Senators Born To Run

Last week the two U.S. Senators from New Jersey introduced a resolution in Congress commending Bruce Springsteen on the 30th anniversary of the release of his “Born To Run” album. The Republican majority shot it down.

Admirably, this favorite son of New Jersey doesn't need (or even want) a resolution in Congress declaring anything about him. This is the artist who accepted an Oscar Award by saying sarcastically, "I guess it's all downhill from here".

The whole notion of a congressional commendation seems a little antithetical to Springsteen's "Born To Run" rebel-outsider image to start with. What will they come up with next? The Bruce Springsteen Community College in Trenton?

Springsteen receives all the accolades he needs by looking out over a crowd of 20, 40, 0r 60 thousand fans singing his 30 year-old songs along with him, word for word. He is one of the few artists who can get an audience of enthusiastic, sometimes inebriated fans to sit quietly and respectfully throughout an acoustic show as he did on his recent "Devils and Dust" Tour.

These days you can't even expect that kind of decorum in the halls on Congress.