Idealism in the Promised Land

I was driving home yesterday, feeling restless and contemplative, when Bruce's The Promised Land came over the Sirius airwaves. Ever feel like a character in a song? Ever see those characters fully realized, a movie only you can see? Happens to me all the time. Happens to anyone who feels their music deep in their soul, anyone who has ever felt the music penetrate them so deeply that it becomes a part of them. Usually strikes as a teenager, the music becoming your self-defining soundtrack, the source of solace and belonging and energy and happiness. That moment when you discover that you're not alone, you're not the only one feeling this feeling...

I've been told that feeling fades, that as you get older and life's various realities and obligations take precedence. Jobs, families, mortgages, illnesses, etc. Music becomes background noise. Concerts become fond memories, anecdotes shared with friends. But that's just what I've been told. My experience is very different.

That teenage passion, that fire in the soul...it still burns as intensely as ever. The music still moves me more than anything, still provides comfort and understanding and perspective and solidarity, still a reminder that someone else at some point has felt the way I'm feeling right now.

Yesterday, with a head full of doubt and discontent, with the fire of a man knocked off a path and hell-bent on climbing back on...I found myself singing at the top of my lungs, spitting out the words like the action of doing so led directly to redemption.

Mister I ain't a boy no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land


Chronologically, I've been a man for a long time. But in my head, I'm still young and wild and free. Still walking along that edge, still on the outside looking in.

I've done my best to live the right way
I get up every morning and go to work each day
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold
Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode
Explode and tear this town apart
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart
Find somebody itching for something to start

Don't we all feel that way at some point? The monotony of this routine, the crushing weight of being trapped in a life that you didn't plan for? Wanting action, wanting to escape?

There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted


Yeah...the freedom of the road. One of Bruce's enduring images, a motif he's returned to time and again. This time driving straight into the storm to face it head on, with only faith for support. Faith keeps dreams alive.

My dreams are still alive. When your dreams die, you die. Maybe I'm naive or crazy or too romantic for my own good. But I still believe in the Promised Land. I still believe I'm gonna ride off into the desert, my girl by my side, and reach that Promised Land. It could be closer than we think. I'm still going to let the music flow through me the way my blood does, keeping me alive. Anyone can live, man...but the music keeps me alive. Nobody can take your dreams from you unless you let them. Fuck that.

Turn me on, turn it up. Stop drafting my dreams.