(This is part two of a double post today... if you haven't read part one - you should, it's pretty funny.)
... The Good Life.
That's what the sign says as you enter Nebraska. Kool-Aid was invented in Nebraska and Warren Buffet - the world's second wealthiest man - makes his home here, so based on those two things alone, it's hard to argue with the sentiment.
Nebraska has always existed in a realm of near-mythology for me - I know that's weird, and I'm not 100% certain why I feel that way. It might have something to with the whole middle-American heartland fascination that I've spent the last three weeks trying to quell. It might also be that it represents a somewhat more exotic version of the countryside I spent some of my childhood in (that countryside being my grandparents farm in west-central Saskatchewan). Or, it could be that the state of Nebraska was the inspiration (more or less) for two of my all-time favourite albums.
As with everything in life, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Everything you've ever heard about Nebraska (and I'm sure that's not a lot) is true: it's flat, it's full of farm and pasture land, it's sparsely populated and it's right smack-dab in the middle of America's bible belt. For some of you, this might not sound so attractive, but it's vast, simple and somber here: it has a beauty to it that's difficult to explain - but if you've ever driven down a dirt road at sunset listening to Bruce Springsteen you're on the right track.
Springsteen's 1982 album, Nebraska, is an unquestionable masterpiece. It wasn't initially intended to be released as it was recorded - at his home with 4-track cassette recorder - but the demos proved so haunting and 'real' that to imagine the songs existing in any other context was absurd. Tracks such as the title track, 'Mansion on the Hill', and 'Reason To Believe' capture vividly the honesty and the tragedy of the working class existence - a theme that the Boss does better than anyone.
The album is, like it's namesake, also vast, simple and somber - it's not an album to play at dinner parties. It is an album to be listened to in either a dim room half-filled with cigarette smoke, or in a car winding down a country road with the windows wide open and the wind providing the orchestra parts.
I love this album...
Mansion on the Hill by Bruce Springsteen
In 2001, The Cash Brothers (Andrew and Peter - the latter of Skydiggers fame), a little known Camadian folk-rock duo released an incredibly well-written collection of songs called How Was Tomorrow. I've loved this album from the first listen too - it has the same kinds of wide-open space and simple textures that the best of Springsteen's albums have; haunting harmony is rampant, and simple three-chord folk tunes have never felt so alive.
A track entitled 'Nebraska' is the standout on this album for me. It is an homage of sorts to the Springsteen album, but uses it as a backdrop for a beautiful heartbreak story. There's a line in it that is so perfect, and so timely that it bears singling out here... I couldn't find a video of the track, but I did find an mp3 link and - truth be told - I think that listening to it with your eyes closed is probably the way it was intended to be heard anyway...
"I've got nothing on my mind, and nothing to do... I'm just driving 'round listening to Nebraska."
Nebraska by The Cash Brothers
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5 comments:
All these artists supposedly embody an integrity that escapes Billy Joel.
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