Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown [추석맞이 특별곡]

개인적으로 추석이 되면 떠오르는 노래가 하나 있는데, 바로 미국의 '보스' 부르스 스프링스틴(Bruce Springsteen)의 84년 앨범 [Born In the U.S.A.]에 들어있는 [My Hometown]이란 곡이다. 아무래도 제목 때문이긴 하겠지만, 아무리 내가 태어난 고향이자 지금 살고 있는 곳이 같은 인천이라고 해도 이 곡을 들을 때마다 왠지 '고향'이란 개념에 대한 진지한 성찰을 다시금 하게 된다. (그 이유는 나도 모르겠다.) 이 블로그를 방문하시는 모든 분들께 '고향'에 대한 기억을 떠 올리는데 이 곡이 도움이 되었으면 싶다. 그의 노래들 가운데 [The River]와 함께 조용한 곡으로 가장 좋아하는 곡이라고나 할까? 황폐화 되어가는 고향 마을의 현실 속에서 떠나야 하는 30대 남성의 회고와 한탄이 한 편의 시처럼 잘 정리된 가사가 뭉클하다.

Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say 'Son, take a good look around.'
This is your hometown, this is your hometown
This is your hometown, this is your hometown

In `65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown, my hometown, my hometown

Now main streets whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says "these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to
Your hometown", your hometown, your hometown, your hometown

Last night me and kate we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags, maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said
"Son, take a good look around. This is your hometown"