Australia's deputy prime minister Wayne Swan has named Bruce Springsteen as one of his economic heroes, and even claims he has the foresight to predict the economic crisis. "You can hear Springsteen singing about the shifting foundations of the US economy which the economists took much longer to detect, and which of course everyone is talking about now," he said in a lecture to members of the ruling Labor party, The Guardian reports. He added: "It's often the case that great artists – people like Bruce Springsteen – tend to pick up the subterranean rumblings of profound social change long before the economic statisticians notice them." Springsteen's songs should serve as a warning to Australians against the widening economic inequality seen in America, he said, demonstrating the point by quoting the lyrics to Springsteen's 1978 track Badlands: "Poor man wanna be rich/Rich man wanna be king/And a king ain't satisfied/'Til he rules everything". Earlier this week (July 31), Springsteen performed his longest ever set – clocking in at four hours and six minutes in Helsinki, Finland. All of Springsteen's sets on his current European tour have been lengthy, which caused a controversy during his set at London's Hard Rock Calling. After the singer passed the show's allotted end time, the decision was made to pull the plug while he was onstage with Paul McCartney. Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!
Australia’s deputy prime minister Wayne Swan has named Bruce Springsteen as one of his economic heroes, and even claims he has the foresight to predict the economic crisis.
“You can hear Springsteen singing about the shifting foundations of the US economy which the economists took much longer to detect, and which of course everyone is talking about now,” he said in a lecture to members of the ruling Labor party, The Guardian reports.
He added: “It’s often the case that great artists – people like Bruce Springsteen – tend to pick up the subterranean rumblings of profound social change long before the economic statisticians notice them.”
Springsteen’s songs should serve as a warning to Australians against the widening economic inequality seen in America, he said, demonstrating the point by quoting the lyrics to Springsteen’s 1978 track Badlands: “Poor man wanna be rich/Rich man wanna be king/And a king ain’t satisfied/’Til he rules everything”.
Earlier this week (July 31), Springsteen performed his longest ever set – clocking in at four hours and six minutes in Helsinki, Finland.
All of Springsteen’s sets on his current European tour have been lengthy, which caused a controversy during his set at London’s Hard Rock Calling. After the singer passed the show’s allotted end time, the decision was made to pull the plug while he was onstage with Paul McCartney.
Please fill in our quick survey about Uncut – and you could win a 12-month subscription to the magazine. Click here to see the survey. Thanks!
