The Wall

Welcome to Day 11 of our 12-day examination of the 12 songs on Bruce Springsteen's new album, High Hopes. As we indicated at the start, rather than a straight review, we're having a running dialogue based around each song as we listen to it. 

So. Day 11, Song 11: "The Wall."

***

Dan Tapper

Such a delicate opening. Kinda countryish. Reminds me of Keith Whitley.
Interesting. He's written about Vietnam overtly before. But never with such...quiet. Even "Shut out the Light" is louder.

Scott Peterson

I was thinking "Brothers Under the Bridge."
I find this much more melodic, and therefore effective, than some of the other similarities he's released   this century, even things I like.

Dan Tapper

This is just lovely. Incredibly moving how understated and slight it is.

Scott Peterson

Something about the sound reminds me of "The Last Carnival." Maybe it's just the name Billy.
His voice is so tremulous, as opposed to the gruff growl of "Ghost of Tom Joad."

Dan Tapper

Interesting you mention "Carnival." Because this song goes from very good to grabbing ahold of greatness  at the 1:21 mark. Danny.
Listen to this solo. God this is beautiful.
Echoes all the way back to "Independence Day."

Scott Peterson

Is this the quietest song to ever feature the (almost) entire E Street Band?
I love Curt Rahm's tone.
Bruce on drums, Max on percussion—an unusual combination.

Dan Tapper

"If your eyes could cut through that black stone, tell me would they recognize me?" Wow does that hit   me.

Scott Peterson

Good call on "Independence Day."

Dan Tapper

Good call about the whole band.

Scott Peterson

Or "Racing in the Street."

Dan Tapper

And holy crow does Curt take this song up into the clouds. Stunning.

Scott Peterson

No need for that kind of language.
Okay. That song's definitely in the top half of the LP for me. Easily.
I wonder if this is the same Billy from "The Promise."

Dan Tapper

I think this is the best "new" song on the album. Excluding "American Skin" and "Tom Joad." It is a legit  great Bruce Springsteen song. If we were doing our Top 50 list now I would give it very strong  consideration.

Scott Peterson

He got drafted out of the factory, sent off to some foreign land.

Dan Tapper

I was wondering the same thing!
Max rolling in at the end, almost with a mournful military cadence. And Danny drifting in one last time.
Man that was gorgeous.

Scott Peterson

"I'm sorry I missed you last year—I couldn't find no one to drive me" is amazing writing.
How clear it makes it that Billy's not the only one who paid a steep price.

Dan Tapper

It sure is. Makes it clear Bruce is playing a character again. Which he of course tends to do in his "war"  songs.

Scott Peterson

It's interesting that he says there's no apologies or forgiveness welcome here at the wall, and yet the  tone, overall, is mournful, quiet, tragic, with barely even a hint of anger.

Dan Tapper

I just can't get over how cosmically brilliant Danny and Curt are together on this. And they...were they in the same room? Or did Bruce splice Curt in long after Danny was gone?

Scott Peterson

I suspect he added Curt recently. Long after Danny died, much less recorded this.

Dan Tapper

 And yet the interplay is so wondrous.
"I read Robert McNamara says he's sorry." Leonard Cohen-like. Or Lou Reed.
This song pushed every button for me.

Scott Peterson

That line, right after "laughin' at your ship-out party" is devastating.
Ayuh. This is a good 'un and a half. As someone on Bruce's Place said, it's perplexing this wasn't a b-side off The Rising, which, I think, is what it was recorded for.

Dan Tapper

There's a level of survivor's guilt here too, right? To some degree? "You're gone and I'm still here."
This would have been a perfect B-side to "The Rising." Its "Shut Out the Light," if you will.

Scott Peterson

 I wonder. I get the feeling the narrator is aware that he's paid a pretty damn big price too. That, yeah,  living's better than not, but the way he's living ain't exactly all the grand.

Dan Tapper

I mean its "Shut Out the Light." As in its equivalent to "The Rising"/"Born in the USA" and such.
So to sum up "The Wall," this is an absolutely perfect song. So rich in what he wants to—needs to—say. Yet so simple too.

Scott Peterson

"The Wall" starts off like it's going to be one of his solo acoustic tracks, ala "Mary, Queen of Arkansas"  or "Cautious Man" or " The Last Carnival," but it slowly and quietly and powerfully builds, going past  those and into Ghost of Tom Joad LP territory...and keeps going until it's more like "Wreck on the  Highway" or "Paradise."

Dan Tapper

And Danny and Curt, in some kind of heavenly pairing, make it so. 
Great call. By the time it ends we're talking about "Wreck on the Highway" level. And "Paradise" and "Independence Day" too.

Scott Peterson

Yes, but I also meant tonally—it feels like it's in that neighborhood in terms of actual sound.
You know, I've seen some think it's one of the weaker cuts on the album. To which I say "crack is wack."

Dan Tapper

Amazing what some don't go for. These are the types who go nuts when he plays "Jackson Cage" but  head for the men's room during "Jack of All Trades."
(I saw that very scenario happen last tour, BTW)

Scott Peterson

There's no accounting for taste. Just ask my good lady wife. Also, you should probably hang around in the men's room a little less during Springsteen concerts. Just sayin'.

***

COMING TOMORROW—TRACK 12 FROM HIGH HOPES: "Dream Baby Dream"

Each Other's Blood

We've written about Bruce Springsteen's "American Skin (41 Shots)" several times here at Reason to Believe, most recently here and here. It is easily the most controversial song he ever wrote, as well as one of his most provocative.


Today is the anniversary of the incident that inspired that song. It was on this night 15 years ago that an unarmed Guinean immigrant named Amadou Diallo was shot and killed by New York City police officers who mistook him for a suspected serial rapist.

Here is how the New York Times reported the story the day after it happened. As a former reporter myself, I find it fascinating just how much detail the story was already able to provide by the very next day:

Officers in Bronx Fire 41 Shots, and an Unarmed Man Is Killed
By MICHAEL COOPER

An unarmed West African immigrant with no criminal record was killed early yesterday by four New York City police officers who fired 41 shots at him in the doorway of his Bronx apartment building, the police said.

It was unclear yesterday why the police officers had opened fire on the man at 12:44 A.M. in the vestibule of his building at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section. The man, Amadou Diallo, 22, who came to America more than two years ago from Guinea and worked as a street peddler in Manhattan, died at the scene, the police said.

The Bronx District Attorney's office is investigating the shooting, whose details were still murky last night because there were apparently no civilian witnesses and none of the police officers involved had given statements to investigators. But Inspector Michael Collins, a police spokesman, said that investigators who went to the scene of the shooting did not find a weapon on or near Mr. Diallo.

Relatives and neighbors described Mr. Diallo as a shy, hard-working man with a ready smile, a devout Muslim who did not smoke or drink.

''I am very angry,'' said his uncle, Mamadou Diallo. ''He was a skinny guy. Why would the police shoot somebody of that nature 30 or 40 times? We see the police and we give them all the respect we have.''

A friend, Demba Sanyang, 39, said: ''We have a very undemocratic society back home, and then we come here. We don't expect to be killed by law enforcement officers.''

The four officers involved in the shooting were assigned to the aggressive Street Crimes Unit, which focuses largely on taking illegal guns off the street. All four officers, who were in plainclothes, used their 9-millimeter semiautomatic service pistols, which hold 16 bullets and can discharge all of them in seconds.

Two of the officers, Sean Carroll, 35, and Edward McMellon, 26, emptied their weapons, firing 16 shots each, the police said. Officer Kenneth Boss, 27, fired his gun five times and Officer Richard Murphy, 26, fired four times.

All four have been put on administrative leave, which is standard practice after a police shooting.

Three of the officers -- Officers Carroll, McMellon and Boss -- have been involved in shootings before, which is unusual in a department where more than 90 percent of all officers never fire their weapons in the line of duty. In those previous incidents, Officers Carroll and McMellon were found to have acted properly, the police said; the case of Officer Boss -- he shot and killed a man said to be armed with a shotgun on Oct. 31, 1997, in Brooklyn -- is still being reviewed by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.

Police rules on when officers can fire their guns are explicit: deadly force can be used only when officers fear for their lives or the lives of others. But once they decide to shoot, officers are trained to fire until they ''stop'' the target from causing harm. They are told not to fire warning shots, and to aim for the center of the body, not arms or legs.

Police officials said it was unclear whether the circumstances of the confrontation between Mr. Diallo and the officers justified such a shooting. What the police say is known is that the four officers were patrolling Mr. Diallo's neighborhood yesterday morning in an unmarked car in the hope that they would make arrests and in the process turn up information about a serial rapist in the area.

At a quarter to one, the officers encountered Mr. Diallo. All four got out of the car and approached him as he stood in the vestibule of his building, the police said.

A police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that a neighbor reported after the shooting that he had noticed a man, who the police believe was Mr. Diallo, loitering in the vestibule. The man described him as ''acting suspicious,'' said the official, who did not elaborate.

The officers did not communicate over their radios before they approached Mr. Diallo, the police said, so investigators said they did not know what prompted their initial interest in him.

Nor is it known why the officers began firing. A second police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, ''We don't know what happened, because we haven't spoken to them, but it looks like one guy may have panicked and the rest followed suit.''

After the shooting the officers called in on their radios, the police said, and neighbors telephoned 911. Soon other officers arrived on the scene, followed by detectives and the ranking officers who are required to respond to all police shootings.

An investigation began, and no weapon was found on Mr. Diallo, Inspector Collins said.
A pager and a wallet were found lying next to the body, a police official said, adding that it was unclear whether the officers could have mistaken the pager for a weapon.

Mr. Diallo had lived in New York for two and a half years. A member of the Fulani ethnic group, he came from a village called Lelouma and followed relatives who had moved here. He worked as a street peddler, selling socks, gloves and videos on 14th Street in Manhattan. He sent much of the money he earned to his parents back home, friends said.

Yesterday, Mr. Diallo arrived home from work around midnight, said his roommate, Momodou Kujabi. The two men discussed who was going to pay the Con Edison bill, and then Mr. Diallo turned on the television and Mr. Kujabi went to bed. Another roommate, Mr. Diallo's cousin, Abdou Rahman Diallo, was already asleep.

Mr. Kujabi said he thought Mr. Diallo might have gone out for something to eat, as he often did after coming home from work.

Then came the shots, and a knock on the door, he said. It was the police.

Mr. Kujabi said that the officers brought him down to the vestibule to identify his friend's body. ''I said, 'How can this happen?' '' Mr. Kujabi recalled telling the officers. '' 'I left this guy less than 30 minutes ago.' '' 

An autopsy found that Mr. Diallo died of multiple gunshot wounds to the torso, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the Chief Medical Examiner's Office. Further tests are required to learn how many wounds there were and where the bullets entered his body, she said.

Steven Reed, a spokesman for the Bronx District Attorney's office, said the shooting was being investigated would probably be taken up by a grand jury.

Stuart London, a lawyer representing the officers, said that he was still trying to determine the facts of the case. ''It would be premature to comment,'' he said.

And Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani urged people to withhold judgment on the case. ''We've had terrible mistakes in this city when people have reacted to rumors and intuitions and feelings,'' he said. ''Let's let the situation run its course and then let's react to the facts.''

But Kyle Waters, a lawyer representing Mr. Diallo's family, said he was concerned that the police officers may have overreacted to Mr. Diallo. ''There was nothing to indicate that he was a criminal, nothing to indicate that he had a weapon,'' he said. ''For him to be sent back to his homeland in Guinea in a box is a horrible tragedy.''

State Assemblyman Ruben Diaz, who represents the area, called the shooting ''outrageous,'' adding that it was clear that excessive force was used.

Mayor Giuliani said the circumstances of the shooting were unclear because the officers involved had invoked what is known as the 48-hour rule, which gives police officers two business days to consult with their union lawyers before they speak to investigators.

But police officials said that was not the case; instead, they said, they have not spoken to the officers because the Bronx District Attorney's office asked them not to. That is common practice in police shootings. When prosecutors pursue possible criminal charges, police officers, like other citizens, can invoke their right against self-incrimination and decline to talk. The 48-hour rule comes into play when the Police Department pursues possible administrative charges. Officers in such an investigation are required to answer questions after the 48-hour respite, or face dismissal.

Yesterday, relatives began making plans to return the body of Mr. Diallo to his parents in the village of Lelouma. ''I think there is no reason to shoot someone more than 30 times,'' said Mamadou Diallo.

Bruce Springsteen wrote "American Skin" following the Diallo killing as a meditation on, as he later said, "what happens when we stop talking to each other." He famously played it at Madison Square Garden despite protests from the New York City Police Department during the 1999-2000 Reunion Tour. He's played in fairly regular setlist rotations ever since, and the song was given updated urgency following the February 2012 killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Samford, Florida.

The song in its full form moves from hushed to explosive and back to hushed, evoking sadness and frustration and empathy and regret and even a little redemption. It asks each one of us who we are and what our role is as we walk around in a shared American skin. And the ghostly refrain, "41 shots," keeps seeping in throughout, reminding us the embers of that bad, bad night are never far away and will never disappear.

It's a responsibility placed on all of us when he sings:

"41 shots, with my boots caked in this mud.We're baptized in these waters, and in each other's blood."

Here is a rather unique version of the song, performed by Bruce alone on Elvis Costello's Spectacle four years ago. The song is stripped down to its bones, Bruce going it alone on a darkened stage with EC watching. But every inch of its power remains.

Peggy Sue (Again)

I know Scott has already posted about the great Buddy Holly on this 55th anniversary of his death, but, well, this just killed me. Not the performance of "Peggy Sue" - I mean, it's perfect. But no, the intro he gets in this 1957 clip of his appearance on the Arthur Murray Dance Party is just priceless. With all the Patrician haught one can imagine:

"Now no matter what you think of rock-n-roll, I think you have to keep a nice open mind about what the young people go for. Otherwise the youngsters won't feel that you understand them." 

Oh sell it, sister!!!

Man, was he great, huh? Wow.

Peggy Sue

55 years later, and his stuff still sounds amazingly vibrant.

Such a shame there's so little footage of him. But, oh, the music.

Free Nelson Mandela

The Ghost of Tom Joad

Welcome to Day 10 of our 12-day examination of the 12 songs on Bruce Springsteen's new album, High Hopes. As we indicated at the start, rather than a straight review, we're having a running dialogue based around each song as we listen to it. 

So. Day 10, Song 10: "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

***

Dan Tapper

Ghosts!!!

Scott Peterson

Hey, the album's about to get good again. Is this the most backloaded album he's ever done?
Born in the USA. Maybe The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. Otherwise, I'm going to say it is.

Dan Tapper

Backloaded...you mean dipping back in years?

Scott Peterson

No, I mean, most albums used to front load the hits and such. Put your strongest up top. His have always been more balanced. But maybe not so much here.

Dan Tapper

OH! Um...I think Wild is.

But this is close. Magic, too.

Scott Peterson

When you think about what he plays off any given album, it's often from the beginning or the corners.

I mean, I think most of the stuff he plays regularly off The Rising is from the first side (if it's a four lp set), plus the title track, for instance.

Dan Tapper

I'm really interested to see what he incorporates off this album into his live sets this coming tour. Does he do a lot of it? Only a couple? Interested to see.

Scott Peterson

Interesting about Magic. Hm. 

I think even more interesting is what he's still playing by the end of the tour, as well as subsequent tours. That often disappoints me, when artists—and he's not nearly as bad as, say, Eric Clapton, in this regard—play almost an entire album on the supporting tour, and then not one thing from it's heard on subsequent tours. I mean, I get it: you need to push the current record, and with each album you have a larger catalog to choose from and choices have to be made, and how are you not going to play, say, "Born to Run" or "Layla" or whatever. 

Dan Tapper

He plays 4 Rising tracks with regularity anymore: "Lonesome Day," "Waiting on a Sunny Day," "The Rising" and "My City of Ruin." And after he played nearly the entire Magic album on that tour, he doesn't play anything regularly from that album anymore. "Radio Nowhere" gets the most play still. And then maybe "Girls in Their Summer Clothes." But nothing regularly. And certainly nothing as regularly as, say, "Sunny Day."

Scott Peterson

You know there was one show on the Reunion tour, I think it was, where he didn't play a single Born in the USA song?

Dan Tapper

Working on a Dream tour started with, I think, 4 songs. And by the end of the tour was down to 2.

Wow—not one? Not even "Dancing in the Dark?"

Scott Peterson

Not even "Dancing in the Dark." Oddly, when I said the title track to The Rising just now, I was actually thinking of "My City of Ruin," oddly. True story. I don't know what that means. But I think my theory has utterly collapsed. Newman! 

Dan Tapper

When did you last see him? Working tour?

Scott Peterson

Yeah. I tried to get tickets for the Wrecking Ball shows but even with both of us trying on different computers and in different browsers, couldn't get anything that didn't suck. And I just couldn't afford to spend hundreds of dollars and lose a few days of work in order to go to a concert where I couldn't even really see him, you know? 

Dan Tapper

I do. I asked because the Working tour was the one and only time I've seen him do this next song live. In any form. But in Boston 2009 he did this version that we're about to hear. I'd only heard Rage Against the Machine do it this way up to that point.

Scott Peterson

I saw him do it—solo and acoustic, of course—on the Tom Joad tour in Wallingford. That was it. He and Morello played it in LA...either the night before or the night after I saw him there, I forget which. Great sadness was mine.

Dan Tapper

As well it should have been! As I mentioned a few days ago, I had trepidation of "American Skin" appearing on this album. I had none with "The Ghost of Tom Joad." I was excited as hell to hear it with studio polish.

Scott Peterson

I'm going to say, before we listen, that he'd played an electric version on the Reunion tour a few times. Which was good, but was nowhere near being in the same league as the electric "Youngstown."

Dan Tapper

See, I'd never heard it at all until that night in Boston. Interesting!

Scott Peterson

The Reunion tour version was...much more polite than the Reunion "Youngstown." It was essentially the same arrangement as the LP, just with some more instruments. Kinda country. 

Dan Tapper

And the electric "Youngstown" is one of the best live songs he's ever done, BTW.

Scott Peterson

But with Morello....

Yes. His electric "Youngstown" is indeed electric. And incendiary.

Dan Tapper

Soozie!

Scott Peterson

This opens kinda like the live opening of "Lost in the Flood" at first.

Dan Tapper

Nice little touch from her at the start. His voice is great.

Scott Peterson

Not the same 'tude vocally as the original LP version.

Dan Tapper

What I love is we know what's going to happen in a few moments, but the tension in having to wait for it is great.

Scott Peterson

No Garry yet again. 

Dan Tapper

Poor Garry.

Here we go!

Scott Peterson

Interesting choice of Tom's, to go down on the last line of his first verse.

Dan Tapper

I love the way Morello sings. He pays the song such reverence—you can tell how much this song means to him.

Harmonies here just knock me out.

Scott Peterson

Did I just hear Bruce yell in the background right before they start singing together?

Dan Tapper

I love that! He does it at both times. He's excited!

Scott Peterson

I find it odd just how good a harmony singer Bruce is, considering he's been the sole lead singer for decades.

Dan Tapper

And this solo. This solo.

Scott Peterson

You know, is the first solo Bruce? I think it is. Neither of them is listed as lead guitar.

Dan Tapper

It's really 3 solos coming here, y'know? First is straight melody line, not unlike Bruce's on "The Rising." And then the second...just wow.

Scott Peterson

I feel like it's 4 solos, with the 4th overlapping the 3rd.

Dan Tapper

Yes, I think that's Bruce on the 1st and them Tom on the next two doing a Hendrix impression (somewhat)

Oh! Inneresting! 

And then...near silence before the final verse. Awesome.

Scott Peterson

Yeah, just that sweet pickin'.

Dan Tapper

Again, listen to Tom's vocals. He takes ownership, almost. He seems to really love what he's singing.

These two are having a ball singing this.

And now this is all Morello, right?

Scott Peterson

This is so very much all Tom.
One of the things I really appreciate about Brendan O'Brien's production—not on this, but for taking over for a few years—is that he got Max to really open up on the hi-hat. 

Dan Tapper

What I think I appreciate most about this version of the song is it really never needed to be done. I mean, right? "The Ghost of Tom Joad" in its original acoustic packaging in 1995 was a Top 50 Bruce Springsteen song, a song filled with importance and meaning that achieved exactly what he had hoped. Same went for "Youngstown." So for it to work in full-blown rock mode, it kinda had to go that extra mile. It does just that. It did when the band performed it on past tours, and it works here. And Tom Morello, who clearly loved this song with all he's got, brings exactly what he thinks is needed to the table, right up through that dizzying solo at the end. That's why this song works so well. It didn't have to be done. Yet it was. And it worked beautifully.

***

COMING TOMORROW—TRACK 11 FROM HIGH HOPES: "The Wall"