The whole Born in the USA album is choc-block full of rhetoric and romantic ideals of the carefree abandon and exhilaration of youth, but few are more pressure-cooked in just one song than No Surrender.
Anyone who has tried their hand in a garage band, or just hung around at school listening to music, or been locked in a lover’s arms, or sprawled out in a field with friends, can relate to this song. Every line is a zinger, infectious drum beat, jangling guitar and The Boss belting it out. What a tune! This is how rock and roll is supposed to be.
Also consider these now-legendary lines that encapsulate perhaps better than any other on the whole record why it BITUSA became so popular and made Bruce a global mega-star (it a monster: Seven top 10 singles):
We learned more from a three-minute record, baby
Than we ever learned in school
What’s mindboggling is No Surrender was only included on the album at the insistence of Steven Van Zandt, but eventually became a concert staple. Many people might know it best from the slower acoustic version acoustic performance (Live at Meadowlands Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ – August 1984) released on his Live/1975–85 is a live compilation box set. Fast or slow, the song works. The slower version, which many prefer, turns it into something more reflective, almost like it belongs on Nebraska. Those harmonica breaks in the acoustic take carry a deep sense of memory and longing, giving the song an entirely different weight.
The following was abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:
Though it was not one of the seven top ten hits of the album, No Surrender nevertheless charted on the Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at No. 29. During the 2004 United States presidential election John Kerry, the Democratic candidate and a fan of Springsteen, used the song as the main theme song for his campaign.
The song was played less and less towards the end of the Born in the USA tour. Springsteen wrote years later: “It was a song I was uncomfortable with. You don’t hold out and triumph all the time in life. You compromise, you suffer defeat; you slip into life’s gray areas.”
As of 14 April 2024, the song has been performed at 71 of 74 shows (96%) on the 2023-2024 International Tour. It was played at each of the tour’s initial 70 shows
[Verse 1]
Well, we busted out of class
Had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three-minute record, baby
Than we ever learned in school
Tonight, I hear the neighborhood drummer sound
I can feel my heart begin to pound
You say you’re tired and you just want to close your eyes
And follow your dreams down
[Chorus]
Well, we made a promise we swore we’d always remember
No retreat, baby, no surrender
Like soldiers in the winter’s night with a vow to defend
No retreat, baby, no surrender
[Verse 2]
Well, now young faces grow sad and old
And hearts of fire grow cold
We swore blood brothers against the wind
I’m ready to grow young again
And hear your sister’s voice calling us home
Across the open yards
Well, maybe we’ll cut someplace of our own
With these drums and these guitars
[Verse 3]
Now, on the street tonight, the lights grow dim
The walls of my room are closing in
There’s a war outside still raging
You say it ain’t ours anymore to win
I want to sleep beneath peaceful skies
In my lover’s bed
With a wide open country in my eyes
And these romantic dreams in my head
References:
1. No Surrender (Bruce Springsteen song) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
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