“You’re Missing” by Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen’s album The Rising
Credit: Brucespringsteen.net

Bruce Springsteen’s 2002 album “The Rising” was a poignant reflection on 9/11. In it, he reflects on the politics of the time, shares in the grief of the nation, fights against anti-Muslim rhetoric, and honors fallen first responders. But he also manages to convey the quiet sadness and grief experienced by families who lost a loved one in the attacks.

One song on the album, “You’re Missing,” offers an intimate look at the devastating normalcy of a family home that is suddenly missing one member. The first stanza starts, 

“Shirts in the closet, shoes in the hall

Mama’s in the kitchen, baby and all

Everything is everything

Everything is everything

But you’re missing”

Springsteen conveys how typical everyday items are still in their places. Shirts, shoes, coffee cups, jackets.… All these still exist as they were before. Yet everything in the house has shifted, because the loved one is missing. It is a picture-perfect home, yet the picture is incomplete.

Springsteen continues to hammer home the ways in which this family is still the same, minus one person, later in the song:

“Pictures on the nightstand, TV’s on in the den

Your house is waiting, your house is waiting

For you to walk in, for you to walk in

But you’re missing, you’re missing

You’re missing, when I shut out the lights

You’re missing, when I close my eyes

You’re missing, when I see the sun rise

You’re missing”

Musician Bruce Springsteen
Credit: Brucespringsteen.net

A familiar place suddenly becomes unfamiliar after a loss. What has the appearance of a home, instead can become a mausoleum to what used to be and who used to live there. Springsteen captures how very strange normal surroundings can become in the blink of an eye. Someone gets up in the morning, drinks their morning coffee, reads the paper, puts on their jacket, and heads out the door, only to never return. And the loss permeates not just the house shared, but the entire way we see the world. The loved one is missing, and this changes everything.

“You’re Missing” is a song that can resonate for anyone grieving the death of a loved one. As we remember 9/11, it is particularly meaningful, but because the song never directly references 9/11, it also conveys a universal sense of loss. The experience of wandering through a place that should be a familiar home, but has suddenly changed in the aftermath of death, holds meaning for many people.

Listen to Bruce Springsteen perform his song “You’re Missing” in the video below.