History and Themes
The song was written late in The Rising's development, and was meant as a bookend to the album's "Into the Fire". Springsteen couldn't let go of one of the central images of that day, those who were "ascending into ... what?" Thus, the song tells the story of a New York City Fire Department firefighter, climbing one of the World Trade Center towers after the hijacked planes had hit them during the September 11 attacks. The lyric depicts the surreal, desperate environment in which he finds himself:
- Can't see nothin' in front of me,
- Can't see nothin' coming up behind ...
- I make my way through this darkness,
- I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me.
- Lost track of how far I've gone
- How far I've gone, how high I've climbed ...
- On my back's a 60-pound stone
- On my shoulder a half mile of line
The choruses are more upbeat, featuring a more pronounced drum part and "Li, li, li" vocal parts that suggest Hallelujahs, but as the song progresses the verses trace the ever more dire situation. Images of fire engines and the Cross of Saint Florian are introduced, and then, in the cemetery-like "garden of a thousand sighs" from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, a series of final visions: his wife, his children, and all human experience:
- Sky of blackness and sorrow (dream of life)
- Sky of love, sky of tears (dream of life)
- Sky of glory and sadness (dream of life)
- Sky of mercy, sky of fear (dream of life)
- Sky of memory and shadow (dream of life)
The song's religious imagery also includes references to Mary Magdelene meeting the risen Christ on Easter morning ("I see Mary in the garden"), and the Blood of Christ, although Springsteen has stated that the Mary in the song could also be the hero's wife or lover. Writer Jeffrey Symynkywicz evaluates the song as "an Easterlike anthem arising out of the darkness and despair of September 11, a national Good Friday experience if ever there was one."
Read more about this topic: The Rising (Bruce Springsteen Song)
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