 | My HometownBruce Springsteen |
Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen (see lyrics here) Released: November 21, 1985 First Charted: December 6, 1985 Peak: 6 US, 7 CB, 6 GR, 7 RR, 11 AC, 6 AR, 9 UK, 16 CN, 47 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 68.3 video, -- streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” was the seventh single released from his 1984 Born in the U.S.A. album. More importantly, it was the seventh top-10 hit from the album, matching the record established by Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The song was also the seventh from the album to reach the top 10 on the album rock chart. It is also the only Springsteen song to date to top the adult contemporary chart. Billboard called it a “contemplative, insightful single.” WK The lyrics focus on the protaganist’s memories of the pride his father instilled in him regarding the family’s hometown. By song’s end, the narrator is planning to move, but takes his son driving to experience the same community pride his father had demonstrated. “My Hometown” starts out feeling like it will be a nostalgic look at childhood, but delves into the racial violence and economic depression which the narrator saw in his adolescence and young adulthood. WK Springsteen drew on the racial strife and economic tension he saw in his own hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, offering what Cash Box called a “tender and somber look at the real American hometown.” WK The song’s bleak portrait of the life of the working class extended his audience with the common man, especially during the Reagan era as many small towns were falling apart. SF In a case of life mirroring art, the 3M company closed its factory in Freehold, echoing the line in the song about “they’re closing down the textile mill.” SF Resources:
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First posted 8/7/2022; last updated 2/21/2023. |
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