For the vast majority of us, thankfully, stealing a car is never on the bucket list. But in art, all is fair in love and war.
Bruce Springsteen’s iconic album "The River" features a track called “Stolen Car,” which doesn’t really advocate for stealing cars
—it’s just incidental. Here’s what the Boss had to say about stolen cars. “Stolen Car,” a metaphor
Bruce Springsteen is a music legend, and a quintessential chronicler of the American driving experience. He takes us on countless literal and metaphorical road trips throughout his oeuvre. "The River" alone has “Cadillac Ranch,” “Stolen Car,” and “Wreck on the Highway,” and mega-famous “Born to Run” is so littered with references to cars that it might as well be retitled “Born to Drive.”
“Stolen Car” is the fifth song on side two of "The River." It’s classic Bruce—simple on the surface and emotionally complex underneath. The song, which is lightly accompanied by a guitar and a piano for much of it, is the first-person telling of a man who feels his marriage falling apart, piece by piece.
As he drives a stolen car down the road, the man reflects on the ways he must have read his relationship wrong (“at first I thought it was just restlessness”) and worries “that in this darkness, I might just disappear.” You can feel his desperation when he sings, “I wanna get caught, but I never do.”
The stolen car feels like his last attempt to shock his marriage back to life. But in the end, “Nobody ever sees me when I ride by.”
Any other stolen cars?
This song is an insight into a particular slice of American experience: driving is for processing complex emotions. The Boss’s twist on this trope—a stolen drive—makes it all the more shocking and raw. The song has been covered movingly by Patty Griffin, and most recently, Phoebe Bridgers.
Now that we’ve covered the tapestry of emotion that is “Stolen Car,” the question remains: have any famous musicians ever been caught with actual stolen cars? PopCulture
reports that the bass player for a ‘90s rock band called Ugly Kid Joe was recently booked for driving a stolen van. The bassist disputes this version of events, but is still scheduled to appear in court. Quick reminder for any Springsteen fans: “Stolen Car” is a metaphor, not a suggestion.
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