"Nebraska" is the title song of Bruce Springsteen's 1982 album. The stark, moody composition sets the tone for the LP, the content of which consists mostly of songs about criminals and desperate people, accompanied only by acoustic guitar and harmonica. The song has been covered by other artists, including Steve Earle, Chrissie Hynde, and Aoife O'Donovan.

Description

"Nebraska" is sung as a first person narrative of Charles Starkweather, who along with his teenage girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate murdered 11 people over an eight-day period in 1958. Springsteen sings of 10 deaths, as Starkweather had already killed one man prior to their meeting. The song begins with Starkweather meeting Fugate:

<blockquote>

I saw her standin' on her front lawn just a twirlin' her baton<br />

Me and her went for a ride, sir ... and 10 innocent people died

</blockquote>

The economy of language in the opening is reminiscent of American writer Flannery O'Connor, whose work Springsteen had been reading prior to writing the songs for Nebraska. Springsteen has stated the last stanza, including the lines "into that great void my soul'd be hurled" and "there's just a meanness in this world" summarizes how he saw himself and all of humanity, as dogged by an existential doom.

Springsteen was inspired to write the song after seeing Terrence Malick's movie Badlands on television. The portrait in the opening lines of the girl standing on her front lawn twirling her baton was taken from the movie. The song also appears in a segment of the video VH1 Storytellers.

  • Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, glockenspiel

References

  • Lyrics from Brucespringsteen.net