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 Fri Jun 13, 2008 15:52 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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I suppose "gas fires" are those flames you see coming out of some pipes that stick up at refineries. They must be burning off gas for some reason.
As for the other line, keep in mind that Bruce Springsteen's songs don't always make literal sense and just have to be felt.
When they do make sense, it often requires a three-page cultural treatise to explain them to someone who isn't American. |
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Jamie (K)
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 16:53 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Quote: | | When they do make sense, it often requires a three-page cultural treatise to explain them to someone who isn't American. |
Interesting. Can you give us some examples of such? |
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Molly
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Molly
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 17:01 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Molly wrote: | | Quote: | | When they do make sense, it often requires a three-page cultural treatise to explain them to someone who isn't American. |
Interesting. Can you give us some examples of such? |
And there's ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away.
They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burnt-out Chevrolets.
They scream your name at night in the streets.
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet.
And in the lonely gloom before dawn, you hear their engines roarin' on...
bla bla bla |
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Jamie (K)
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 17:02 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| I see. So most Americans would understand that passage right off, right? What's it mean? |
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Molly
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 17:03 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Molly wrote: | | I see. So most Americans would understand that passage right off, right? What's it mean? |
They'd get it. |
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Jamie (K)
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 17:03 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: | | Molly wrote: | | I see. So most Americans would understand that passage right off, right? What's it mean? |
They'd get it. |
What's it mean? |
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Molly
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 20:07 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| lost_soul wrote: | Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go
What does "gas fires" mean?
What does "I'm ten years burning down the road" mean ?
Thanks in advance!  |
Hi Alex,
As for the gas fires, I had the very same notion as Jamie
| Quote: |
I suppose "gas fires" are those flames you see coming out of some pipes that stick up at refineries. They must be burning off gas for some reason. |
"10 years burning down the road" can mean all kinds of things, but it seems very likely he's implying that he had been working in the refinery, and 10 years down the road (after 10 years) he felt burnt out. Metaphorically, that is.
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 20:26 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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Hi Alex
I see the line "I'm 10 years burning down the road" primarily as a reference to an American veteran of the War in Vietnam -- 10 years after the war officially ended. To me, the suggestion is that since he returned, "he has gone (and is still going) nowhere fast" (especially in combination with the following line).
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Yankee
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| Fri Jun 13, 2008 23:05 pm a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Ralf wrote: | | "10 years burning down the road" can mean all kinds of things, but it seems very likely he's implying that he had been working in the refinery, and 10 years down the road (after 10 years) he felt burnt out. Metaphorically, that is. |
I think this verse shows he couldn't get a job at the refinery:
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "Son, don't you understand"
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Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
I think this means that he fears he will be driven to break the law, once more (note he talks about "getting into a little hometown jam" - the reason he was sent off to war in the first place). |
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Molly
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| Sat Jun 14, 2008 1:16 am a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Yankee wrote: | Hi Alex
I see the line "I'm 10 years burning down the road" primarily as a reference to an American veteran of the War in Vietnam -- 10 years after the war officially ended. To me, the suggestion is that since he returned, "he has gone (and is still going) nowhere fast" (especially in combination with the following line).
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Fair point. The song was written in 1984, so that'd make perfect sense in connection with the Vietnam War.
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Ralf
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| Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:02 am a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Quote: | | Fair point. The song was written in 1984, so that'd make perfect sense in connection with the Vietnam War. |
It is, in fact, an anti-war song. |
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Molly
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| Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:05 am a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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Americans, can you tell me what this means?
And there's ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away.
They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burnt-out Chevrolets.
They scream your name at night in the streets.
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet.
And in the lonely gloom before dawn, you hear their engines roarin' on... |
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Molly
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| Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:31 am a verse from "Born in the USA" |
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| Molly wrote: | Americans, can you tell me what this means?
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Rough translation: "Americans, waste a fair bit of time preparing a paraphrase, so that I can then pick you up on some minute point and gratuitously insult your use of the present perfect for several pages..."
MrP |
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MrPedantic
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| Is this sentence ok? (Read aloud the following dialogue...) | Sentence: The group is trying to bring fast food chains to my town. |
lost_soul
