The Rising (Bruce Springsteen song)

"The Rising" is the title track on Bruce Springsteen's 12th studio album The Rising, and was released as a single in 2002. Springsteen wrote the song in reaction to the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City. It gained critical praise and earned Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance of the year, as well as a nomination for Song of the Year. Rolling Stone named it the 35th best song of the decade.

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". 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...... ...

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