No Surrender

Considering where we are in time, how can we not turn first to presidential politics? Talking about issues at a grass roots level now could save a lot of misery later as the votes are counted--and obviously afterwards.

My point of departure, not surprisingly, is the musical soundtrack of the Democratic campaign. If you just watched the evening news highlights of John Kerry's acceptance speech last week, you missed his entrance and reception in the arena: As soon as Max Cleland finished his very powerful introduction (Kerry might do well to get some public speaking tips from the former Georgia senator), the house started rocking to the sound of Bruce Springsteen's anthem to youthful bonding, "No Surrender."

Kerry had arrived in Boston by boat the day before with the same soundtrack and had already picked up the theme as a kind of alternative slogan for the campaign in general. It is an interesting choice, since it is not one of The Boss's signature pieces such as "Born to Run," "Thunder Road," or (God help us) "Born in the U.S.A."

"No Surrender" does come from that mid-80s mega-seller album that Ronald Reagan misappropriated so egregiously on his own behalf--a move that Bruce has been wrathfully denouncing for years now--but it is a minor track that shows up only sporadically in concerts. For Kerry to decide that this song encapsulates what he wants to communicate indicates that either the candidate or someone close to him follows the artist and listens to the music.

And we can't help but feel confident that Bruce wholly approves of the association. Just go to the official Springsteen Web Site and check out what's on top of the news page--a reprint of an entire speech given by Al Gore at N.Y.U at the end of May. It's a powerful indictment of our current leadership and not at all in the toned-down, jokey mode that Al was compelled to deliver in Boston on the first night of the convention.

But "No Surrender" is essentially apolitical. It contains eloquent, personalized assertions of youthful camaraderie, and much to the chagrin of high school teachers, opens with a pithy put down of the formal education system that doesn't (or at least didn't in Springteen's experience) seem to ignite the passions of its customers.

That element of alienation giving way to a deeper river of personal connections between people in the same boat may be exactly the point that Kerry is tuning into as he tries to project the relevance of his experiences now 35 years or so in the past. It is a song that captures two layers in the singer's lifetime--late adolescence and that moment of discovery that adolescence is past.

The world is going to be in the hands of one baby boomer or the other. It's time to make a choice.

With all the hoopla of the introduction at the Fleet Center, it's unlikely that many in the audience actually could discern the words to what seems to be the new John Kerry theme song. So here's what you missed:

No Surrender -Bruce Springsteen

We busted out of class, had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school.
Tonight I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you're tired and you just want to close your eyes and follow your dreams down.

We made a promise we swore we'd always remember
No retreat, no surrender.
Like soldiers in the winter's night with a vow to defend
No retreat, no surrender.

Now young faces grow sad and old and hearts of fire grow cold
We swore blood brothers against the wind,
I'm ready to grow young again
And hear your sister's voice calling us home across the open yards
Well maybe we could cut someplace of our own
With these drums and these guitars.

Blood brothers in the stormy night with a vow to defend
No retreat,no surrender

Now on the street tonight the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in.
There's a war outside still raging
you say it ain't ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies in my lover's bed
with a wide open country in my eyes
and these romantic dreams in my head.

Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)

It beats the heck out of Fleetwood Mac.

Chas.