John Bruce Stump Speech #2: The Wild, The Innocent, the E-Street Shuffle

The opening cut, "The E-Street Shuffle," is a reflection of a community that was partly imagined and partly real. Sparks fly on E-Street when the boy prophets walk it handsome and hot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

I wanted to describe a neighborhood, a way of life, and I wanted to invent a dance with no exact steps. Forcin' a light into all those stoney faces left stranded on this warm July. More in September than in August. And now we see beheadings. And we got weapons of mass destruction crossing the border every single day, and they're blowing people up. And we don't have enough troops there. It was just the dance you did every day and every night to get by. And there hasn't been a talley since Sally left the alley, issued a memorandum from the Defense Department saying, "If you weren't with us in the war, don't bother applying for any construction." That's not a way to invite people. I watched the town suffer some pretty serious race rioting and slowly begin to close down. And circus town's on the short, waved them off and said, "No, no, no, no. The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me."

Just when you thought the song was over, you'd be surprised by another section, taking the music higher. But they sighed "Johnny it falls apart so easy and you know hearts these days are cheap" – none of which were true. It was, in spirit what I'd taken from the finales of the great soul revues. You don't need to call me Lieutenant, Rosie, and I don't want to be your person who could be a commander in chief who could get your kids home and get the job done and win the peace. When you left the stage after performing one of these, you'd worked to be remembered. Together they're gonna boogaloo down Broadway and come back home with the executive who looted it, who bailed out on a golden parachute. America can do better. And help is on the way. Not that it would all BE funny but that it would all SEEM funny. That would come later.