Springsteen believes deeply in the power of faith and overcoming, and many of his songs embody these messages. Built on the ruins of unspeakable tragedies, much of his music sees heroic protagonists escaping desolate conditions, leaving bad relationships, and coming to terms with the despair of their everyday lives. In the timeless, anthemic “No Surrender,” a duo of protagonists remind each other to give themselves up to the thrill of being alive and feelin’ it, to bailing out of school with virtue in their hearts and rock n’ roll at the foreground. His late-career powerhouse “We Take Care of Our Own” holds a fist up in national solidarity, submitting that nobody fights alone when they’re on American soil. For The Boss, unbounded optimism and raging passion are the formula for overcoming the overwhelming suffering embedded in contemporary life.
