The Screen Door Slams, Mary's Dress Sways Like a Vision

Congratulations to Mr. Jeremy Masten and Mr. Jacob Straub, a.k.a. "Chicago", for correctly naming "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel as the Sunday and Monday Song of the Day. Gentlemen, I apologize for not using a different song after Jeremy correctly identified the song and my subsequent failure to keep the revered Song of the Day contest from lapsing into disrepair and disrepute.

It seems that the songs that mean the most to me are not always those that have the most intricate time signatures or the most technical musicianship but are simply those that stand for something bigger than themselves. Songs that can grow out of a simple 3-5 minute timespan, inhabit a universe all their own, and cause me to dream and think.

I didn't grow up as big Bruce Springsteen fan, but I blame that on my parents. If I might digress for a moment: isn't that usually how you acquire your affinity for classic rock, through the conduit of the music choices of your parents during your formative years?

Growing up in the Scott household, we listened to The Eagles and Jackson Browne among others, but for some reason "The Boss" was persona non grata. During high school I began to develop my own musical tastes and through my career at ACU and Baylor, I've learned to value the musical foundation that I found growing up with the new additions that I have made in recent years.

Back to the topic at hand...recently I began listening to a sampling of Springsteen's work and the one song that I cannot get out of my head is "The Rising" from the album with the same name. The song essentially tells the tale of a New York City firefighter on 9/11 but is filled with spiritual and dreamlike imagery that paints a vivid tapestry of devotion, loss, and ultimately, hope.

Here are the lyrics:

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 a half mile line

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

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin' the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin' down here

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

Spirits above and behind me
Faces gone, black eyes burnin' bright
May their precious blood forever bind me
Lord as I stand before your fiery light

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 the line

Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life ( a dream of life)

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

As if those lyrics don't paint enough of a heartbreaking yet hope-filled picture, Springsteen and the E Street Band manage to pull out all the stops in live performances of the song. Here's a video of a live rendition of the song at a concert in Barcelona in 2002.



Enjoy: