Perry's Pen

After 40 years of hype, a movie, and a multi-disc reissue, I finally gave in and listened to Bruce Springsteen’s critically acclaimed and fan-revered album Nebraska.

Nebraska is a pretty good album, but it didn’t blow me away or make me think, “This is the greatest thing ever.” My reaction is similar to how I feel about Amy Winehouse’s music: it is OK, but not earth-shattering. Both artists’ work feels more like a nod to earlier genres than a groundbreaking revolution.

Jello and Mojo must have been Springsteen fans

What DID strike me is that Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon used the tune of the title track from Nebraska for their song “Hamlet Chicken Plant Disaster,” which appears on the fine album Prairie Home Invasion.

Nebraska isn’t Springsteen’s biggest album. It isn’t as massive as Born in the USA or Born to Run, albums you know whether you want to or not. Nebraska had no singles, Bruce didn’t tour or do promotion for it, and it doesn’t get airplay, so you have to be a fan and seek it out if you want to hear Nebraska. It surprises me that Jello and/or Mojo would do that on some levels, but then again, it doesn’t surprise me at all.

I grabbed Prairie Home Invasion when it first came out in 1994. I loved it immediately and continue to give it a spin every once in a while. In other words, I already knew Hamlet Chicken Plant Disaster well.

So when I was listening to the song Nebraska for the first time, I thought, “Is that that Prairie Home Invasion song?” I wondered if it was a traditional song that both Bruce and Jello/Mojo interpreted independently of each other. It isn’t, and it wasn’t, of course. All songs on Nebraska are Bruce originals.

Jello and Mojo put different words on the Springsteen tune, giving the song a modern feel with an anti-corporate greed stance. I mean, we ARE talking Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon here!

The origins of Springsteen’s song Nebraska

Springsteen’s song is written from the perspective of Charles Starkweather, a person who killed 10 people between 1957 and 1958.  Starkweather showed no remorse, not even when strapped to the electric chair.

Apparently, Bruce wrote the song Nebraska after watching the 1973 movie Badlands and reading the Ninette Beaver book Caril, a book about Caril Ann Fugate, Starkweather’s teenage girlfriend and accomplice. Fugate served 18 years after being tried and convicted of first-degree murder.

The origins of the song Hamlet Chicken Plant Disaster

Jello and Mojo’s lyrics, by contrast, recount the 1991 Hamlet, North Carolina, chicken processing plant fire, a tragedy where 25 workers died, 49 children were orphaned, and many more suffered lasting trauma.

The Hamlet chicken processing plant, owned by Emmett Roe, had its emergency exits and other doors locked to prevent employee theft. When the fire broke out, workers were trapped inside, unable to escape the smoke and flames. Twenty-five lives were lost—all due to efforts to prevent the theft of dead chickens.

Two men were judged. Now you can judge two songs:

(Jello and Mojo get more real estate because they are a complete band, and Bruce is “just” Bruce.)