Songs of hope, words of wisdom
Program host Tom Hanks summed up the significance of the day: ‘The inauguration is much more than a swearing in of our next national leaders. This day is about witnessing the permanence of our American ideal. The dream of America has no limits…’
As US President
Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala
Harris were formally sworn into office on 20 January, the inauguration’s program presented a lineup of performing artists and other notable personalities who took turns singing songs of hope and delivering words of wisdom to help heal a fractured nation.
As Biden’s inaugural address spoke of unity to fight anger, resentment, hatred, extremism, lawlessness, violence, disease, joblessness, among other problems, the performances in the program highlighted the power of words, of poetry in the lyrics of songs as well as in the text of speeches, to rally and inspire the American people.
The world saw Lady Gaga’s singing the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Jennifer Lopez’s version of “This Land Is Your Land” that segued to “America the Beautiful,” Garth Brooks’ rendition of “Amazing Grace,” and Amanda Gorman reading her poem “The Hill We Climb.” But that wasn’t all.
In the evening, Bruce Springsteen played solo, on acoustic guitar, a tune called “Land of Hope and Dreams,” which he wrote in 1999 and performed with the E Street Band on tour and released on several live albums, before recording it in the studio and including it in his Wrecking Ball album in 2012.
In his signature style that channeled folk singers of bygone eras, Springsteen’s mildly gravelly voice punctuated the song’s verses:
Oh, oh this train, I’m riding this train
Don’t you wanna ride
(This train)
Oh get on, get on (this train)
Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder’s rolling down the tracks You don’t know where you’re goin’ now But you know you won’t be back Darlin’ if you’re weary
Lay your head upon my chest We’ll take what we can carry
And we’ll leave the rest Big wheels rolling through fields Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams I will provide for you
And I’ll stand by your side You’ll need a good companion For this part of the ride Leave behind your sorrows Let this day be the last Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine And all this darkness past Big wheels roll through fields Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams
This train carries saints and sinners This train carries losers and winners This train carries whores and gamblers This train carries lost souls
I said, this train dreams will not be thwarted
This train faith will be rewarded This train hear the steel wheels singin’ This train bells of freedom ringin’ This train carries saints and sinners This train carries losers and winners This train carries whores and gamblers This train carries lost souls
I said, this train carries brokenhearted
This train thieves and sweet souls departed
This train carries fools and kings This train, all aboard
I said, this train dreams will not be thwarted
This train faith will be rewarded This train hear the steel wheels singin’
This train bells of freedom ringin’ Come on this train
People get ready
You don’t need no ticket
All you got do is just get on board On board this train
This train, people get ready
You don’t need no ticket (oh I know you don’t)
You don’t need no ticket you just get on board (people get ready)
You just thank the Lord (people get ready) Come on this train (people get ready).
Selected lines from speeches of past
US presidents were recalled, reflecting on America’s violent past. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar quoted Abraham Lincoln: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Dolores Huerta echoed Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.”
Brayden Harrington repeated John F. Kennedy’s famous lines: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Program host Tom Hanks summed up the significance of the day: “The inauguration is much more than a swearing in of our next national leaders. This day is about witnessing the permanence of our American ideal. The dream of America has no limits…”
From a studio location, the Foo Fighters played “Times Like These,” which Dave Grohl dedicated to Mackenzie Adams, the teacher who went viral on TikTok with her energetic approach to remote learning, and also Grohl’s mother Virginia, a teacher for 35 years: “This next song is for Mackenzie and all of the unshakable teachers that continue to enlighten our nation’s kids every day.”
The rest of the performers and speakers included Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, Foo Fighters, John Legend, Demi Lovato, Justin Timberlake and Ant Clemons, Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi, Lin Manuel Miranda, Tim McGraw and Tyler Hubbard, Black Pumas, DJ Cassidy and friends, Keke Palmer, Tony Goldwyn, Jon Stewart, Nathan Apodaca, New Radicals, Allyson Felix, Nathan Chen and Katie Ledecky, Andra Day and Kenny Ortega.