Tag: bruce springsteen

The Band Played “Night of the Johnstown Flood”

In 1889, a Pennsylvania dam collapsed causing what would be known as the Johnstown Flood, a disaster referenced in a fake song in a real Bruce Springsteen song.

Johnstown Flood

On May 31 in 1889, a western Pennsylvania dam collapsed, flooding the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania and killing more than 2,200 people. Many today know about the flood through a Bruce Springsteen song that references another “song” about the Johnstown flood. But in the late 1800s, people knew about the devastation of the flood and the socio-economic forces behind it.

The Story of The Johnstown Flood

The South Fork Dam was built on the Little Conemaugh River fourteen miles upstream from Johnstown. In the late 1800s, it constituted the largest earth dam in the United States.

Wealthy men from the Pittsburgh area created the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club and owned the dam that created Lake Conemaugh. Rich people from the area enjoyed the fishing lake stocked with black bass. For example, Andrew Carnegie was one of the members of the club.

A steady heavy rain on May 30, 1889, however, weakened the dam. The next morning, the president of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club noticed that the dam was under great pressure from the water.  A number of men rushed to work to try to save the dam.

springsteen nebraska As the water pushed against the dam, an engineer tried to warn the residents of nearby Johnstown, a town of 30,000 people about fourteen miles away. But the message did not get to the town in time.

At 3:10 p.m. on May 31, the dam collapsed and around 20 million tons of water rushed at 40 mph toward the town.  As the water headed toward the town, it picked up debris along the way.

The water crushed buildings, and whirlpools took down some of the taller structures. A bridge captured much of the debris.  Then the debris in the bridge caught fire, causing more casualties (see image above). All together, 2,209 people died.

After the devastation, relief efforts, including one of the first by the Red Cross, came to the town’s aid.  The rebuilding of the town took five years. Below is a documentary about the flood that was created by Charles Guggenheim and introduced by David McCullough.

Several years ago, I visited the Johnstown Flood National Memorial and the Johnstown Flood Museum, and they are worth a visit if you are in the area. I first heard of the Johnstown Flood and became interested in visiting the area because it is mentioned in Bruce Springsteen’s “Highway Patrolman” from the Nebraska (1982) album.

Springsteen and “Night of the Johnstown Flood”

The Highway Patrolman of Springsteen’s song, Joe Roberts, tells how he struggles with his loyalties when his brother Franky breaks the law. In the song, Roberts remembers a carefree time dancing with his future wife Maria to a song about the Johnstown Flood.

Yea we’re laughin’ and drinkin’, nothin’ feels better than blood on blood;
Takin’ turns dancin’ with Maria as the band played “Night of the Johnstown Flood;”
I catch him when he’s strayin’, teach him how to walk that line;
Man turns his back on his family he ain’t no friend of mine.

Although in “Highway Patrolman” Springsteen mentions a song called “Night of the Johnstown Flood,” from what I can tell, there was no song with that title. But eventually, after Springsteen’s song, some bands have performed a song with that name.

Artists who have subsequently recorded songs named “Night of the Johnstown Flood” include The Rock Creek Jug Band (from their CD Simpler Times (2010)), Rustwater, Chicken Little (below and free download on the band’s site), and Pygmylush.  The epic nature of the flood deserves its own song, but it is interesting how Springsteen’s fictional song title inspired other writers.

Legacy of the Johnstown Flood

Some blamed the Johnstown Flood on the wealthy men who used Lake Conemaugh for their recreation. Their lake created a hazard that killed thousands of working people.

The aftermath of the flood led to some early expressions of outrage during the U.S. Industrial Age against corporate powers and the wealthy. We see some of the same concerns being raised today.

Other things stay the same too. Although the 1889 flood is one of the most famous floods in U.S. history, the town of Johnstown again faced deadly floods in 1936 and 1977.

Painting of “The Great Conemaugh Valley Disaster” via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Tom Joad’s Inspiration

    grapes of wrath john steinbeck

    In 1940 after John Ford made John Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath into a popular film, Woody Guthrie was finding some fame while living with various friends in New York. In the biography Woody Guthrie: A Life, Joe Klein explained that as Victor Records worked to produce a set of Guthrie’s Dust Bowl ballads, the company asked Guthrie to write a song that would capitalize on Grapes of Wrath‘s popularity. (p. 163.)

    It was a good fit to have the balladeer who had first-hand experience with the Dust Bowl write a song about a fictional character who experienced it. In the clip below, New York Times film critic A.O. Scott discusses the film.

    Writing “Tom Joad”

    So, Guthrie went to work on his song. One night Guthrie asked his friend the young Pete Seeger where he could get a typewriter to use to compose the song related to the film. Seeger took Guthrie to the lower East Side to see an artist friend with a typewriter.

    Guthrie sat down at the machine with a half gallon of wine and began writing, periodically going to his guitar to test out what he was writing. When Seeger woke up the next morning, he found the song written on the typewriter next to an empty wine bottle and Guthrie passed out on the floor.

    The seventeen-verse song summarized Tom Joad’s story. Despite the length, the record company recorded the entire song on May 3, 1940 in its New Jersey studios.  Then, the record company had to use both sides of a record to get it to fit.

    Guthrie was usually dissatisfied with his songs.  But he was proud of this song, saying, “I think the ballad of the Joads is the best thing I’ve done so far.”

    The Music from “John Hardy”

    Guthrie took the music for “Tom Joad” from an outlaw ballad he had been playing, “John Hardy.” In the clip below, Roscoe Holcomb sings “John Hardy,” where you can hear the music behind Guthrie’s “Tom Joad.”

    Holcomb, who grew up in Daisy, Kentucky, recorded a number of traditional songs in the 1960s after John Cohen and Smithsonian Folkways discovered the authentic voice in the Appalachian Mountains.

    Guthrie’s Lyrics

    While the music of “John Hardy” helped inspire Guthrie to write “Tom Joad,” Guthrie’s lyrics captured Steinbeck’s book and Henry Fonda’s portrayal of Joad in Ford’s film. At the end of all the book, the film, and the song, Tom Joad makes an impassioned speech to his mother.  And Guthrie included that key scene in his lyrics.

    Wherever little children are hungry and cry,
    Wherever people ain’t free.
    Wherever men are fightin’ for their rights,
    That’s where I’m a-gonna be, Ma.
    That’s where I’m a-gonna be.”

    How “Tom Joad” Inspired Others

    While several sources influenced Guthrie, he of course influenced others. In particular, “Tom Joad” influenced Bruce Springsteen making an album about troubled men and women.

    Consistent with recent Springsteen comments that he found “fatalism tempered by a practical idealism” in Guthrie’s works, the title track of Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995) follows Guthrie’s song in capturing Joad’s conversation with his mom.

    Now Tom said “Mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy,
    Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries,
    Where there’s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air,
    Look for me mom I’ll be there;
    Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand,
    Or a decent job or a helpin’ hand,
    Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free,
    Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”

    It is somewhat amazing that one conversation from Steinbeck’s book has resonated so much for other artists.  But the words are timeless.

    As long as there are economic inequalities, the words about fighting for the common people will resonate in society.  Steinbeck’s version passed on to John Ford who then connected to Woody Guthrie who then connected to Bruce Springsteen.  And the line will continue.

    Already, Springsteen has passed the Joad mantle onto Tom Morello, who performed a Guthrie song during a May Day protest, and his band Rage Against the Machine.

    We do not know who will take it next.  But as long as somebody’s strugglin’ to be free, Joad’s words will be there.

    Rage Against the Machine’s version of the Bruce Springsteen song sounds a long way from Woody Guthrie’s guitar. But I suspect that if Woody were around today and heard the song’s critique of society’s treatment of the poor, he would be on stage with them. “That’s where I’m a-gonna be.”

    {Woody at 100 is our continuing series celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie in 1912. Check out our other posts on Guthrie too. }

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    Passover: Moses and the Price You Pay

    ten commandments In popular culture, most references to Moses focus on the high points of his life.  These include him leading the Israelites to freedom by parting the Red Sea and his trip to Mount Sinai to bring forth the ten commandments.  But in the final scene of the film The Ten Commandments (1956), the film ends with a less celebratory scene.  The movie ends with Charlton Heston’s Moses left behind, paying for what seems like a minor transgression.

    I remember watching the movie as a kid, seeing the low-key ending as a letdown after the excitement of the action of the parting of the Red Sea. I also found it confusing because the entire movie shows Moses as special to God and then all of a sudden God is punishing him.

    Perhaps my confusion about the ending of the movie is one of the reasons I immediately fell in love with Bruce Springsteen’s “The Price You Pay.” Springsteen captures the tragic sadness of that moment in his song from The River (1980).

    Little girl down on the strand,
    With that pretty little baby in your hands,
    Do you remember the story of the Promised Land?
    How he crossed the desert sands,
    And could not enter the chosen land,
    On the banks of the river he stayed,
    To face the price you pay.

    Similarly, in “Adam Raised a Cain,” he explains that the notion of sin and punishment is so deep that paying for our own sins is not enough:  “You’re born into this life paying / For the sins of somebody else’s past.”

    But Springsteen, who both embraces and rebels against his Catholic upbringing in his songs, does not let the story of “The Price You Pay” end there. Although there is nothing Springsteen can do about the story of Moses (or Cain and Able), in “The Price You Pay” the singer rebels against the rules that say we must always be paying for sins.

    But just across the county line, a stranger passing through put up a sign
    That counts the men fallen away to the price you pay;
    And girl before the end of the day,
    I’m gonna tear it down and throw it away.

    In some ways, “The Price You Pay” is a sequel to Springsteen’s “The Promised Land” from Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978).  In that song, the singer sang of faith in a promised land and a coming twister that will “blow away the dreams that break your heart.”

    The idea of escape from punishment for sin is present in much of Springsteen’s music. In “The Price You Pay,” though, he connects the past and present in a way where the present-day hero is not crushed by old rules.  Instead, he rises up and rebel not only for himself, but for the sinners of the past, including Moses.  It may be nothing more than tearing down a sign, but he rejects the notion that life is about paying for sin.

    Whether or not you celebrate one of the holidays this month, may you have a year free from the haunting of past sins. And at the same time may you tear down the sign and forgive others for their burdens.

    What do you think is the meaning behind “The Price You Pay”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    You Can Get Killed Just for Living in Your American Skin

    Last Friday, Bruce Springsteen dug his song “American Skin (41 Shots)” from Live In New York City (2000) out of the vault in Tampa, Florida. Without any comment from Springsteen, the reason for the song eventually became clear to the crowd. Although it was written about New York police shooting the unarmed Amadou Diallo in February 1999, the refrain about getting killed just for living in your “American Skin” resonated in Florida, where this February the 17-year-old unarmed Trayvon Martin was killed.

    While everyone is still sorting out what happened in the incident, both liberal and conservative commentators have been doing a lot of yelling. While one may debate whether Springsteen’s decision to bring back “41 Shots” helps with the debate or just adds more confusion to the developing story, when Nils Lofgren’s electric guitar kicks in after the 3-minute mark, there is no question. Even more than the refrain, the building tension and screaming guitars say that despite all of the rhetoric on both sides, it’s a damn tragedy.

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    Springsteen’s “Whoop-Ass Session on the Recession” in Greensboro (Guest Post)

    Springsteen Setlist for Greensboro NC March 2012

    The following is a Guest Post by Brad Risinger, reporting on last night’s Bruce Springsteen concert in Greensboro, North Carolina:

    “Old friends,” the late Harry Chapin wrote, are special because “they see where you are, and they know where you’ve been.” The Wrecking Ball version of the E Street Band, even on night two of its tour, has figured out that old, and new, suit them just fine. Bruce Springsteen fondly recalled departed friends Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici for the Greensboro crowd: “If you’re here, and we’re here, then they’re here.” And then Jake Clemons, Clarence’s nephew, belted out the Big Man’s solos on “Promised Land” and “Thunder Road” with a fresh, charismatic vibe and style that are likely to make him a break-out rookie on E Street.

    The Wrecking Ball songs are tightly interwoven into Springsteen’s catalog, and it is much more apparent when played live in a big place with a full band. “Jack of all Trades” recalls the Darkness and Tom Joad records, with a weary resilience that underlines despair with an unshakable hope. But the cathartic beat and lilt that is so resonant in the Seeger Sessions material is there, too, particularly in “Shackled and Drawn.” Springsteen noted that “My City of Ruins” from the post-9/11 The Rising album, was penned before Occupy Wall Street. Yet the song fits thematically with the new material and book-ends nicely in the show with the renewal of “The Rising.”

    There is a healthy hit of Wrecking Ball in the show, with nine of the thirteen songs from the new CD making the cut in Greensboro, enhanced by the terrific horn section that Jake Clemons helms. Still, the shows in this early part of the tour span the Band’s decades. Springsteen dusted off “The E Street Shuffle” and “Rosalita” and the Band infused them with a raucous party vibe that’s a full, rich sound that at first you attribute to just the horns until it becomes apparent how much this E Street iteration feeds on and enjoys each other. “Thunder Road” got a tender opening with Springsteen and longtime keyboardist Roy Bittan alone; “Because The Night” rumbled, looking for trouble; and “Born to Run” was a lights-on, full-speed celebration.

    “Seeds,” the 80s tale of a family searching the Southwest for work, and for hope, seemed the perfect bridge between E Street eras. It is a well-known song because of its appearance on the 75-85 Live compilation, but it has a resonant fit with Springsteen’s take on a new generation of American workers betrayed by corporate misdeed and greed. “How many times can you get up after you’ve been hit?” sounded resigned in the mid-80s. But here, paired with the anger of “Death to My Hometown,” “Seeds” gets a revived punch and meaning. The “Seeds” guitar work sounds as if the frequent guest shots of Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello have rubbed off. Springsteen’s playing was electric, and Nils Lofgren’s wild accompaniment was only overshadowed by his even-wilder frayed jacket. Fans still buzz about Morello’s influence on live versions of “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” and it will be fun to be in the audience on the occasional nights when he appears to shred through the Wrecking Ball material as he did with the Band on the recent Jimmy Fallon appearances.

    Springsteen promised a “whoop-ass session on the recession” early in the show, and the Wrecking Ball material stands firm with the E Street premise that it does matter whether Americans care about something beyond their own backyard. “We Take Care of Our Own” may get political play in the upcoming election — a topic in the air, but not discussed in Greensboro — but its message is clear: Whatever the politicians do, the work of building and nurturing a country gets done by the people, and for the people.

    “We’ve been traveling over rocky ground,” Springsteen sang in a highly charged duet with Patti Scialfa collaborator Michelle Moore, but “there’s a new day coming.” In Greensboro, the “new day” included an elementary school daily double with a young boy’s chorus on “Waiting On a Sunny Day” and a stunned little girl’s impressive moves on “Dancing in the Dark.” And thank goodness that the “old day” was there too, movingly marked by a thunderous “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” ovation for Clarence when “the Big Man joined the band.”

    What’s your impression of the shows so far in the new tour? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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