The Meaning Behind “The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen and a Healing Anthem Following 9/11

In 2002, Bruce Springsteen responded to the tragedy of 9/11 with “The Rising”. But he didn’t answer one of the darkest days in American history with blind rage or cheap nationalism. Instead, he answered with a hymn. And it helped heal a grieving nation.

The National Anthem

The answer began with a plea. Days after the attack, someone in a car shouted at Springsteen as he was driving in a New Jersey borough, “Bruce, we need you now.”

But Springsteen was already writing. And while several songs on The Rising predate 9/11, both the tragedy and the stranger’s plea did reframe the album’s themes.

The title track begins with a firefighter ascending the Manhattan building after a 135-ton airliner had crashed into it. Springsteen describes a dizzying scene as the firefighter and the rest of America enter a new dimension.

Can’t see nothin’ in front of me,
Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind.
I make my way through this darkness,
I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me.
Lost track of how far I’ve gone,
How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed.
On my back’s a sixty-pound stone,
On my shoulder, half mile of line.

Then he offers a prayer. Reunited with The E Street Band, Springsteen, as he’s done many times before, aims for communion as the narrator moves through a surreal mix: smoke, darkness, confusion, death.

Come on up for the rising,
Come on up, lay your hands in mine.

Spirits Above and Behind Me

With each step, the tenuous border between life and death gets blurred.

There’s spirits above and behind me,
Faces gone, black eyes burnin’ bright.
May their precious blood bind me,
Lord, as I stand before your fiery light.

This is Springsteen clawing past utter bleakness. But it’s also a transformation. This is supernatural visions, glimpsing your kids, your family, thousands vanquished, everything gone, but the loved ones left mourning. The ephemeral lottery of life. It’s profoundly gorgeous poetry, and if you can get through the following lines without crying, then you are much stronger than me.

I see you, Mary in the garden,
In the garden of a thousand sighs.
There’s holy pictures of our children,
Dancin’ in a sky filled with light.
May I feel your arms around me,
May I feel your blood mix with mine.
A dream of life comes to me,
Like a catfish dancin’ on the end of my line.

“Bruce, we need you now.” Damn right.

Photo by Anthony Correia/Getty Images