Bruce Springsteen: Adam Raised a Cain Meaning

Adam Raised a Cain Lyrics

In the summer that I was baptized,
My father held me to his side,
As they put me to the water,
He said how on that day I cried.
We were prisoners of love, a love in chains,
He was standin' in the door, I was standin' in the rain,
with the...

1. kooljohn176

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   Sep 30th 2013 !⃝

   this song is about a father and son relationship from baptism by water to baptism by fire. here in this song bruce is baptized, his earthly father close by his side in the love of god. I believe both cried as prisoners of love in chains, and as the years go by the the father and son relationship gets complicated and difficult to understand each other. probably the son feels that he is not good enough in his offerings of his ideas of the future for himself, or maybe he feels cursed in some way, so he starts backtracking in relation to adam's son cain in his feelings of coming back. who knows if bruce was tapping in reincarnation like some of the old Christians did, but he is searching his soul for rememberence in the faces and names. he knows that he has to leave home because of the strain in namecalling, at the same time he has to pay for his father's sin and his sin from the past. here is a young man that feels the pain of his father's struggles in works throughout his life in love and compassion for him. towards the end the father is looking for something to blame, while at the same time they both inherit the sins and the flames of somebody's past.
2. Tazmania

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   Mar 24th 2012 !⃝

   Adam Raised a Cain deals with the complexity and affects of father/son relationships. Throughout his career, Springsteen has often talked and wrote about his relationship with his father.
   
   The first part deals with the love/hate relationship:
   "He was standing in the door,
   I was standing in the rain,
   With the same hot blood running through our veins"
   
   Later, Adam Raised a Cain also deals with the expectations of others based upon where you come from (who your father is)"
   
   "Your born into this life paying,
   For the sins of somebody else's past"
   
   It finishes with the thought that this is something that you will carry with you all your life:
   "Lost, but not forgotten in the dark heart of a dream,
   Adam Raised a Cain"

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