American Skin (41 Shots)
American Skin (41 Shots) addressed the shooting of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant who was shot and killed by plain-clothes police officers in New York City. Forty-one shots were fired at Diallo by four officers who had stopped him in front of his home to investigate a reported rape. He was struck by nineteen rounds, as he reached in his pocket to remove his wallet. Springsteen was condemned by the New York City Police Union when he debuted the song during his 2000 tour. Police called for a boycott of his concerts. Apparently the police did not read the lyrics, as its evident that the song in not anti-police in content. Springsteen stated in the 2003 edition of his book Songs that the song was not meant to be anti-police. In fact some of the verses are addressed to police officers.1
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41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots
41 shots....
and we'll take that ride
'cross this bloody river
to the other side
41 shots... cut through the night
You're kneeling over his body in the vestibule
Praying for his life
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin
41 shots
Lena gets her son ready for school
She says "on these streets, Charles
You've got to understand the rules
If an officer stops you
Promise you'll always be polite,
that you'll never ever run away
Promise Mama you'll keep your hands in sight"
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it in your heart, is it in your eyes
It ain't no secret
41 shots... and we'll take that ride
'Cross this bloody river
To the other side
41 shots... got my boots caked in this mud
We're baptized in these waters and in each other's blood
Is it a gun, is it a knife
Is it a wallet, this is your life
It ain't no secret
It ain't no secret
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living
In your American skin
1 "I had the title "American Skin" and a few stray lines, an idea for a song about American identity, sitting in my workbook for six months. In the weeks leading up to our New York shows, the tour's finale, I'd been thinking about the case of Amadou Diallo, the innocent African immigrant gunned down in a tragic accident by undercover police detectives outside hi apartment in New York City. He'd been shot 41 times. The sheer number of shots seemed to gauge the size of our betrayal of one another. "41 shots....41 shots," that was the mantra I wanted to repeat over and over thoughout my song, the daily compounding of crimes-large and small-against one another. Though the song was critical, it was not anti-police" as some thought. The first voice you hear after the intro is from a policeman's point of view:"Kneeling over his body in the vestibule praying for his life." In the second verse, a mother tries to impress upon her young son the importance of his simplest actions in a neighborhood where the most innocent of motions (your hand reaching for your wallet, or not in sight) can be misinterpreted with deadly consequences. In the bridge, the verses "Is it in your heart, is it in your eyes" asks the singer and his audience to look into themselves for their collaberation in events. In the third verse we're "baptized in these waters and in each other's blood....It ain't no secret/No secret my friend/You can get killed just for living/In your American skin." Life in the land of brotherly fear. We debuted "American Skin" in Atlanta a few nights before we hit New York, and the audience responded powerfully. By the time we got to New York City, we were the talk of the tabloids. We were attacked in the newspapers, and I received letters from officials asking me not to play the song. If the people hadn't been serious about what they were writing (a song that very few people had even heard yet), a lot of it would have been funny. I worked hard for a balanced voice. I knew a diatribe would do no good. I just wanted to help people see the other guy's point of view. The idea was here: Here is what systematic racial injustice, fear, and paranoia do to our children, our loved ones, ourselves. Here is the price in blood."
