We Take Care of Our Own

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The amazing thing about Springsteen's writing is that he has kept his characters consistent from year to year and album to album and that's not easy to do considering the changes in his own life. Yet when I read the words to the new song I am struck by the same thoughts as I was when I first heard him as a teenager. At that point he was facing an internal struggle to fit in as a social outcast and a struggling musician. To see the same sort of angst in his heart as a billionaire rock star means a lot to me. He never abandoned the cause. The guy driving the car at the end of Thunder Road is still on the road looking to find his way. And Americans everywhere can appreciate the work-in-progress feel to all of the characters.

A struggle to be spiritual, productive and alive.

Words by Bruce Springsteen. Columbia Records.

We Take Care of Our Own

I’ve been knocking on the door that holds the throne.
I’ve been looking for the map that leads me home.
I’ve been stumbling on good hearts turned to stone.
The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone.

We take ...care of our own…
We take care of our own.
Wherever this flag’s flown.
We take care of our own.

From Chicago to New Orleans
From the muscle to the bone.
From the shotgun shack to the Superdome.
There ain’t no help
The calvary’s stayed home
There ain’t no one hearing the bugle blown.

We take care of our own…
We take care of our own.
Wherever this flag’s flown.
We take care of our own.

Where are the eyes, the eyes with the will to see?
Where are the hearts that run over with mercy?
Where’s the love that has not forsaken me?
Where’s the work that will set my hands, my soul free?
Where’s the spirit that will reign, rain over me
Where’s the promise from sea to shining sea…
Where’s the promise from sea to shining sea…

Wherever this flag is flown.
Wherever this flag is flown.
Wherever this flag is flown.

We take care of our own.

Wherever this flag is flown.

We take care of our own.

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