I am listening to Springsteen's Wrecking Ball tonight, but the song stuck in my head is from The River.
The singer in "Wreck on the Highway" comes upon a wreck on the highway. "I seen a young man lying by the side of the road/He cried Mister, won't you help me please."
In the next few lines, you learn he died, so he wasn't exactly lucky. But I am often envious of him.
He really needed help. Who is going to think a dying man is a jerk for asking for help?
But someone who asks for a cup of tea when the helper has a lot of other stuff to deal with? Well, the asker himself might feel like a jerk.
You know, I never assumed the guy in "Wreck on the Highway" died. I know there's a line about "...a state trooper knockin' in the middle of the night, to say..." but I always assumed it was just speculation on the part of the storyteller after seeing such a horrible sight. I figured since they took him away in an ambulance to Riverside (which I'm guessing is a hospital, not a morgue!) he was still alive.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that makes me a glass is half full kind of person.
And that's officially the most anyone's thought about a springsteen song.
ReplyDeleteTrue, how can the singer know the guy died?
ReplyDeleteAnd no one can ever think about Springsteen too much.