"We Take Care of Our Own" is a song written and recorded by American musician

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 originato ...

. It is the first single from his album, '' Wrecking Ball''. The single was released for download through amazon.com and iTunes on January 18, 2012. The song made its live debut on February 12, 2012, at the

54th Grammy Awards The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted the ...

, where it was nominated for

Best Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is designed for s ...

and Best Rock Song. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' named the song the 32nd best song of 2012. Music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

named it the best single of 2012.

Lyrics and music

The song is an up-tempo rocker which resembles the sound of the younger bands Springsteen has recently taken under his wing, such as

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core mem ...

and The Gaslight Anthem. The lyrics express Springsteen's frustration that—after several years of economic hard times—people are less willing to help each other. The song begins: :''I've been stumblin' on good hearts turned to stone :''The road of good intentions has gone dry as a bone.'' The narrator asks where he can find merciful hearts or work to set his hands and soul free and makes references to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. However, the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the v ...

strikes a more optimistic (or ironic depending on listener interpretation) note that "Wherever this flag is flown/We take care of our own." NPR's Ann Powers describes the song as "a bitter anthem" and states that on this song, as with " Born in the U.S.A.," " Glory Days", and 2008's "

Girls in Their Summer Clothes "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" is a song by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, from his album ''Magic''. Matched with a pop-oriented melody, Springsteen's full-throated singing, and a pop-orchestral arrangement, the lyric portrays a s ...

," "Springsteen brings out big emotions and then demands we drop the delusions that often accompany them." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' printed a letter from a reader who said that the song rebukes the US government inaction regarding

Hurricane Katrina disaster relief The disaster recovery response to Hurricane Katrina in late 2005 included U.S. federal government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), state and local-level agencies, federal and ...

in New Orleans; that the song's message "is not that Americans take care of one another, but that we should—and don't."

Music videos

Springsteen was spotted in New Jersey on January 13, 2012, filming what was believed to be a new music video. On January 19, 2012, the date the single was released, Springsteen's official website released a music video for the song containing various black and white images of Springsteen interspersed with text of the song's lyrics. On February 10, 2012, a second official music video premiered, this time featuring Bruce performing in abandoned buildings and on rooftops in an urban setting. Various images of working class Americans are shown as lyrics flash by. As Springsteen sings the song's emotional resolution ("Wherever this flag is flown/We take care of our own"), the image transforms from black and white to color, climaxing as Springsteen joins a crowd of everyday Americans walking together in daylight, in unison. The video was filmed in and around Asbury Park, including the roof of the Savoy Theatre and inside of Frank's Deli.

Use in politics

This song was played throughout

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

's 2012 presidential campaign and after his victory speech at his headquarters in Chicago. Sales of the song rose 409% following Obama's speech at the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...

. The song was played at Joe Biden's victory speech after he had won the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: ** ...

Personnel

– lead vocal,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, loops *

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 ...

– backing vocals * Ron Aniello – guitar, bass, keyboards, piano, drums, loops *Lisa Lowell – backing vocals *

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 was ...

–

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, backing vocals * New York String Section **Rob Mathes –

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

**Sandy Park – string contractor **Lisa Kim – concertmaster **Myumju Lee – violin **Ann Lehmaan – violin **Lizz Lim – violin **Johanna Marher – violin **Annaliesa Place – violin **Fiona Simon – violin **Sharon Yamada – violin **Jung Sun Yu – violin **Karen Dreyfus –

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

**Daniel Panner – viola **Robert Rinehart – viola **Mina Smith –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

**Alan Stepansky – cello

Charts

References

External links

Brucespringsteen.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:We Take Care of Our Own 2012 songs Bruce Springsteen songs Songs written by Bruce Springsteen Columbia Records singles 2012 singles Song recordings produced by Ron Aniello Song recordings produced by Bruce Springsteen