Learn Through English
 
Music/Ethics: Violence, Death Penalty.
Song: Nebraska

Author: Bruce Springsteen

Before listening

1. How much do you know about Nebraska? It is a state of the USA. Find some general information about it and fill in this table. Get some information from http://www.Nebraska.com.

FULL NAME OF STATE

  

CAPITAL CITY

  

POPULATION

  

SITUATION

  

ECONOMY

  

LANDSCAPE

  

TRADITIONS

  

2. Read the song from top to bottom carefully. Find the words you don’t understand in a dictionary.

I saw her standin’ on her front lawn just twirlin’ her baton
Me and her went for a ride, sir, and ten innocent people died

From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska, with a sawed-off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path

I can’t say that I’m sorry for the things that we done
At least for a little while, sir, me and her we had us some fun

The jury brought in a guilty verdict and the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather straps across my chest

Sheriff, when the man pulls that switch, sir, and snaps my poor neck back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin right there on my lap

They declared me unfit to live, said into that great void my soul’d be hurled
They wanted to know why I did what I did, well, sir, guess there’s just a meanness in this world

3. What kind of text is it? Why is it written in first person?

4. What does the text tell you about the narrator? How would you describe him?

Now listen to the song.

After listening

1. Bruce Springsteen based this song on a true story. Find some information about Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate.

2. Springsteen is considered a rock star. Do you think this is the typical song a rock star would write. Why?

3. Let’s consider the song from a musical point of view. What kind of song is it? Analyse the music style.

4. This song title gives name to a whole album recorded in the early 1980’s. This is what Springsteen said about the album:

“If there’s a theme that runs through the record, it’s the thin line between stability and that moment when time stops and everything goes black, when the things that connect you to your world – you job, your family, friends, your faith, the love and grace in your heart – fail you.”

From Bruce Springsteen. SONGS. Virgin Publishing Ltd. 1998. pp. 138-139

How is this expressed in the song?

5. Why do you think some people become violent?

6. Do you think death penalty is the solution to this problem?

DEEP INTO THE TOPIC: Watch the film BADLANDS by Terrence Malick.

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