What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where it takes Sting to render the classic version of this Bruce Springsteen song, nearly a decade after it was first released?<\/p>\n
Mellencamp reworked "Born In The U.S.A." to the point of butchering it.\u00c2\u00a0 Loved seeing Kenny Aronoff on the kit, but this was more about Mellencamp than Bruce, and that’s just wrong.<\/p>\n
Ben Harper and Jennifer Nettles?\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, that’s who comes to mind when I think of Springsteen.\u00c2\u00a0 At least Jennifer didn’t overemote, but "I’m On Fire" possessed none of the haunting intimacy of the original.<\/p>\n
Melissa Etheridge did her best, but the band just didn’t swing behind her.\u00c2\u00a0 Watching her just reminded me how time marches on, how he\/she who’s a star once eventually becomes a has-been.<\/p>\n
I thought Eddie Vedder was going to hit it over the wall.\u00c2\u00a0 He had the vibe right, the feel.\u00c2\u00a0 But "My City Of Ruins" really shouldn’t be sung by someone from San Diego, but a denizen of New Jersey, who saw the boardwalk collapse, only to be resuscitated by gambling and then fall into disrepair once again.<\/p>\n
And then came Sting.<\/p>\n
At first I thought we were experiencing another Melissa Etheridge moment.\u00c2\u00a0 Didn’t Sting put out a Christmas album?\u00c2\u00a0 Other than being reviewed, poorly, it didn’t seem to have any traction at all.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like the opuses of not only the classic rock artists, but those from the late MTV era.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like we’re at endless batting practice.\u00c2\u00a0 No one can get it out of the infield, and the assembled multitude in the stands are all on their BlackBerries, more interested in Facebook updates than manipulated music.<\/p>\n
And "The Rising" was a manipulation.\u00c2\u00a0 Faded rock star who hasn’t done anything great since "The Streets Of Philadelphia" is implored to bring our country together with an album.\u00c2\u00a0 Which ended up sounding like a facsimile of his greatest hits.\u00c2\u00a0 It was akin to watching Mighty Casey strike out.<\/p>\n
Terrorists might have blown up the World Trade Center, but the Internet seems to have blown up the fabric of America, the unity, the integration we once had is now gone.<\/p>\n
And it’s not only in music.\u00c2\u00a0 We may have a black President, but too many people think he’s a communist who wasn’t born in America.\u00c2\u00a0 And legislators are beholden to corporations.\u00c2\u00a0 And fat cats on Wall Street believe they’re entitled to their riches, even though they bet against the investments they sold, even though they owe their continued existence to the American public they screw at every turn.<\/p>\n
What a time for an anthem.\u00c2\u00a0 What a time for an artist to lay it down straight, with a song so powerful it doesn’t need to be featured in a TV show, doesn’t have to provide the bed for a commercial, but can stand on its own.<\/p>\n
Even Bruce lost his way.\u00c2\u00a0 He played the Super Bowl to sell a new album no one wanted.\u00c2\u00a0 He released a greatest hits album at Wal-Mart, home of the oppressed worker the Boss used to try and liberate.<\/p>\n
And now we’ve got an Englishman, deplored almost as much as our President by many.\u00c2\u00a0 For his tantric sex pronouncements.\u00c2\u00a0 For his self-satisfaction in his abilities.<\/p>\n
He emerges on stage with a battered Fender bass.\u00c2\u00a0 Not a faux clone of a classic sold at Guitar Center, but an axe with miles.\u00c2\u00a0 Sans refinishing, sans plastic surgery, this bass shows the miles of its life, just like the lines in Bruce Springsteen’s face.\u00c2\u00a0 And Sting starts to sing:<\/p>\n
Can’t see nothin’ in front of me<\/span> Our country’s in sad shape.\u00c2\u00a0 Suddenly, every city is like Asbury Park.\u00c2\u00a0 Decrepit, in need of repair.\u00c2\u00a0 With its citizens jobless, and hopeless.<\/p>\n Sting evidenced the intimacy of great rock and roll.\u00c2\u00a0 His almost sotto voce delivery gave the lyrics meaning they lacked in Bruce’s original.<\/p>\n Come on up for the rising<\/span> The Chinese have all our money.\u00c2\u00a0 Japan makes all our cars.\u00c2\u00a0 The Middle East provides all our oil.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead of being dominant, we’re suddenly in chains.\u00c2\u00a0 There must be some way out of this place.<\/p>\n But only if we come together.<\/p>\n That’s the power of music.<\/p>\n Meryl Streep was grooving.\u00c2\u00a0 Mel Brooks was clapping.\u00c2\u00a0 The President and the First Lady stood.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the power of song.\u00c2\u00a0 It has the ability to unite us.\u00c2\u00a0 Both black and white.\u00c2\u00a0 Rich and poor.\u00c2\u00a0 Republican and Democrat.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re all Americans.\u00c2\u00a0 When are we going to stop fighting and join together to solve the myriad problems facing our nation?<\/p>\n Come on, everybody’s entitled to health care.\u00c2\u00a0 A chance at an economic future.\u00c2\u00a0 A climate where skin cancer is not a given.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s time to jettison the mine for me mentality that’s ruled this country for decades.\u00c2\u00a0 Sixties values need to return.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s right, it’s time to love your brother.<\/p>\n And what made us love our brothers forty years ago was the music.\u00c2\u00a0 If you wanted to know which way the wind blew, you put on a record.<\/p>\n And that was true again tonight. For five minutes at the Kennedy Center, in millions of homes tuned in on CBS, we had smiles on our faces, we had hope.<\/p>\n And that’s what we need.<\/p>\n Then go the following clip, which starts off with Eddie Vedder’s performance and goes into Sting at the 2:20 mark.<\/p>\n
Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind<\/span>
I make my way through this darkness<\/span>
I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me<\/span>
Lost track of how far I’ve gone<\/span>
How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed<\/span>
On my back’s a sixty pound stone<\/span>
On my shoulder a half mile line<\/span><\/p>\n
Come on up, lay your hands in mine<\/span>
Come on up for the rising<\/span>
Come on up for the rising tonight<\/span><\/p>\n
Sky of longing and emptiness<\/span>
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life<\/span><\/p>\n\n
32nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors 2009 Part 10 HD 1080p<\/a><\/p>\n