"My City of Ruins" is a popular 2000s song written and performed by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

and included on his 2002 album '' The Rising''.

History

The song was written in November 2000, for an

Asbury Park, New Jersey Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188

Christmas show benefit to help promote the revitalization of the city. Once a popular resort destination in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Asbury Park had succumbed to significant amounts of blight for a variety of reasons, including the ill-effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the opening of the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...

, and race riots. The song first starts describing the current state of Asbury Park, the deterioration, and the absence of people in the area. Throughout the song, Springsteen continues to describe the city using images such as men loitering on a street corner and buildings with boarded-up windows: The song ends, however, on a hopeful and optimistic note by powerfully imploring the city to "rise up" from the decay: "My City of Ruins" was first played on December 17, 2000, at

Asbury Park Convention Hall Asbury Park Convention Hall is a 3,600-seat indoor exhibition center located on the boardwalk and on the beach in Asbury Park in Monmouth County, New Jersey. It was built between 1928 and 1930 and is used for sports, concerts and other special e ...

September 11 association

The song took on a new meaning soon after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, offering a message of hope and rising from the ruins. The most famous live performance of the song came on September 21, 2001, during the '' America: A Tribute to Heroes'' national telethon. With only a guitar and a harmonica, Springsteen opened the program, introducing the number as "a prayer for our fallen brothers and sisters" and modifying a few phrases in the song. He was joined on stage by

Patti Scialfa Vivienne Patricia Scialfa ( ; born July 29, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Scialfa has been a member of the E Street Band since 1984 and has been married to Bruce Springsteen since 1991. In 2014, Scialfa was inducted into ...

Steven Van Zandt Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...

Soozie Tyrell Soozie Tyrell (born May 4, 1957), formerly known as Soozie Kirschner, is an American violinist, guitarist, and vocalist, most known for her work with Bruce Springsteen in the E Street Band and formerly The Sessions Band. Biography Tyrell wa ...

, Lisa Lowell and

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

. It was included as the first track on the subsequent album released of the telethon performances. A studio recording of "My City of Ruins" was then incorporated as the concluding track of Springsteen's September 11-themed, July 2002 album release '' The Rising''.

Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake

The song was widely used by New Zealand television stations during coverage of the February

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...

, and became an unofficial anthem of the city in the weeks and months that followed. It inspired people of the city to rise up and rebuild the city, an endeavour which is now in progress. Springsteen played the song and dedicated it to the city during a concert in the city on the sixth anniversary of the earthquake, during his 2017 tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Subsequent live performance history

"My City of Ruins" was included on the '' Live in Barcelona'' concert video and as a PBS special edition EP bonus track on '' Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band: Live in Dublin''. After a tour of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Springsteen played the song at the 2006

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of visitors to New ...

. During the

Working on a Dream Tour The Working on a Dream Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and ended in November 2009. It followed the late January 2009 release of the album ''Working on a Dream''. This was the first ful ...

date in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, in July 2009, Springsteen dedicated this song to the victims of the

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

which had devastated the Italian city of

l'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...

a few months before. The song was dedicated to the Jersey Shore on November 1, 2012, at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

(a stop on the

Wrecking Ball Tour The Wrecking Ball World Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to promote Springsteen's seventeenth studio album, ''Wrecking Ball'', which was released on March 5, 2012. It was the first tour for the E Street Band with ...

) after

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

and was performed on December 12, 2012, at the Concert for Sandy Relief.

Notable covers

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...

performed the song at the 32nd Annual

Kennedy Center Honors The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five hono ...

as part of the multi-artist tribute to

, who was one of five recipients of the honor in 2009. In January 2010, pearljam.com announced that Vedder's cover of the song would be available on iTunes to raise funds for Haiti earthquake disaster relief efforts. The song entered the Hot 100 the following month, peaking at #92.

References

External links

Lyrics & Audio clips from Brucespringsteen.net
{{authority control Bruce Springsteen songs 2000 songs Songs written by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer)