Diary II

Dear Diary...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeHsl_owrAk

This song "Factory", by Bruce Springsteen speaks perfectly about the working man. It certainly parallels the Michael Moore/ Roger Moore (one of the best James Bonds of all time) "Roger and Me." Yes, the Bruce Song that Moore chose to actually be in the film "My Home Town" is more of a perfect fit, for the song describes the closing down of shops, big stores, and factories that once thrived in New Jersey. However, the Factory is a specifically designed song for a specifically designed purpose, to portray the factory life of a "working...a working... JUST a working man." Also, going along with the robotic theme, that Bruce displays, he very well could have been afraid of becoming the working man as well, class reproduction. Not caring about school, not even being eligible to go to Vietnam (due to not passing the physical), Bruce very well could have been the next of many working men in New Jersey. Like father...like son is an extremely robotic sequence, luckily Bruce's music rescued him from this situation.

The song portrays a robotic sense of life that Bruce witnessed his own father living/as well as others while working at a factory. He would wake up every morning, go to work, wait for the whistle, the gate opens, and the work begins. Once the whistle finally went off again it was time to go home, only to repeat this process everyday throughout the work week. There are intense lyrics in this short song. One being "factory takes his hearing, but he understands, he's a working, a working, just a working man." Obviously, we observe that at this factory people were losing there hearing. However this could just be a piece of what else they lost, physically. Working in a factory is a very dangerous job, due to the loud noise, heavy machinery, and of course perhaps peoples inexperience. None the less Bruce did a great job portraying a certain aspect of factory torture... that just comes with the territory.

The most powerful however "end of the day, factory whistle cries, Men walk through these gates with death in their eyes. And you just better believe, boy, somebody's gonna get hurt tonight." I interpret this as the factory men going home then strait to the bar... or perhaps just going strait to the bar. They hate their job and perhaps what the job has done to their life and now drinking their sorrows away is the best option. Thus, continuing the robotic sense of life. Another way to interpret it is simply somebody being laid off. The "hurt" meaning perhaps a worker just got fired/laid off and is now jobless? With these two lyrics I chose to expand upon comes the beauty of poetry, in the way that they can be interpreted anyway possible. There is no true correct interpretation and meaning. Bruce may have his meaning for the song, but I very well could interpret the song my own way and create my own meaning.


I am a fan of Bruce Springsteen (and the E Street Band). He writes a great number of songs about life in America, throughout the 60's, 70's, 80's and so forth. He always sings with a voice of the people in mind (no matter how rich he may be... we know your rich Bruce give up the act...joke). Yet, it's for these reasons that makes his songs so bone chilling, true, and very much relatable. I know for myself, I can relate to this song in a different context of a factory however. My father is" JUST a working man" and I hate seeing him live that life. With that being said-it is why he sent me to a good high school and then off to college, so I could hopefully dodge that way of life... which I plan on doing. 


If anyone would like a referral to other great Bruce Songs describing this way of life please let me know. I love discussing music and I love discussing song meanings and how they relate to life in general. Bruce Springsteen is one of the best about portraying lower and middle class America. He lived through it at one point in his life... and still finds it necessary and important to continue relating to this way of life.