New Springsteen Track Mixes Traditional Bruce Riffery With Modern Alt-Rock and Social Commentary

Interesting… Bruce mixes traditional Springsteenian riffery (though with a stronger keyboard emphasis than his usual guitar-driven one) and mixes it with synths and drum machine beats. He takes his ironic anthem/lament lyrical juxtoposition (see: “Born in the USA”) and marries it to a… what? Arcade Fire “Suburbs” album alt-rock?

I tuned out Springsteen years ago (except when he was covering Pete Seeger). This one, though, caught my attention. As in “Born in the USA,” he takes an uncomfortable look at the attitudes of his fellow Americans… and doesn’t like what he sees.

While the track is rich, full, and lively musically, the chorus lyric “We take care of our own” rings hollow and hurt.

Not a bad bit of writing from a guy who used to be “the Boss.”

[EDIT: A NPR piece finds evidence of a Flock of Seagull influence on the song — though I think that the similarities are probably accidental. But they too find an Arcade Fire sound in there. With much of the internet calling it “classic Boss” in sound, I’m glad i’m not the only one to hear the modern “alt” sound in it.]