Springsteen shares U.S. ideals with world

Tobias Peter

is a political reporter and news editor at the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper in Cologne, Germany; he is visiting The Inquirer as part of the International Center for Journalists' Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Program

'Born in the USA!"

"Born in the USA!"

Bruce Springsteen is singing, echoed by the roar of a stadium crowd. Thousands of voices, thousands of arms in the air, singing to one person, one country, America. But it's not New York or Los Angeles. The chanting Bruce Springsteen is enchanting Barcelona.

How is an artist so closely identified with the United States doing this? You can easily imagine Springsteen rocking Philadelphia - twice this Labor Day weekend - but Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, and even the Czech Republic?

True, the Boss is speaking the universal language of rock 'n' roll. Also true is that Springsteen touches on universal experiences when he sings about relationships. Has there ever been a deeper song about friendship than "Bobby Jean"?

But this is only part of the story. Springsteen is successful globally because he is a genuine American artist representing his nation's highest ideals and aspirations. "If my work was about anything, it was about the search for identity, for personal recognition, for acceptance, for a big country," Springsteen once said. "I've always felt that's why people come to my shows, because they feel that big country in their hearts."

What people in other countries hear him singing about is the American Dream, and they connect with the universal appeal of that message. A good life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - that's what most people around the world are hanging their heart onto. "Life should be better and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement," historian James Truslow Adams wrote in 1931. "Everybody's got a hungry heart," Springsteen sang 49 years later.

Of course, not everybody goes from rags to riches - and the pursuit of happiness is not only about that. Springsteen's songs reflect that complexity of the American Dream. He tells the stories of those whose lives are far from perfect, but who manage to keep dreaming and carry on. For them, the American Dream is like that fancy old car in the garage that they sometimes think they'll never be able to drive again. But they keep working on it anyway.

It's like that guy Springsteen sings about in "The River." He became a father too early. He got a union card for his 19th birthday, but then lost his job. He has plenty of reasons to curse his life. However, he still has the river, his place of dreams, to dive into. And he continues to go there, even after the river goes dry. It is a sad story, yet consoling to see the protagonist always returning to his favorite place.

Life doesn't always go the way you want it to, and sometimes dreamers can fail and be failed. Springsteen understands that. And that understanding makes him seem to be someone you know, even though you've never met him in person.

In Kevin Major's novel Dear Bruce Springsteen, a teenager named Terry writes to the Boss about the tough times he's having, about his dad running away from home, and his mom's new husband. He thinks his musical idol will understand.

"It's got to be great to let loose like you do onstage," Terry writes. "To rip into a song with all you got and have everything what's inside you come out. And not have to answer to anybody for it."

Springsteen's music is a way to reconcile your dreams and your disappointments. That's universal.

In his latest album, Wrecking Ball, Springsteen goes beyond the personal, penning an angry answer to the financial crises that have affected people around the globe. And, as the Hollywood Reporter has stated, the album relies on "an amazing sweep of influences and rhythms, from hip-hop to Irish folk rhythms." It is simply made for people all over the world.

But this weekend, the Boss will be singing in Philadelphia, providing a bit of reconciliation for his own torn country. Springsteen is a liberal, but his work often refers to the Republican values of Abraham Lincoln, who fought to expand opportunity for those who were supressed and enslaved, as Jim Cullen points out in Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition.

"The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." Franklin D. Roosevelt said that in 1932, reflecting the American willingness to always face the next frontier.

Eighty years later, that is the essence of Bruce Springsteen's message: Try whatever you can to make the pursuit of happiness a successful undertaking for as many people as possible. It's a message as appealing to the people in Barcelona, Berlin, and Prague as it is to this weekend's fans at Citizens Bank Park.

So, Dear Bruce Springsteen, all that is why I am going to be in the crowd when you rock Philadelphia. I'll be the one wearing the glasses with the thick frames, which are popular in Europe right now, and singing along with a German accent to "Born in the U.S.A."

If you see me, give me a smile. Just a smile.