YouTube Music of the Week

The Ghost of Tom Joad

Thanks to RawStory.com for the following...

America's finest rock poet Bruce Springsteen (no offense, Bob Dylan) and the greatest guitarist of the last 20 years Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave team up with The E Street Band on the Boss' classic protest song, inspired by the character Tom Joad from the film version of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-c6GphpAeY

And, as a bonus, Henry Fonda's famous "I'll be there" speech from John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath (1940):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yer4L1Uhayc
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"Waterloo Sunset"
The Kinks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvDoDaCYrEY

And for the Def Leppard cover version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7-TbC_Pr-4
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Last but not least:

"Born This Way"
Lady Gaga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw

Born to run… at the mouth: Glenn Beck calls The Boss un-American.

http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/born_to_run..._at_the_mouth_glenn_beck_calls_the_boss_un-american/

Born to run… at the mouth: Glenn Beck calls The Boss un-American.
03.12.2010
Richard Metzger

There are American icons and then there are American icons. And Bruce Springsteen is surely one of them. The kind you don’t mess with if you know what’s good for you. He’s the Boss and… you’re not, OK? Get it? Got it? Good.

Apparently Glenn Beck never got that memo because on his radio show Thursday, the Joseph McCarthy-loving, blubbering Fox News personality decided to read the lyrics to “Born in the U.S.A.” in a monotone voice similar to how William Shatner infamously declaimed Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” This is a tune Ronald Reagan tried to commandeer for his 1984 reelection campaign, a move rebuffed by Springsteen, the son of a union member.

According to Beck, the song is un-American.

“Born down in a dead man’s town,” read Beck to the listeners of his March 11 radio program. “The first kick I took was when I hit the ground. You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much. ‘Til you spend half your life just covering up.”

Here’s what Beck had to say about the famous song afterward:

That’s what it’s all about. That’s what America’s all about, according to Springsteen…. It’s time for us to wake, wake up, out of our, um, dream state. Wake up out of the propaganda. The, you know, this is the thing that, people who come from the Soviet-bloc or Cuba, they’re all saying, “How do you guys not hear this? How do you not see this?” Well, that’s ‘cause we don’t ever expect it.

The Boss… un-American? Bruce Springsteen? Is that what Beck is trying to say? Now I could offer some snarky commentary—that’s my job, I’m a blogger after all—but it’s totally pointless when discussing Beck, someone I could call “nuts” and the copy desk at the Los Angeles Times will probably let it sail right past because it’s not like it’s an opinion!

And that’s not all. In January, Beck “analyzed” the Utopian lyrics of the Beatles’ “Revolution” and concluded that the song illustrated Liberal plans to slowly bring Marxism to America.

Glenn, wouldn’t that have been, uh, Lennonism? And I hate to remind you that Charles Manson saw hidden messages in Beatle songs too.

A Heartbeat and a Guitar

http://www.nationbooks.org/book/196/A%20Heartbeat%20and%20a%20Guitar

A Heartbeat and a Guitar
Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears
Antonino D'Ambrosio
October 2009 ISBN: 1568584075

Johnny Cash recorded Bitter Tears in 1964, four years before his live performance at Folsom Prison and six years before he recorded Man in Black. More importantly, Cash placed himself in the middle of the fervent social upheavals gripping the nation at the time–the civil rights movement was rising, the Vietnam War was escalating, the anti-nuclear weapons campaign was galvanizing and the free speech and women's movement starting to bloom. One year removed from his monumental hit Ring of Fire, Cash was facing censorship and an angry backlash from radio stations, DJs, and fans, for speaking out on behalf of Native people. Cash decided to fight back.

A Heartbeat and a Guitar tells of the collaboration of two distinct yet connected musicians–iconoclast Johnny Cash and little known folk artist Peter LaFarge–and the album they created, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian. It also tells of the unique personal, political and cultural struggles that informed this album–especially the fight for Native people's rights–one that has influenced scores of musicians and activists, from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan to American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks and Native activist-artist John Trudell.

Weaving multiple narrative threads and bringing in the stories of the long forgotten Native war hero Ira Hayes (immortalized in the Iwo Jima flag-raising photo), legendary musicians and producers, courageous Native activists, polarizing political leaders and outspoken citizen-artists, D'Ambrosio's A Heartbeat and a Guitar tells a sweeping story of an untold moment in Cash's career. In this inimitable account–which includes 34 never before seen photos by photographs by Jim Marshall and Diana Davies–A Heartbeat and a Guitar strays out of the recording studio and into the presidential campaigns, government halls, Indian reservations, picket lines, bohemian cafes, university campuses, factory lines, civil rights marches, fish-ins and anti-war protests.

What readers are saying

"Antonino D'Ambrosio has really done his homework like no one ever before. I performed with Cash for 40 years and have read every book written about him yet D'Ambrosio astonishingly reveals another side of Cash framed around perhaps his most important work, Bitter Tears. A Heartbeat and a Guitar is a rare and extraordinary work, thanks to D'Ambrosio's exceptional and masterful storytelling. This book must be read, not just by Cash fans, but everyone who loves music and believes in its power and spirit. D'Ambrosio's work, like Cash himself, is highly original and a force to be reckoned with."
–Johnny Western, musician and longtime emcee of The Johnny Cash Show.

"This book is a truly fascinating journey, charting the historical and social context of a courageous musical statement by one of our greatest rebel voices."
–Jim Jarmusch, filmmaker

"[The book] is a rich history, not only of Johnny Cash's life, but of the Indian struggle for justice... full of fascinating character sketches of the great folk singers of the Sixties, and their part in the social movements of that exciting era. I believe D'Ambrosio has made an important contribution to the cultural history of our time."
–Howard Zinn

"Antonino D'Ambrosio is the voice of a new generation–passionate, intelligent and fierce–whose work educates and inspires. He now brings his unique voice to tell a unique story of Johnny Cash's recording of the protest record Bitter Tears. It's the album no one knows about but is perhaps Cash's greatest record–and Antonino proves it."
–Chuck D of Public Enemy

About the Authors

Antonino D'Ambrosio is a writer, filmmaker, photographer and musician. He is the founder and director of La Lutta New Media Collective, a media activism and documentary film production group based in New York City. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The Progressive, Monthly Review, Color Lines, New Labor Forum and other publications. His recent documentaries include Desaparecidos and Piccolo Colli: The People of Russell Street. D'Ambrosio is the author of Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Politics of Joe Strummer; the film version features original art and animation by Shepard Fairey and original music from a wide range of musicians including Antibalas, Saul Williams, Chuck D and Thievery Corporation. His most recent short film is No Free Lunch, starring comedian Lewis Black.

SPRINGSTEEN RETURN TO NEW JERSEY

SPRINGSTEEN ANNOUNCES RETURN TO NEW JERSEY AS FINAL MAJOR MUSICAL ACT TO PLAY GIANTS STADIUM SEPT 30, OCT 2, & OCT 3

Bruce Springsteen announced from the stage at his Izod Center concert in East Rutherford, NJ that he and the "legendary" E Street Band will return as the final major musical act to play Giants Stadium on September 30, October 2, and October 3. Tickets go on sale June 1 at 10am Eastern. Springsteen holds the record as the number one selling artist at the Meadowlands (which includes Giants Stadium) in New Jersey, having sold out 56 concerts to date with the E Street Band.

The Working on a Dream tour has earned rave reviews, with Shawn Courchesne of the Hartford Courant proclaiming, "It just got better and better... perfect, simply perfect." Rolling Stone Online proclaimed of a rehearsal concert, "Springsteen seemed to offer a renewed sense of purpose and optimism onstage, rejuvenating and uniting a people in danger of losing their faith."

"He's the best there is," exclaimed Melissa Baron of SF Weekly, "Springsteen played so hard that sweat dripped off his whole body." Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post wrote, "Springsteen is a better showman today than in 1984," while Mike Ragogna said in the Huffington Post, "If you haven't been to one of Springsteen's shows in a while, you need to catch this tour." Meanwhile Sarah Rodman of the Boston Globe writes, "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band don't have to play for two hours and 40 minutes. Nor, when they play, is it a requirement that Springsteen fall to his knees, shimmy and shake, attack his guitar like he's still discovering new sounds it can make, or take audience requests that he and his band don't know how to play... Springsteen and his band did all of that and more." Martin Cizmar of The Phoenix New Times had never seen Springsteen live. "I'm not from Jersey, I didn't grow up with The Boss and I'd never seen him play before," Cizmar admits, "but I will say that nearly everything you've heard or read about a Springsteen show is true. The fans are rabid, the set marathon, Springsteen a first-rate showman."

'Working on a Dream' (Columbia Records) debuted at #1 in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and New Zealand and received exemplary reviews in Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, People, and elsewhere.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S "THE WRESTLER"

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S "THE WRESTLER" -- HEAR IT NOW!

The Wrestler, a new film starring Mickey Rourke and directed by Darren Aronofsky, is now showing in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles (and opens everywhere else soon).

The title song, heard in the trailer, is a brand new Bruce Springsteen track! It's available on iTunes now!

"I wrote Bruce a letter, because we've known each other over twenty years, and he knows what I used to be, or whatever. Where I went. What I'd been reduced to. I told him how I felt lucky now and didn't have to end up being this guy, being Randy (character from The Wrestler). A while later, I got a call in the middle of the night: he said he'd written a little song, for nothing. It's fucking beautiful, right? I was honoured he took the time, because he's a busy cat. I mean, I'm so goddamn proud of this magical movie and to have Bruce's input… ain't nobody in Hollywood with all their millions can just ring the man and he'll do a song, y'know?"
— Mickey Rourke

Springsteen's New Monster Mash

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b66575_happy_halloween_springsteens_new.html

Happy Halloween! Springsteen's New Monster Mash
10-31-8

For his next trick, Bruce Springsteen's offering a sweet treat for his fans.

Just in time for Halloween, the Boss is giving away a song paying tribute to his home state's spookiest urban legend. And we're not talking about Jimmy Hoffa under Giants Stadium.

"A Night With the Jersey Devil" is available as a free download on BruceSpringsteen.net.

To see the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seMBtD_zawI

***

http://www.brucespringsteen.net/songs/ANightWithTheJerseyDevil.html

Hear me now!
I was born 13th child, 'neath the 13th moon
Spit out hungry and born anew
Daddy drag me to the river tie me in rocks
Throw me in where it's deep and wide
I go down, I don't die
Hole in the river bottom, I crawl through
Come back kill six brothers and sisters, kill papa too
Sway down Mama, sway down low
They gonna know me wherever I go

Into my bed with her kerosene my mama creep
Set my flesh to burning, whilst I sleep
I burn, burn, burn, till my soul burn black
Black rains fall, I come back, I come back
Get down Mama, get down low
They gonna know me wherever I go

16 witches, cast 16 spells
Make me guitar outta skin and human skull
Sing you a song like the wind in the sandy loam
Bring you baby out'cha your happy home

Ram's head, forked tail, clove hoof, love's my trail
I sup on your body, sip on your blood like wine
Out world theirs, this world mine
So kiss me baby till it hurts
God lost in heaven, we lost on earth
Sway down Mama, sway down low
They gonna know me wherever I go
Wherever I go, wherever I go

Well I got a brand new lover
I love her yes I do,
She's my one and only and her name is Baby Blue...

Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP) / EMI Music Publishing (BMI)

Bruce: Magic Refused Radio Play

Robalini's Note: While Roger Friedman is hands down the best thing about Fox News (and in this case, this isn't meant as a back-handed compliment) he may be missing the real motivation here behind the Clear Channel blacklist of The Boss. Is it really about ageism, or is it about the Bush-backing Clear Channel banning the left-wing populism of Springsteen? Meanwhile, while Bruce is DOA when it comes to korporate radio, wimp "rock artists" such as Fall Out Boy, Maroon Five and John Mayer receive extensive playtime. It's just like The Konformist said earlier this year when we gave Beast of the Month to Nick Lachey and K-Fed: korporate rock wants to turn this generation into mindless metrosexual consumers, who moan even more than Kurt Cobain did (without any of his substance) as they listen to boy band pop, emo whines and dubious "hard rock" like Nickleback and 3 Doors Down.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306164,00.html

Bruce: Magic Refused Radio Play
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
By Roger Friedman

Bruce Springsteen should be very happy. He has the No. 1 album, a possible Grammy for Best Album of the Year for "Magic," an album full of singles and a sold-out concert tour.

Alas, there’s a hitch: Radio will not play "Magic." In fact, sources tell me that Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from "Magic." But it’s OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as "Dancing in the Dark," "Born to Run" and "Born in the USA."

Just no new songs by Springsteen, even though it’s likely many radio listeners already own the album and would like to hear it mixed in with the junk offered on radio.

Why? One theory, says a longtime rock insider, "is that the audience knows those songs. Of course, they’ll never know these songs if no one plays them."

"Magic," by the way, has sold more than 500,000 copies since its release on Oct. 2 and likely will hit the million mark. That’s not a small achievement these days, and one that should be embraced by Clear Channel.

But what a situation: The No. 1 album is not being played on any radio stations, according to Radio & Records, which monitors such things. Nothing. The rock songs aren’t on rock radio, and the two standout "mellow" tracks — "Magic" and "Devil’s Arcade" — aren’t even on "lite" stations.

The singles-kinda hits, "Radio Nowhere" and "Living in the Future" — which would have been hits no questions asked in the '70s, '80s and maybe even the '90s, also are absent from Top 40.

What to do? Columbia Records is said to be readying a remixed version of "The Girls in their Summer Clothes," a poppy Beach Boys-type track that has such a catchy hook fans were singing along to it at live shows before they had the album. Bruce insiders are hopeful that with a push from Sony, "Girls" will triumph.

I’m not so sure.

Clear Channel seems to have sent a clear message to other radio outlets that at age 58, Springsteen simply is too old to be played on rock stations. This completely absurd notion is one of many ways Clear Channel has done more to destroy the music business than downloading over the last 10 years. It’s certainly what’s helped create satellite radio, where Springsteen is a staple and even has his own channel on Sirius.

It’s not just Springsteen. There is no sign at major radio stations of new albums by John Fogerty or Annie Lennox, either. The same stations that should be playing Santana’s new singles with Chad Kroeger or Tina Turner are avoiding them, too.

Like Springsteen, these "older" artists have been relegated to something called Triple A format stations — i.e. either college radio or small artsy stations such as WFUV in the Bronx, N.Y., which are immune from the Clear Channel virus of pre-programming and where the number of plays per song is a fraction of what it is on commercial radio.

Springsteen Gets Political on Today Show

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/28/101850/975

Springsteen Gets Political on Today Show
by rjmac
Fri Sep 28, 2007

Bruce Springsteen, promoting his new album by doing a concert "in the plaza" on the Today Show, did a spoken intro to "Living In the Future" that was an overtly political public service announcement.

After Clarence Clemons played the sax intro for the song, and as the band vamped in the background, The Boss opened with some lighthearted banter and NBC-centric jokes and then got serious:

This is a song called Livin' In the Future. But it's really about what's happening now. Right now. It's kind of about how the things we love about America, cheeseburgers, French fries, the Yankees battlin' Boston... the Bill of Rights [holds up microphone, urging crowd to cheer] ... v-twin motorcycles... Tim Russert's haircut, trans-fats and the Jersey Shore... we love those things the way womenfolk love Matt Lauer.

But over the past six years we've had to add to the American picture: rendition, illegal wiretapping, voter suppression, no habeus corpus, the neglect of that great city New Orleans and its people, an attack on the Constitution. And the loss of our best men and women in a tragic war.

This is a song about things that shouldn't happen here happening here.

So right now we plan to do something about it, we plan to sing about it. I know it's early, but it's late. So come and join us.

Springsteen's new album, Magic, has political themes woven into the songwriting, but it was surprising and inspiring to see him bring it to the forefront on television's most popular morning program.

Tim Russert, who did as much as anyone in the media to enable the Bush regime, was standing near the stage, but the camera wasn't on him during Springsteen's pointed comments. Would have been interesting to see his reaction, but, then again, clowns like Russert somehow always seem to think they had nothing to do with legitimizing the lies told by Cheney, Bush, and all the others.

Tags: Bruce Springsteen, Today Show

To see Bruce perform and get political:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20995086/

Bruce Springsteen's 'Magic' Has Anti-War Message

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298230,00.html

Bruce Springsteen's 'Magic' Has Anti-War Message
Thursday , September 27, 2007
By Roger Friedman

Bruce Springsteen has already made his political feelings clear in the last couple of years. Remember his Ted Koppel interview? The series of concerts — Vote for Change — he did to support John Kerry?

On his new album, "Magic," Springsteen jumps right into the fray again. In a dramatic new REM-ish anthem called "Last to Die," he sings: "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake/The last to die for a mistake/Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break/Who'll be the last to die for a mistake."

The mistake is clearly the Iraq war. "We don't measure the blood we've drawn anymore," he sings. "We just stack the bodies outside the door."

"Magic," which hits stores Tuesday but is already widely available on the Internet, seems like a party album at first. But it has a dark underside: blood and dead bodies wend their way through the songs.

Even when things are looking up at least musically — the songs are strong rockers — the lyrics suggest dire, dark things are happening.

In one song, “Seven drops of blood fall” as a woman smooths the front of her dress. In another, a kiss produces “the taste of blood on your tongue.” There’s a “bloody red horizon.”

But I digress: “Magic” could be the release to save Columbia Records, a company at a crossroads.

A few weeks ago, Lynn Hirschberg profiled new chief Rick Rubin in The New York Times Magazine. Rubin, who refuses to work from an office, was nevertheless scouting Los Angeles for new, much more expensive offices rather than for hit records. The story sent off alarms all over the business.

Ironically, it was the prior Sony administration that made “Magic” possible. Critics went berserk when Andy Lack, brought over from NBC, helped finalize a much-vaunted contract for Springsteen said to be worth $100 million. They claimed that Bruce wasn’t worth it, that he was over the hill and not a big seller. Ouch!

But Lack was right. Springsteen is the last of a dying breed of big-name rockers who are indeed worth the money. Not only has he got a fervent, dedicated following — he’s good. In fact, he’s great.

Springsteen’s last E Street Band album, "The Rising," was nominated for Grammy awards because it presented serious stuff about 9/11.

He followed that up with less commercial projects: "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" and "Live in Dublin." You couldn’t dance to any of this, and in this generation of a dumbed-down audience, that was a risk.

You can dance to “Radio Nowhere,” the lead single from “Magic,” and sing along, too. The whole album, made with the E Street Band, is designed for pleasure. There’s nothing here as poignant as “You’re Missing” from “The Rising.”

In concert, “Magic” is going to work like … magic. It doesn’t miss a beat; there are no good stadium bathroom breaks. The whole thing sounds like hit singles, if they still had hit singles.

Fans are going to love “Livin’ in the Future,” with its throwback arrangement to Springsteen’s real “Glory Days.” Clarence Clemons blows his horn, the band swings into action and it’s the Bruce everyone loves. There’s even a sing-along na-na-na chorus at the end.

But don’t be deceived. The lyrics show Bruce’s maturation and his love of stark images:

“Woke up election day/Skies gunpowder and shades of grey/Beneath a dirty sun, I whistle my time away … I opened up my heart to you/It got all damaged and undone.”

You gotta take the bitter with the sweet.

“Magic” is also an album full of rockers, many showcasing Springsteen’s love of the Wall of Sound. “I’ll Work for Your Love” and “Gypsy Biker” — with wild guitar and harmonica solos possibly from Nils Lofgren — stood out for me, and I think after one more spin, “Your Own Worst Enemy” is going to be lodged in my brain forever. It’s an obvious hit.

“Devil’s Arcade” is the closest Springsteen gets to his haunting Western gothic style. It’s a slow brewing beauty of a song too, with melodrama and magnificent imagery: “A bed draped in sunshine, a body that waits/For the touch of your fingers, the end of the day.”

“Devil’s Arcade” would be a great last song on any album, but on “Magic,” it’s a bridge to something more somber. Springsteen wrote “Terry’s Song” for his late friend and personal assistant of 30 years, Terry Magovern, who died last summer. Springsteen played it at Magovern’s funeral, and here it’s a fitting final moment:

“When they built you, brother, they turned dust into gold,” he sings, “When they built you, brother, they broke the mold.” The same could be said for Springsteen, who’s always a mensch.

Will “Magic” be a hit? Even with the downloads, I think so. Springsteen plays the "Today" show Friday morning for the first time ever. He undoubtedly knows things have changed dramatically in the music biz.

And Lack’s critics were right about one thing: the Boss has never sold multimillions of records. But he’s sold the right records to the right people. “Magic” can only bring him new fans to add to the old, and some more Grammys besides.