Rainy Day meets Rainey Williams
From Devils & Dust, the new Bruce Springsteen album, we've chosen the opening verse from "Black Cowboys":
"Rainey Williams' playground was the Mott Haven streets where he ran past melted candles and flower wreaths,
names and photos of young black faces, whose death and blood consecrated these places.
Rainey's mother said, "Rainey stay at my side, for you are my blessing you are my pride.
It's your love here that keeps my soul alive.
I want you to come home from school and stay inside."
Slate critic Stephen Metcalf is also very taken by "Black Cowboys" and says that in this song "Springsteen unites a visionary concision of detail with long lines in a way that channels William Blake." He then quotes this verse in support of his view:
"Come the fall the rain flooded these homes, here in Ezekiel's valley of dry bones, it fell hard and dark to the ground. It fell without a sound. Lynette took up with a man whose business was the boulevard, whose smile was fixed in a face that was never off guard. In the pipes 'neath the kitchen sink his secrets he kept. In the day, behind drawn curtains, in Lynette's bedroom he slept. "
This is, indeed, the stuff of poetry and with it Springsteen makes a bold bid for Dylan-like greatness. Does he manage it? On first listening, he's put together an album filled with excellent lyrics, all enhanced with music drawn from the classic canon of rock 'n roll. A more detailed judgement based on closer listening will have to wait. In the interval, however, there's Stephen Metcalf's hugely enjoyable Faux Americana Slate piece. His razor-sharp take on Jon Landau, the ex-Rolling Stone critic who became Springsteen's mentor is delightful. First Landau in 1974: "I saw rock and roll's future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Now Metcalf today: "Well, Bruce Springsteen was Jon Landau's future." Right on!
