911 remembrance: Bruce Springsteen and 'The Rising' — How the Boss helped heal America

On the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, Bruce Springsteen was in Sea Bright. Smoke from the World Trade Center was visible in the distance when an unidentified driver yelled at him.

“Bruce, we need you.”

The Boss responded with “The Rising” in 2002, an album that articulated the country’s hopes, fears, anger, sorrow and confusion.

“It was a moment of healing,” said Robert Santelli, a Point Pleasant Beach native who’s now head of the Bruce Springsteen Archives at Monmouth University. “Bruce felt that pain personally and painfully, having lost friends in 9/11.”

“The Rising’ was artistically a return to greatness for Springsteen and the E Street Band, who had not recorded a full album together since 1984’s “Born in the U.S.A.”

“The Rising” features songs of love, faith and finding strength in loss — themes that Springsteen had explored throughout his career.

“Countin’ on a Miracle,” a song of trial and devotion, has a wonderfully robust chorus and unstoppable beat. “Worlds Apart,” which hints at an interfaith love, has a Middle Eastern-flavored intro and big guitar sound. The title track is a stirring rocker that has the phrase “Come on up” as its mantra.

The imagery of “rising” has multiple interpretations. There’s rising to a higher plane of existence; the construction of buildings rising to the sky; and then there’s the firefighters, rising up the stairwells of the World Trade Center to their fate on 9/11.

“One of the most powerful images of the 11th, that I’d read in the paper, some of the people coming down were talking about the emergency workers who were ascending,” said Springsteen on “Nightline” at the time of the album’s release in June 2002. “The idea of those guys going up the stairs, up the stairs, ascending, ascending. I mean you could be ascending a smoky staircase, you could be in the afterlife, moving on.”

The joyous rocker “Mary’s Place,” with a swelling organ, soaring build ups and a Clarence Clemons saxophone solo, is a nod to the early sonic magic that made Springsteen and the E Street Band legends. Strings and a chorus of strummed guitars make for a locomotive of noise on “Lonesome Day,” and there are similar big sounds on “Countin’ on a Miracle” and “Further On (Up The Road).”

The dirge-like “You're Missing” conveys the pain of the losses.

Some of the album’s best tracks hint at Springsteen’s influences. “Let’s Be Friends (Skin to Skin)” is a groovy and soulful interpretation of Tommy James’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion.”

“My City of Ruins,” originally written about the Asbury Park in 2000, recalls the gospel vibe of Van Morrison. The track closes the album and it was performed by Springsteen in a darkened, quiet studio in New York City on the Sept. 21, 2001, during the “America: A Tribute to Heroes” broadcast. Springsteen was backed by members of the E Street Band and other Jersey Shore talent, including Layonne Holmes of Long Branch.

More: Bruce Springsteen fans hope he gets well after peptic ulcer treatment and rest

“The air was very charged,” said Holmes of the performance, which began the show. “People were aware of the gravity of the whole situation, and for us in particular because we were first to perform. I remember the set being dark and there were all these candles and the cameras and then we were on.”

The performance set the tone for the broadcast.

“It was just being first and then leaving it to Bruce to set the tone for that whole night, that was a very palpable feeling,” said Holmes, daughter of Dee Holmes who had backed Springsteen since the early 1970s. “That's something that sticks in my memory.”

The nation was still stunned.

“Songs are good for whoever needs them,” said Springsteen during a post-9/11 benefit show at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank a month after the attacks.

More: Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band at MetLife: 6 magical moments you might have missed

Jon Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, the Smithereens, Felix Cavaliere, former members of Elvis Presley’s backing band, including D.J. Fontana and Jerry Scheff, and legendary rocker Sonny Burgess convened at the Basie for the benefit concert. The evening was originally going to be a Garry Tallent-led tribute to the Elvis players and Burgess, but after the attacks it became something quite different.

“It was kind of breathtaking,” said current E Street Choir member Michelle Moore, who was also on stage with the Pilgrim Baptist Church Celestial Choir of Red Bank, which provided backup vocals for many of the acts. “I loved every minute of it. Music always makes everything a lot better, no matter what.

“It’s very good for the soul.”

Springsteen and the E Street Band performed songs from “The Rising” on a broadcast of NBC’s “Today” in July 2002 from Convention Hall in Asbury Park. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and it garnered a Grammy for Best Rock Album.

A tour sold out 10 shows at Giants Stadium later that summer, playing to more than half a million fans less than 8 miles from Ground Zero.

In 2011, “My City of Ruins” became an anthem for Christchurch, New Zealand, following an earthquake. During a 2017 concert, Springsteen dedicated the song to the city, which was battling fires at the time. The song was poignantly performed in August 2016 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford for the victims of a recent earthquake in central Italy.

“If you’ve ever been knocked down and you’ve got to build yourself up again, this song is for you,” said Springsteen of “My City of Ruins” from the stage at the 2016 MetLife show.

On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Springsteen, wearing a suit and tie, played a stirring solo-acoustic version of "I'll See You in My Dreams" after a moment of silence at Ground Zero.

“May God bless our fallen brothers and sisters, their families, their friends and their loved ones,” said Springsteen before playing. The song, from Springsteen's 2020 album “Letter to You,” suggests that the bond between the living and the deceased is never entirely broken.

“The Rising,” "Lonesome Day," and “Mary's Place,” all from the album "The Rising," were performed at Springsteen and E Street Band's recent concerts at MetLife Stadium Aug. 30, Sept. 1 and 3.

The Sept.1 “Mary's Place” was poignantly set up by Springsteen as a life-affirming call to move forward together as “brothers and sisters.”

Twenty-two years later, songs are good for whoever needs them.

Portions of this story were previously published. Subscribe to app.com for the latest on the Jersey music scene.

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Remembering 9/11: Bruce Springsteen helped heal America