ABSTRACT
To fans of Springsteen the character of “Mary” isn’t new. She has appeared consistently throughout the canon of his work. Springsteen acknowledged in a 2002 interview for Uncut that the reoccurrence of Mary in his work was probably a result of his Catholic upbringing: “That was always the most beautiful name.” It has already been noted that many of the occurrences of Mary in Springsteen’s early work (the 1970s to the early 1980s) is fascinated with the Madonna/Whore image of Mary Magdalene (Symynkywicz, 2008). However, I demonstrate in this chapter that Springsteen’s depiction of Mary changes after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Springsteen’s musical theology develops in a remarkably similar way to both popular Marian devotion and to academic Marian theological scholarship. Post-9/11, Springsteen’s Mary becomes the sorrowful mother of the Mater Dolorsa, a divine figure with holy flesh and blood, and a liminal figure who occupies places on the edge. In this chapter I explore some of Springsteen’s more recent Mary’s from the post-9/11 period in songs such as “Mary’s Place,” “The Rising,” “Maria’s Bed,” and “Mary Mary.” Springsteen’s Virgin in this period is a product of his own, left-wing politics and popular Catholicity. In exploring this tension I argue that Springsteen’s latter depiction of Mary is a shift in his own musical theology that is both traditional and, at times, radical. She is both the conservative place of refuge and stability, as well as the liberal, liberating source of hope and inspiration.
