Bruce Springsteen's Lyrical Tone

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

Bruce Springsteen ventured into partisan politics during the 2004 presidential election by saying "I couldn't have been singing about the things that I've sung about for the last twenty five years and not take part in this particular election.” This paper employs a lexical analysis to understand the underlying tone of Springsteen’s lyric choice by addressing two questions: what makes Springsteen lyrics special? How are his lyrics different from the mainstream of American popular music?

Author

• Jon D. Rutter, Ball State University