I hadn't ever given it much thought, but I realized tonight on my third straight listen that Land Of Hope And Dreams is the Springsteen song I've gone to the most over the last twenty years. I love everything about it, every version. It was the perfect new song for Bruce's reunion with the E Street Band, which was also a true reunion with us. and it's taken on deeper meaning for me as I've grown older and it's grown older, seen rebirth on Wrecking Ball and grown familiar once again.
It's a certain sort of understated genius when a song can serve as both a eulogy and a celebration of life. In Badlands, Bruce said "it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive," and the entirety of Land Of Hope And Dreams is a confirmation of that truth. Never has an invitation so inclusive felt so exclusive upon my receiving it.
I know some think it's paint-by-numbers Bruce, but that whole concept is one I don't subscribe to. I consider it quintessential and essential Springsteen.
You know what I like? I like how every time I come onto this forum, I see these words, and that beautiful song comes back to me.
Proud to say I've heard it played live
My 4th favourite song
But my number one go to after a crappy
Also, 5:43:
There’s nothing wrong with the studio version. But it’s necessarily a notch down from the perfection that is the 2002/2003 version complete with the People Get Ready portion.
I love the studio version.
Land Of Hope And Dreams - Glasgow, June 2016
I completely understand that for those lucky enough to be present on the reunion tour, they will love the early arrangement. It must have been an incredible thing to witness. I am also one who thinks the studio version on WB is perfect. And the band were so tight playing it in 2013/2014. A few years back I was playing with a video editing suite, and I synced up the audio from Joburg 1 Feb to a good audience video from the UK the year previously. (Hyde Park?) and it was PERFECT until about 2 and a half minutes in. The only giveaway was that Max did slightly different fills on the cymbals in 2014. Apart from that, this band was a machine and I was blown away by how tight the playing was, almost a year apart.
I'm probably in a minority in preferring the WB album arrangement (and subsequent live variant thereof as played from 2012 onwards) to the original 1999 through to 2003 version (as captured on LINYC).
Can't really say why, except where the original is soulful and uplifting I find the newer arrangement even more soulful and uplifting.
What the newer one also has going is how it was sequenced on the WB album. That arc of Rocky Ground / LOHAD / We Are Alive is just such a tremendous life affirming bracket of music, where three already strong songs somehow become even more than the sum of their parts. A cycle of life in microcosm, music that simultaneously leaves a lump in my throat while I'm punching the air.
Land Of Hope And Dreams - Paris, July 2016.
Closest thing I‘ve had to a religious experience is when he plays it live and says to us all “let me see your hands” and as one, we obey. I get goosebumps, shivers up my spine and a lump in my throat all at the same time. It’s particularly powerful when sat in the stands looking down on the “dance floor”.
When you add Clarence to the studio version it explodes.
This is the whole thing boiled down. God will protect those who pray for his forgivenenss. I have felt it myself. I crumbled the first time I heard it. I still play it very often. A Masterpiece
So after not seeing the ESB since 8-17-84 i had tickets for the Izod Center on 7-20-99. I had read some reviews and it seemed like the closing song would be a mid tempo new one. I don't know if it was the fact that i knew after waiting almost 15 years to see them again that this was probably the end ....or the near perfect way that the drums ...guitar...organ ...and finally piano were added to the intro ....But i know i was in tears real early on this one.
Like @Accountant Pete, I have always said that LOHAD will be my funeral song. I have stated that it is to be played LOUD and I might provide a translation beforehand because many people here would be out of their depth to understand the meaning.
To me, it sums up everything I would like to leave behind: A message of tolerance, understanding and hope.
Amen JF. Seeing this played live by Bruce and the band, a massive bucket list moment for me. I mentioned this recently to someone else, reminiscing about the Joburg concert on the 1st of Feb 2014. I had daydreamed and fantasized about seeing Bruce in my hometown for many years, and that included what songs would be played. I always imagined the Joburg show opening with LOHAD. It seemed perfect to me.... This really is the land of hope and dreams, to me. Its come so far but the train has so much further still to go. It wasn't the opening song (that was Free Nelson Mandela) but it was the very next song and that was just alright with me.
This is the song for my funeral (plus Going Home by Mary Fahl). This is a song that inspires me. The way Bruce has turned a (more than somewhat) judgmental folk song into a song of total inclusion. A song that in a couple of verses describes a relationship of loyalty and love to its end in death. At the same time it describes the search for the American Dream and the push West. But beyond that it has a universal message of that no-one should be absent of love and that everyone can be forgiven and there is a place for all of us in this life and the next. Put up a 1000 ft monolith in Washington DC and inscribe upon it-
Big wheels roll through fields where sunlight streams
Oh meet me in a land of hope and dreams
I'm a sinner.
Let's play... the characters of LOHAD... Who are you?
I'm a lost soul. Blasting Leeds now. 🤣
This song is about inclusion, acceptance, love, and everlasting hope. It's the anthem of the world we dream about and fight for. I love it tremendously, it's such a power boost.
Bells of freedom ringing...