Artist:	Bruce Springsteen
Song:	Adam Raised A Cain
Album:	Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Year:	1978

Buy this song from:

About The Artist

Bruce Springsteen came out of New Jersey in the early 1970s sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and early Tom Waits, backed by the rambunctious...
read more

Definitive Albums

Born In The U.S.A.

Born To Run

Contemporaries

Influences

Followers

Crooked Fingers
Dave Alvin
Iron City Houserockers

See All Info

Severin | MEMORY FROM 1978

Growin' up and out

LOCATION: My parent's basement , Cumberland, Maryland

YEAR: 1978

TAGS: Epiphany

PUBLISHED: July 6, 2008

Springsteen's "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", along with "Quadrophenia" by The Who, defined what I was in the 70's. I was a small town boy becoming a small town man and I hated it. I didn't understand myself and I couldn't justify the anxiety that was stuck in my gut. I had a good life, I was lower-middle class, well-fed and I didn't have to pay rent. My education was cheap and my girlfriend loved me. I was poised for the long run to live my life there and the thought of that scared me to death. Sure, some of my friends from High School had moved on; that was afforded to them because they went away to college, but most of my peers seemed happy to play out their roles as they grew into them. Not me. What was wrong with me?

Everything changed one night when I placed the stylus on my freshly bought copy of Bruce's new record. Clarity began to sink in on Badlands but it became crystal clear on Adam Raised a Cain; Bruce was telling, no yelling at me to get out. Stay and my very soul would perish he was saying. I didn't have to assume my father's life and my old man was too afraid to say that to me, but Bruce wasn't. I knew what I had to do.

Three years later, with a divorce behind me, I left my hometown in my rear-view mirror. My life was saved by Rock and Roll.

| Print| RSS| Add user as a Friend| Add to Favorites

Add a Comment

COMMENTS (3)

RHMF said: Dang..that's powerful. Great post. Great song...I too have had the glowing words of the prophet Bruce light a path for change. Love this ablum, it's truly a masterpiece of emotion. (7/6/2008)