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How did the September 11 attacks change the meaning of Bruce Springsteenās āMy City of Ruinsā?
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Bruce Springsteen
American rock musician Bruce Springsteen performs at the New York Film Festival Spotlight Gala at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, 2025. The gala featured a screening of Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025), a biopic centering on the making of Springsteen's 1982 album Nebraska.
Although Bruce Springsteen originally wrote the song "My City of Ruins" about Asbury Park, New Jersey, the composition took on a different tone following the September 11 attacks.1
When Springsteen performed the song's national debut on a television special on September 21, 2001, the lyrics resonated with the national mood in the wake of the tragedy. This shift in tone helped set the thematic stage for his 2002 album, The Rising, which explored the consequences of the attacks and their aftermath.1