No. 001 - Bruce Springsteen's "Mary's Place" changed my life
Brendan Higgins shares the personal meaning he finds in The Boss's 2002 tune. You might want to grab some tissues.
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This Song Changed My Life is an independent music publication featuring essays from people all around the world about the songs that mean the most to them. Created by Grace Lilly, supported by readers.
• 4 min read •
I often find people who didn't grow up in New Jersey don’t realize how much Bruce Springsteen's album The Rising meant to the state in 2002.
There was a kitschy story going around in the press that Bruce was in traffic in the weeks after 9/11 when a little kid lowered his window and shouted out to The Boss, "We need ya Bruce!" If most artists were to tell that story we'd all roll our eyes in disdain like we did with Mark Wahlberg's infamous 9/11 story, but Bruce Springsteen is no ordinary rock and roller.
The Boss was the only man alive who could tell that story and make it sound not only authentic but genuinely moving, and when he delivered with The Rising boy did we eat it up in the Garden State.
Given its borderline-mythological origin story, the album seems to have aged interestingly with critics.
There is a strong contingency of contrarians who ask the question "Did that album deserve the praise it got? Did Bruce live up to that ridiculous story about the record?" and a contingency of level headed intellectuals who understand that you're goddamn right he lived up to that ridiculous story, these songs kick ass.
While I have countless fond memories of my Dad driving me to and from swimming and football practice with the titular track playing, "Mary's Place" is without a doubt the song that changed my life most from that record.
My mother is named Mary, and any excuse we had to throw a party meant throwing this track on repeat for a day straight as we all got the house ready. Hell, we even have a mural of rural Ireland in our kitchen with several important familial phrases written above, "Mary's Place" chief among them.
Especially given the context of that record, "Mary's Place" was a song about getting with the people you love the most and finding an excuse to pop a couple bottles together, a song about recognizing who is important in your life and taking the time to live it up with them.
For the rest of my life hearing the violin lick that opens the track will put a smile on my face and will instantly transport me back to the countless baptisms, confirmations, sports banquets, graduations, and birthday parties this song soundtracked throughout my life.
I recently found myself in Hiroshima and stumbled into MAC, a bar that has been open since the late 1970s that boasts a 6,000+ CD collection where the lovely English-speaking barkeep takes requests.
She had a small but mighty collection of Bruce albums for me to pick between, and while I wasn't the slightest bit surprised to see Greetings From Asbury Park and Born to Run, I nearly shed a tear when I saw The Rising. She played "Mary's Place" and Bruce had the whole bar dancing some seven thousand miles from Asbury Park, with one local even asking when the record came out because it, as the barkeep translated, "Sounded so fresh." (Take that highbrow contrarian music critics! Still fresh baby!)
After giving "Mary's Place" a listen, do me a favor and go get a text thread going with the Mary's in your life and find an excuse to throw yourselves a little party. It's what Bruce and I would have wanted. ◆
Categories
Friendship • Family • Coming of Age • Romance • Grief • Spirituality & Religion • Personal Development
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About Brendan
Brendan Higgins is the editor-in-chief of music and culture blog Grandma Sophia's Cookies where he interviews up and coming artists of all stripes. He is also a stand up comedian and the co-show runner of Do You Wanna Talk About It, a mental health focused stand up comedy show that he runs with his friend Josh Ramos.
Instagram @hang10higgins
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The beloved super icon and unstoppable poetic lyricist — A Bite of Bruce Springsteen 🍪
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How it all got started — No. 000 - The Origin Story: This Song Changed My Life
Brilliant read! I love his various renditions of 'Mary's Place' whenever he sings it live too! Thank you for sharing, Brendan and Grace
As someone who ALSO grew up in NJ, "The Rising" meant the world to me. Really, really did. And my friend Michael, a fellow Springsteen fanatic, died a few years after this album came out. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him and hear "Mary's Place". It's an incredible song about living life after loss. About how you need your people around you to heal. It's about living despite sometimes not wanting to. I love this song