 | This article needs additional citations for
verification. (August 2019) |
| "Lost in the Flood" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bruce Springsteen | |
| from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. | |
| Released | January 5, 1973 |
| Recorded | August–September 1972 |
| Studio | 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 5:17 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bruce Springsteen |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. track listing | |
9 tracks Side one
Side two | |
"Lost in the Flood" is a song by Bruce Springsteen. It was released on his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973.
"Lost in the Flood" is a sparse, piano-driven song, seemingly about a Vietnam War veteran. This is the first of many epic Springsteen songs that elicit strong emotions, usually of despair, grief, and a small glimpse of hope. The treatment of veterans in the United States has always been a sore spot for Springsteen. The lyrics [1] tell a loose story, invoking a series of images that tell three different stories for each of the three verses.
The first verse is about a "ragamuffin gunner" and has a recurring theme of religion, including references to the "hit-and-run" pleading for "sanctuary" and hiding beneath a "holy stone", while "breakin' beams and crosses with a spastic's reeling perfection" and "nuns run bald through Vatican halls, pregnant, pleading Immaculate Conception". Finally, "everybody's wrecked on Main Street from drinking unholy blood".
The second verse is about a "pure American brother", "Jimmy the Saint", perhaps the same person as the "ragamuffin gunner" from the first verse. This is the beginning of Springsteen's use of automobile themes (along with " The Angel"), as the pure American brother "races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock Super Eight" and "leans on the hood telling racing stories". Eventually, Jimmy the Saint gets into some sort of accident (described as running "headfirst into a hurricane") and presumably dies since "there was nothing left but some blood where the body fell".
The third verse concerns a series of people on the streets of a city, presumably New York. They include " Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts", "some storefront incarnation of Maria", " Bronx's best apostle", "the cops", "the whiz-bang gang" and "some kid" who gets shot in the ensuing gun fight and holds "his leg, screaming something in Spanish".
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: [2]
- Bruce Springsteen – vocals
- Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez – drums
- Garry Tallent – bass
- David Sancious – keyboards
- Steven Van Zandt – explosion sound effect through amplifier in the beginning. (Uncredited and denied by Van Zandt)
- ^ Lost in the Flood: brucespringsteen.net: Bruce Springsteen Archived February 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2020). Bruce Springsteen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-78472-649-2.
| This article needs additional citations for
verification. (August 2019) |
| "Lost in the Flood" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bruce Springsteen | |
| from the album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. | |
| Released | January 5, 1973 |
| Recorded | August–September 1972 |
| Studio | 914 Sound Studios, Blauvelt, New York |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 5:17 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bruce Springsteen |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. track listing | |
9 tracks Side one
Side two | |
"Lost in the Flood" is a song by Bruce Springsteen. It was released on his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. in 1973.
"Lost in the Flood" is a sparse, piano-driven song, seemingly about a Vietnam War veteran. This is the first of many epic Springsteen songs that elicit strong emotions, usually of despair, grief, and a small glimpse of hope. The treatment of veterans in the United States has always been a sore spot for Springsteen. The lyrics [1] tell a loose story, invoking a series of images that tell three different stories for each of the three verses.
The first verse is about a "ragamuffin gunner" and has a recurring theme of religion, including references to the "hit-and-run" pleading for "sanctuary" and hiding beneath a "holy stone", while "breakin' beams and crosses with a spastic's reeling perfection" and "nuns run bald through Vatican halls, pregnant, pleading Immaculate Conception". Finally, "everybody's wrecked on Main Street from drinking unholy blood".
The second verse is about a "pure American brother", "Jimmy the Saint", perhaps the same person as the "ragamuffin gunner" from the first verse. This is the beginning of Springsteen's use of automobile themes (along with " The Angel"), as the pure American brother "races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock Super Eight" and "leans on the hood telling racing stories". Eventually, Jimmy the Saint gets into some sort of accident (described as running "headfirst into a hurricane") and presumably dies since "there was nothing left but some blood where the body fell".
The third verse concerns a series of people on the streets of a city, presumably New York. They include " Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts", "some storefront incarnation of Maria", " Bronx's best apostle", "the cops", "the whiz-bang gang" and "some kid" who gets shot in the ensuing gun fight and holds "his leg, screaming something in Spanish".
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: [2]
- Bruce Springsteen – vocals
- Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez – drums
- Garry Tallent – bass
- David Sancious – keyboards
- Steven Van Zandt – explosion sound effect through amplifier in the beginning. (Uncredited and denied by Van Zandt)
- ^ Lost in the Flood: brucespringsteen.net: Bruce Springsteen Archived February 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2020). Bruce Springsteen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-78472-649-2.