September 14, 2023: AmericanStudying The Rising: “The Fuse” and “Let’s Be Friends”

[For thisparticular AmericanStudier, there’s no better way to think through another anniversaryof September 11th, 2001 than to consider some of the many lessons wecan learn from the best cultural work depicting that moment: BruceSpringsteen’s album The Rising (2002). Sothis week I’ll AmericanStudy pairs of songs from that vital work—please shareyour own responses, nominations for other vital 9/11 cultural works, andfurther thoughts for a crowd-sourced weekend post!]

On thevital role of art about sex in challenging times.

One of themore frustrating recent debates has been over whethersex scenes in film and TV are necessary or outdated. Part of myfrustrations have to do with a significant historical mistake: many of thosearguing against sex scenes seem unaware that films were quite sexy until theemergence of the industry’s restrictiveHayes Code in the 1930s, and thus that sex scenes are far more foundationaland defining to the genre than they are modern. But even leaving thoseimportant details aside, it’s also very frustrating to see so many folksarguing that sex scenes in films or TV shows serve no storytelling purposesother than to titillate or appeal to the male gaze or the like. Of course somesex scenes might be superficial or unnecessary (or even sexist and shitty), butthe same could be said for virtually any type of scene in cultural works; ofcourse there are specific issues around intimacy that need to be addressed withthis particular type of scene (and are being conscientiouslyaddressed these days, it seems), but that’s a distinct question fromwhether the scenes themselves contribute to elements like plot,characterization, and themes.

Songs aresex are not identical to sex scenes in visual media (although there’sunquestionably a problematichistory of blatantly sexist music videos), but many of the same questionscould nonetheless apply. More exactly, I’d likewise make the case that songsabout sex similarly can play important cultural and social roles, well beyondtitillation or the like. And one of the songwriters who has most consistentlyincluded sexy songs on albums where they might seem out of place but insteadcontribute meaningfully to the whole is Bruce Springsteen. Take “Cover Me,” for example,which immediately follows “Born in the U.S.A.” at the start of thatalbum and reflects the speaker’s desire for physical companionship (notlimited to sex, but certainly including it) amidst that challenging 1980sworld. Or “You’ve Got It,”for another example, which comes halfway through Wrecking Ball and importantly offers sex and romantic love as waysto counter that album’s darkand depressing themes.

The Rising includes not one but two such songs,a pair of sexy tracks that complement each other and collectively represent sex’svital role in these kinds of fraught and fragile historical moments. The couplein “The Fuse” arealready together, and so the speaker’s repeated plea of “Come on let me do youright” in response to a moment when the “Devil’s on the horizon line” reflectshow existing companionship can counter such darknesses. Whereas “Let’s Be Friends (Skin toSkin)” is as its title suggests a proposition, one that makes direct (andmaybe slightly cynical, but it doesn’t feel that way to this listener at least)use of the moment’s uncertainties (“Don’t know when this chance might comeagain/Good times go a way of slippin’ away”) to make the case that the speakerand addressee “get skin to skin.” As with all of Springsteen’s sexy songs, bothof these tracks exist not in spite of nor separate from their album and moment’sbroader contexts, but as important layers to those contexts, reminding us as somuch great art does that sex is fully part of art and world alike.

LastRisingStudying tomorrow,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? Other 9/11 texts you’d highlight?