Reconciliation in the Anniversary Year

When people are hurt, they shut down, they have entered another kind of deep poverty. They pray, and sometimes there’s no answer. People adopt a Code of Silence because they are afraid. Vincentians are called to serve body and spirit. Listen to this Bruce Springsteen song. It’s not “religious” but it’s true.

Lyrics

There’s a code of silence that we don’t dare speak
There’s a wall between us and a river’s deep
And we keep pretending that there ain’t nothing wrong
Man, there’s a code of silence that can’t go on

Well is the truth so elusive, so elusive you see
That it ain’t enough baby, to bridge the distance between you and me
Now there’s a list of grievance 100 miles long
And there’s a code of silence and it can’t go on

Well you walk with your eyes open
But your lips they remain sealed
Beneath the promises we made are broken
Someday the truth well be revealed
Well I came to know now darlin’
I need to know what’s going on
So come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on, come on, come on

Well you walk with your eyes open
But your lips they remain sealed
Beneath the promises we made are broken
And all the truth’s gonna be revealed
Well, I need to know now baby
Need to know what’s going on
So come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on, come on, come on

There’s a code of silence we don’t dare speak
There’s a wall between us and the river’s deep
And we keep pretending that there’s nothing wrong
Baby, there’s a code of silence
And it can’t go on
Can’t go on
Can’t go on
Can’t go on
Can’t go on

CODE OF SILENCE was co-written by Bruce Springsteen and Joe Grushecky between December 1997 and January 1998. Springsteen wrote in the liner notes of his 2003 compilation album The Essential Bruce Springsteen that the song was “written with Joe Grushecky in the winter of ’97.” In a Spring 2007 interview for Backstreets magazine, Grushecky explained that Springsteen asked him if he had any stuff he thought he could use for rock songs for the E Street Band. This lead to some writing sessions and CODE OF SILENCE was something that Grushecky had written and sent to Springsteen long-distance by fax. Using Grushecky’s chorus, Springsteen took the lyrics, wrote new chords, and tweaked his verses here and there. “It was something I wouldn’t have put together on my own, and he wouldn’t have on his own,” Grushecky explained. “It was a real collaboration.” The lyric is the original version, which you can see here. The video is a 2010 concert version by Bruce Springsteen.