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Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, A Poet Singing (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE ORIGINS OF THE IDEA FOR THIS BOOK, AND OF THE decision to do the work that made this writing possible, go back to the..." (more)
Key Phrases: circus story, blind guy, big muddy, New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen, Doubting America (more...)
1.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The best part of this disappointing work is the dissection of Springsteen's lyrics but Coles's bid to highlight average Americans' interpretation of the Boss's songs falls short on several levels. Many of what are essentially oral interviews with about a dozen everyday Americans-from truck drivers to lawyers-are rambling and at times barely coherent. Curiously, many of the songs they discussed come from Springsteen's Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad, two of Springsteen's least popular albums. The focus on these solo albums may have been a conscious decision by Coles (The Moral Intelligence of Children; Children of Crisis) since they fit his attempt to portray Springsteen as a singer/poet in the manner of Arlo Guthrie, but it leaves out much of Springsteen's best material. And worst of all, the interviews, complete with short biographies of the people featured, generally offer little insight. The liveliest piece is one in which a teacher and her students discuss the messages in several Springsteen songs. Although fans may find themselves singing some of Springsteen's lyrics that appear in the book, the work is mostly full of flat notes.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Booklist

In an unusual pairing, famous child psychologist Coles pays homage to rock musician Springsteen. In two long essays that serve, in effect, as a foreword, Coles quotes the late novelist Walker Percy on Springsteen's wide appeal: "His songs are about America, without hyping the country up and without knocking the country down. . . . he sings of us while singing to us." Furthermore, Coles connects Springsteen to another New Jersey native, William Carlos Williams, calling them poets of ordinary American people. And in the sections that follow, that point is underscored as people from all walks of life talk in loving detail, as if they were in a conversation with Springsteen himself, about the musician's lyrics. A cop takes issue with the portrayal of law enforcement in "Highway Patrolman"; a grandmother is moved to tears by the love song "If I Should Fall Behind"; an affluent pre-med student is carried back to the Depression by "The Ghost of Tom Joad." Plainspoken and poignant, their uplifting comments continuously circle the bedrock issues of family, community, and work. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (November 9, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0812973003
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812973006
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 1.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,110,417 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Robert Coles
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
THE ORIGINS OF THE IDEA FOR THIS BOOK, AND OF THE decision to do the work that made this writing possible, go back to the late 1940s and early 1950s, when I was a college student studying the writing and working life of a New Jersey physician and poet, William Carlos Williams, who lived in Rutherford and ventured sometimes to Paterson and other cities of the Garden State. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
circus story, blind guy, big muddy
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen, Doubting America, Kate Smith, African American, Asbury Park, Frank Sinatra, New Orleans, Dorothea Lange, Street Shuffle, Robert Frost, Sally Ann, Garden State, New York City, Streets of Fire, United States, Wild Billy's Circus Story, Woody Guthrie, Civil War, Leap of Faith, Tunnel of Love, William Carlos Williams
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Not exactly Studs Terkel..., November 4, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing (Hardcover)
I had been looking forward to this book for a long time based on what it had been purported to be: the words of actual non-rabid 'lesser' fans speaking about what the music of Bruce Springsteen means to them, says to them. I suppose I let myself imagine a book on the order/level of Studs Terkel's 'Working,' where one can almost hear a variety of different voices speaking of their lives.

Unfortunately, a major problem I had with this book was that the voices Coles chose to include sound very much the same, almost as if one person was doing the writing/speaking and attributing it to different people. Nearly every account has a comment along the lines of "this guy, the Boss, they call him, this Springsteen guy....." which to me sounds like a line from a film. Beyond that, aside from the very first account (a teacher discussing her class going from Wild Billy's Circus Story to the Nebraska album), these people (person?) are speaking but no one seems to quite be saying anything. People recall various lines of songs but few give any insight into themselves as people, as the people Bruce sings about, or how these songs really relate to them aside from being able to recognize some biblical references.

I would suggest that anyone looking to this book as any sort of scholarly work should instead purchase a copy of Jim Cullen's excellent treatment of the way Springsteen, Woody Guthrie and Walt Whitman relate to the country, the world, and each other. And pick up a copy of the aforementioned Terkel book to 'really' hear the way Bruce Springsteen's America speaks. The people interviewed in Working may never mention Bruce Springsteen by name, but they are the characters who populate his work and our lives, much more so than those presented (or portrayed?) in this new book.

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Born to Run -- far away from this book!, July 26, 2004
By L. Feld "lowkell" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing (Hardcover)
My god, this book is awful. How can a "celebrated Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author" write such a pretentious, embarassing, ridiculous, overwrought, narcissistic/self-centered, rambling, poorly edited (was it edited at all?), unreadable piece of drivel? Perhaps Coles was looking to cash in on the popularity of "this guy they call 'The Boss,'" or perhaps he was trying to get away from his Harvard ivory tower and slum it for a bit with a few "average Americans," showing what a down-to-earth guy he really is? Unfortunately, those "average Americans'" comments and thoughts, as presented here by Robert Coles, end up as little more than incoherent ramblings which shed no light and provide little if any insight into Springsteen the man or the artist. Is this why Springsteen tries so hard to control what gets written and said about him? So that books like this don't ever get written? My advice to any Springsteen fans (or anyone else) out there thinking about buying this book: you were Born to Run -- far away from this godawful book!
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19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars 1 Star Only Because I Couldn't Give 0, November 10, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Bruce Springsteen's America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing (Hardcover)
I fortunately had the good sense to save my receipt, and returned this awful book almost immediately. If I weren't a fan, this work wouldn't convince me- I'd likely think that Springsteen's audience was cultish and stupidly devoted, and that he was a vapid rich guy masquerading as a modern day Steinbeck or Woody Guthrie. That's the LAST thing that he is, and anyone who really listens to the music should be able to tell that. I would also think that anyone who knows the music AND possesses their own writing skills should be able to effectively convey that to readers. Coles fails at that. Miserably.

Where did Dr. Coles find people who "talk" like this? Who would actually use the expression "this guy they call The Boss" when referring to Bruce Springsteen? (Do these people go into record stores and ask where to find "those Fab Four lads" or "that chap they named the Chairman of the Board"?) The answer- NO ONE! No one, that is, unless you're an eccentric, out-of-touch academic who is trying to emulate the way you think that "common people" talk. I have to suspect that Coles made these interviews up, or drastically and mistakenly paraphrased them. Sure, Springsteen is still a major rock star and a household name in much of the world. I would guess that he still has several million fans around the world who regularly listen to his music and count him among their alltime favorite rockers. But- and here's my main complaint with this book- does the average person on the street who isn't a a major fan (as Coles makes a point of reminding us about the people he quotes in the book) REALLY give Bruce Springsteen THAT much thought? What are the odds of just pulling randomly off the street someone who can speak in detail about Bruce Springsteen's role in American culture? Does he really play THAT big a role in their everyday lives that they could reflect at length on the meaning of his songs? Does Joe or Josephine Average American really view Bruce Springsteen as THE spokesman for our times? I highly doubt it. I mean, if you know only what you hear on popular radio, how could you be familiar some of the more obscure songs that Coles' interviewees discuss (when was the last time you heard Johnny 99 on the radio?!!!)? Why would someone who is not a fan go around thinking regularly about an artist 20 years past the peak of his commercial popularity? The whole thing just doesn't make sense. There are plenty of legendary, influential pop culture figures of whom I'm aware, but who I would not be able to discuss with any credibility if someone interviewed me about their impact on my life and on our culture. Bruce Springsteen is by far my favorite artist, and his music means the world to me. But let's keep him in perspective- he's not some pop culture superhero/god who is on the forefront of every American's mind. He's big, but he's not quite the Elvis or the Beatles (and even with them, could your grandmother or your mailman really give a profound, flowery dissertation on the meaning of some lesser known track off the "White Album""?). Unless you're a fan, I can't imagine that you've given him much thought in the past 15 years. It's not that Bruce's music isn't important to a lot of people, but to ascribe this as commonplace to most Americans is absurd and insultingly phoney. He's a major American singer/songwriter who achieved superstar status some twenty years ago, and who still commands a fiercely loyal following. Nothing more, nothing less. Sorry, Dr. Coles, but you're making a mountain out of an exceptionally fine molehill here. Bruce's songwriting and place in American music stands on its own, but this pretentious and contrived nonsense ends up demeaning and trivializing it.

My suspicion is that Coles, an academic, wrote about what HE thinks Bruce Springsteen should mean to people- the Springsteen ideal. Even his knowledge of the music is questionable- has he ever actually listened to a Springsteen album??? As good and important as Springsteen is, he's still entertainment. Profound, first class entertaintment, sure. I'm not diminishing at all the role that art and the artist play in our lives. But ultimately, I felt that this effort was rather patronizing and demeaning to Springsteen AND to his audience. That's really doing a great disservice to an important artist. Sad, because given Springsteen's support of Coles' magazine Double Take, I was really looking forward to this book. For whatever reason, a truly great analysis of Bruce's music has simply not been written yet. If that's what you're looking for, avoid this odd piece of work at all costs.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Town full of losers
With so much great potential in this project, it's a shame it had to be so terrible. Can you imagine if the author had talked to people who had a functional understanding of... Read more
Published on February 21, 2005 by Jennifer Hewitt

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Bother
I don't know what this book was supposed to be, but reading about how someone argues with his wife using Bruce Springsteen's lyrics is a waste of paper.
Published on November 26, 2004 by Mark J. Manta

1.0 out of 5 stars Fact or Fiction?
I should have listened to my first instinct not to get this book when I noted a Harvard child psychiatrist wrote it. Read more
Published on May 24, 2004 by Keith Plouffe

1.0 out of 5 stars I wish I were blind
"I wish I were blind" is the name of a Springsteen song but it's also what readers of this inane drivel will be screaming within the first couple of chapters. Read more
Published on January 25, 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars possibly the lamest book ever written about Bruce
This book has an attractive cover. It has a mildly interesting introduction. But that's it. The balance of the book reads as if the author, with oh, perhaps five days to... Read more
Published on January 23, 2004 by D. Miller

1.0 out of 5 stars endless drivel from someone who doesn't know Bruce.......
I opened this book with the expectation that the author would take us on a journey of Springsteen's lyrical talent, only to discover that Robert Coles truly does not appreciate... Read more
Published on January 2, 2004 by monkey

4.0 out of 5 stars Springsteen Speaks to Us All
Well, I liked it. After years of listening to Bruce's music, if not paying sufficient attention to the lyrics, the book helps me grok his lyrics in ways that move me,... Read more
Published on December 25, 2003 by G. Sinner

1.0 out of 5 stars Little insight into Springsteen's importance
I picked this up thinking that the idea of looking at Bruce through the eyes of different Americans would be a unique perspective on Bruce's legacy. Read more
Published on November 19, 2003 by H. David Peirce

1.0 out of 5 stars An author babbling ...
This book is an insult to the artist it claims to honor. Here we have a musician and songwriter trying to be worth every single dime his fans spend for his albums and concerts, an... Read more
Published on November 13, 2003

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