Cover art for Jackson Cage by Bruce Springsteen

Jackson Cage

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Oct. 17, 19801 viewer9.2K views

Jackson Cage Lyrics

[Intro]
Whoa
Yeah
Whoa

[Verse 1]
Driving home, she grabs something to eat
Turns a corner and drives down her street
Into a row of houses, she just melts away
Like the scenery in another man's play
Into a house where the blinds are closed
To keep from seeing things she don't wanna know
She pulls the blinds and looks out on the street
The cool of the night takes the edge off the heat

[Chorus]
In the Jackson Cage
Down in the Jackson Cage

You can try with all your might
But you're reminded every night
That you've been judged and handed life
Down in the Jackson Cage

[Verse 2]
Every day ends in wasted motion
Just crossed swords on the killing floor
To settle back is to settle without knowing
The hard edge that you're settling for
Because there's always just one more day
And it's always gonna be that way
Little girl, you've been down here so long
I can tell by the way that you move, you belong to
[Chorus]
The Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage

And it don't matter just what you say
Are you tough enough to play the game they play?
Or will you just do your time and fade away?

Down into the Jackson Cage
Let's go!

[Harmonica Solo]

[Verse 3]
Baby, there's nights when I dream of a better world
But I wake up so downhearted, girl

I see you feeling so tired and confused
I wonder what it's worth to me or you
Just waiting to see some sun
Never knowing if that day will ever come
Left alone standing out on the street
Till you become the hand that turns the key down in


[Chorus]
Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage

Well darling, can you understand
The way that they will turn a man
Into a stranger to waste away
Down in the Jackson Cage

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About

This song bio is unreviewed
Genius Annotation

Jackson Cage is the second song on The River, Bruce’s fifth album, and details the entrapment created by working class America and the depression of the early 1980s.

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