If I remember rightly this Bruce Springsteen track was on The River album from about 1980/81. That album in my opinion is full of hard hitting socially aware lyrics, complimented by awesome musicianship by the E Street Band.
This song speaks of the emptiness of a hungry heart. Most peoples ideal when growing up, is to have a good marriage with children, but as the song intimates, it does not always end up this way. Sometimes you can reach the stage, when just jumping in the car and driving anywhere else, seems to be the best solution. I remember once when our eldest boy was still a baby, I had had care of him all day, and he just did not seem to have stopped crying. When my wife got home from work, I just passed him over, got in the car and drove for hours, not really knowing where. Though I did know that I would end up home again a few hours later, when the stress had more or less passed. It was not until that point that I realised why some people could just do the no going back thing. There is also the hungry heart seeking solace in the bottle of beer or spirits, and the casual pick up in the bars or clubs. I have never been there myself, but again I can see how it can happen.
I know that it is a cliche, but everyone has a God shaped hole in their heart, and can only be whole totally when God is allowed to fill that hole. God has always wanted the best for His people, though we often can not, or will not, see this.
Growing up I could not really see myself as married, or with children, despite what I said earlier about most peoples aspirations. God in His goodness has given me both, and I feel so much better for it. It is my opinion though, that if He had not done so, my life would have still been ok, if I allowed my hungry heart to be filled by Him. We all yearn for a place to rest, a place to call home, and not to be alone. God provides all three, and yes some people may be single in a human relationship basis, but with God to fill the hungry heart they are not alone in the true sense of the word.
Hungry Heart
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
CHORUS
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a hungry heart
I met her in a Kingstown bar
We fell in love I knew it had to end
We took what we had and we ripped it apart
Now here I am down in Kingstown again
CHORUS
Everybody needs a place to rest
Everybody wants to have a home
Don't make no difference what nobody says
Ain't nobody like to be alone
CHORUS
This version was performed life in Toronto in 1984 and feature the original and best line up of the E Street Band.
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
CHORUS
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Everybody's got a hungry heart
Lay down your money and you play your part
Everybody's got a hungry heart
I met her in a Kingstown bar
We fell in love I knew it had to end
We took what we had and we ripped it apart
Now here I am down in Kingstown again
CHORUS
Everybody needs a place to rest
Everybody wants to have a home
Don't make no difference what nobody says
Ain't nobody like to be alone
CHORUS
This version was performed live in 1984 in Toront, and features the best and original line up of the E Street Band.
Friday 15 May 2009
Friday 1 May 2009
Telegraph Road
This song has always resonated with me for some reason. It is by a British band, Dire Straits, but appears to be set in the American Midwest, though I may be wrong on that. It appears to be about the birth of a small town, based on one man stopping there and building himself a home. Others join, and a community develops, iron ore is discovered and mined, then comes the war and depression. The man in the song wants to work, but there is none, and slowly it appears that this once thriving community dies on its feet, with businesses closing or moving out.
In this scenario hopelessness and desperation can easily kick in, though he appears to be clinging on to his memories of the past, and a future hope.
The sad thing is, that this type of mass closures appears to be happening again now. Employers large and small are closing worldwide. We do not appear to be learning from past mistakes. In my lifetime alone I can remember at least two similar situations, both in the 1970's, though you could argue that they were in fact one.
It seems almost trite to say that even in the midst of all this that God is in control, but He is. He has a purpose and plan for all of us, the trouble is we often have difficulty either accepting this, or seeing it. Even in the bleakest situation, we have to remember that God loves us, and is in the process of rescuing us.
Telegraph Road
A long time ago came a man on a track
walking thirty miles with a pack on his back
and he put down his load where he thought it was the best
made a home in the wilderness
he built a cabin and a winter store
and he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
and the other travellers came riding down the track
and they never went further, no, they never went back
then came the churches then came the schools
then came the lawyers then came the rules
then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
and the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Then came the mines - then came the ore
then there was the hard times then there was a war
telegraph sang a song about the world outside
telegraph road got so deep and so wide
like a rolling river. . .
And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
people driving home from the factories
there's six lanes of traffic
three lanes moving slow. . .
I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found
yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
we're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
and the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
they can always fly away from this rain and this cold
you can hear them singing out their telegraph code
all the way down the telegraph road
You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
when life was just a bet on a race between the lights
you had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
but believe in me baby and I'll take you away
from out of this darkness and into the day
from these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
from the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
and I don't want to see it again. . .
From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
all the way down the telegraph road
The version shown below was recorded live in Basel in 1992.
In this scenario hopelessness and desperation can easily kick in, though he appears to be clinging on to his memories of the past, and a future hope.
The sad thing is, that this type of mass closures appears to be happening again now. Employers large and small are closing worldwide. We do not appear to be learning from past mistakes. In my lifetime alone I can remember at least two similar situations, both in the 1970's, though you could argue that they were in fact one.
It seems almost trite to say that even in the midst of all this that God is in control, but He is. He has a purpose and plan for all of us, the trouble is we often have difficulty either accepting this, or seeing it. Even in the bleakest situation, we have to remember that God loves us, and is in the process of rescuing us.
Telegraph Road
A long time ago came a man on a track
walking thirty miles with a pack on his back
and he put down his load where he thought it was the best
made a home in the wilderness
he built a cabin and a winter store
and he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
and the other travellers came riding down the track
and they never went further, no, they never went back
then came the churches then came the schools
then came the lawyers then came the rules
then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
and the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Then came the mines - then came the ore
then there was the hard times then there was a war
telegraph sang a song about the world outside
telegraph road got so deep and so wide
like a rolling river. . .
And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
people driving home from the factories
there's six lanes of traffic
three lanes moving slow. . .
I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found
yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
we're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
and the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
they can always fly away from this rain and this cold
you can hear them singing out their telegraph code
all the way down the telegraph road
You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
when life was just a bet on a race between the lights
you had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
but believe in me baby and I'll take you away
from out of this darkness and into the day
from these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
from the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
and I don't want to see it again. . .
From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
all the way down the telegraph road
The version shown below was recorded live in Basel in 1992.
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