"The dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin' on the end of my line."
Obviously, The Boss's word on this is final, but for those who are having trouble understanding what he means, think of the way a fish wriggles and slips off the end of a fishing line. The fisherman grasps at it, tries to hold it, but it shimmies away and is gone. In the song, life is compared to that fish. The fireman, who is the voice of the song, feels the life he hoped for slip away from him like a fish slips away from a fisherman. This works beautifully in a literal sense, too, because we know the fireman has been climbing up the stairs with "this chain that binds me" tied around him. It is his literal lifeline, and he struggles to hold onto it as it slips away. Then, just as a fish rejoins the ocean, the fireman's spirit rejoins the endless ocean of eternity.
This is such a powerful song because it works on so many levels. It's the story of one fireman climbing the tower and thus ascending from earth to heaven. As a chorus of other voices join in, it's the story of all the other souls rising along with his. It's the story of the survivors rising metaphorically from the blow of the attack and physically raising the remains and erecting a new structure in their wake. Springsteen is so brilliant because he takes a tragic event that resulted in thousands of untimely deaths and transforms it into a triumph of death overcome as all those innocent souls rise to life everlasting. All these years later, I still want to cry every time I hear it.
"The dream of life comes to me Like a catfish dancin' on the end of my line."
Obviously, The Boss's word on this is final, but for those who are having trouble understanding what he means, think of the way a fish wriggles and slips off the end of a fishing line. The fisherman grasps at it, tries to hold it, but it shimmies away and is gone. In the song, life is compared to that fish. The fireman, who is the voice of the song, feels the life he hoped for slip away from him like a fish slips away from a fisherman. This works beautifully in a literal sense, too, because we know the fireman has been climbing up the stairs with "this chain that binds me" tied around him. It is his literal lifeline, and he struggles to hold onto it as it slips away. Then, just as a fish rejoins the ocean, the fireman's spirit rejoins the endless ocean of eternity.
This is such a powerful song because it works on so many levels. It's the story of one fireman climbing the tower and thus ascending from earth to heaven. As a chorus of other voices join in, it's the story of all the other souls rising along with his. It's the story of the survivors rising metaphorically from the blow of the attack and physically raising the remains and erecting a new structure in their wake. Springsteen is so brilliant because he takes a tragic event that resulted in thousands of untimely deaths and transforms it into a triumph of death overcome as all those innocent souls rise to life everlasting. All these years later, I still want to cry every time I hear it.