Shackled and drawn

I wanted some Springsteen to help get me through another day of writing a lot (another almost-thousand words today brings me up to almost-6000 in my last five days at work). But it went wrong and gave me a lot of emotions instead.

The Springsteen song "Wrecking Ball" (not the Miley Cyrus one) is perfectly designed to stir the hearts of middle-aged white guys (it's the only song of his I can think of that actually mentions football!) but it also still gives me goosebumps when I hear it, goddammit!

Yeah, we know that come tomorrow
None of this will be here
So hold tight to your anger
Yeah, hold tight to your anger
Hold tight to your anger
And don’t fall to your fears

His early-21st century albums are a balm to my soul these days.

He's of an age by that point to see patterns, the cycles of things ("hard times come and hard times go..." repeated over and over again). Not getting lost in despair, instead keen to bring people together, speak out against what is wrong ("American Skin" feels like the start not the end of this), eyes on the prize which is still ephemeral hope and dreams. But he's got high hopes.

And somehow I forgot, until it came up on shuffle, "Shackled and Drawn." I love "Shackled and Drawn"!

Gambling man rolls the dice, workingman pays the bill
It’s still fat and easy up on banker’s hill
Up on banker’s hill, the party’s going strong
Down here below, we’re shackled and drawn

Shackled and drawn, shackled and drawn
Pick up the rock, son, carry it on
I’m trudging through the dark in a world gone wrong
I woke up this morning shackled and drawn

And its little gospel outro... This is definitely a "blues in the verses, gospel in the choruses" Springsteen classic.