus...but it's the one where he gets his shit together and develops some emotional self-awareness and maturity. The one where Bruce actively and textually breaks some of those old cycles coded so firmly into his lyrics, to the point of a lyrical throwback to make it explicit (1).
This is definitely in the category of "universal story with a few concrete details to ground it." It's a young family on a camping trip. *Something* about this trip has prompted the husband/father, the male narrator, our Bruce-Stu, into realizing things he never realized before: that he's a man, and his *own* man, not a prisoner of fate and history, and that he really, truly loves his family. I have no idea what prompted said realization. But it makes for a beautiful, truly joyful song that provides some welcome, balancing light to the contemplative darkness of Devils and Dust.
If I had one wish in this godforsaken world, kids/It'd be that your sins would be your own. Direct link back to "Adam Raised A Cain," where the line is You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames. Here in "Long Time Comin'," Bruce steps away from the Catholic school. He's finally old enough and mature enough and...self-aware enough, I guess, to look at his life and his body of work and the messages he's woven into it for so long and go "You know what? I think maybe I got that one wrong." Catholic school, guilt and sin, inherited and trapped in the circle forever...well, maybe not. Maybe you can wake up one day and find yourself saved and in the middle of something good.
And Rosie. This song has a Rosie. I remember when the album came out, the Entertainment Weekly reviewer speculated that Rosie was Rosalita, all grown up, and this is the Bruce-Stu of that song and her, still together after so many years. Maybe it all worked out for them. And there's no way to know if that's what Bruce meant or not, but oh, I want it to be, and the beautiful thing about these songs is that you can bring to them whatever you want and make it so, because those concrete details coexist with the universal and both leave blanks that you can fill in. So to me, yes, this is Rosalita and her rock-star boy, older and wiser and a little more tired and still cracklin' like crossed wires. Still throwing sparks when they touch each other. And what her daddy thought, and what his daddy did, none of that matters, because they made good.
And sometimes things turn out *okay*, even in Bruceland.
(1)- Actually, I'm never sure with Bruce whether the lyrical connections between songs are deliberate devices or, er, how to put this kindly...him forgetting he already used that one. I mean, "Further On (Up The Road)" and "Maria's Bed" share an entire *verse*, and I go back and forth between going "OMG that makes it CLEAR that he has the Joe/Frankie/Maria saga as crossing multiple songs!" and "Oh, *Bruce*, nobody even TELLS you when you're re-using your own stuff?" So draw your own conclusions.
Out where the creek turns shallow and sandy
And the moon comes skimmin' away the stars
The wind in the mesquite comes rushin' over the hilltops
Straight into my arms
Straight into my arms
I'm riding hard carryin' a catch of roses
And a fresh map that I made
Tonight I'm gonna get birth naked and bury my old soul
And dance on its grave
And dance on its grave
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here
Well my daddy he was just a stranger
Lived in a hotel downtown
When I was a kid he was just somebody
Somebody I'd see around
Somebody I'd see around
Now down below and pullin' on my shirt
I got some kids of my own
Well if I had one wish in this god forsaken world, kids
It'd be that your mistakes would be your own
Yea your sins would be your own
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here
Out 'neath the arms of Cassiopeia
Where the sword of Orion sweeps
It's me and you, Rosie, cracklin' like crossed wires
And you breathin' in your sleep
You breathin' in your sleep
Well there's just a spark of campfire burning
Two kids in a sleeping bag beside
I reach 'neath your shirt, lay my hands across your belly
And feel another one kickin' inside
I ain't gonna fuck it up this time
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here
It's been a long time comin', my dear
It's been a long time comin' but now it's here