Bruce Springsteen: This Hard Land Meaning

This Hard Land Lyrics

Hey there mister can you tell me what happened to the seeds Ive sown
Can you give me a reason sir as to why they've never grown
They've just blown around from town to town

Till they're back out on these fields
Where they fall from my...

1. DaVinci

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   Jul 18th 2022 !⃝

   Like all interpretations, mine also is reflected through my personal life lens.
   
   As I’ve read, one of the E Street band members stated that this song didn’t make the final cut for the album, ‘Born in the USA.’
   
   That indicates, to me, that Bruce might have been writing here thematically about his feelings and reflections on the state of life in America.
   
   The significance of this is reflected in his many references to specific mentions of American places: the Rio Grande; Liberty Hall; Germantown. And yet all of the song largely has a “global” reference to the entirety of the space that we occupy and traverse throughout life.
   
   His specific mention of ‘my brother Frank’ and ‘me and my sister’; plus his question/plea to the anonymous, ‘Hey mister/sir…’. People both close and impersonal who we share times and places in life. All reflect a wider than just personal lens.
   
   All of this a struggle, groping of Bruce’s/his song’s narrator trying to make sense of what’s become of his very challenging life. And what’s to come.
   
   This is the central, gut-wrenching feeling I get listening to his regretful, but still
   trying-to-remain-hopeful-and-optimistic about how to go forward; and not just cope, but positively embrace a greater promise for the rest of his/life.
   
   The initial plea about asking ‘mister’ to give him answers and meaning for his life’s travails, are settled in his last, eponymous verse - a mantra and life map to thrive, and not just survive: “Stay hard, stay hungry, stay alive if you can, and meet me in a dream of this hard land”.
   
   A truly universal theme and Bruce’s treasure to all of us to thrive, not survive, and embrace life throughout the journey, despite life’s many “seeds” that just ‘fall back empty into this hard land.’
   
   Thank goodness for a great artist and humanitarian who is Bruce Springsteen!

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