"And You Don't Like, Don't Like the Way I Talk": Authenticity in the Language of Bruce Springsteen

Authenticity, defined here as conveying a sense of truthfulness and being forthright in self-presentation, is often discussed as a core characteristic of rock music, with the popularity of rock musicians often attributed to their perceived authenticity. Bruce Springsteen's songs are among the most recognized in rock music, and music scholars have theorized that Springsteen's appeal is accounted for by his perceived authenticity, including authenticity as conveyed through his lyrics. Textual (word use) analysis offers a quantitative method to examine the degree to which Springsteen's lyrics express authenticity relative to other aspects of his use of language. This study used Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to examine Springsteen's body of lyrics, focusing on composites of word choices within songs and aggregated at the album level indicating authenticity, cognitive processing, emotion, and time orientation. We found that the expression of authenticity as indexed by LIWC varied across Springsteen's 18 studio albums, with authenticity rising in earlier albums, followed by a period of declining authenticity, and then rising again in later albums. Springsteen's most recent album in the analysis expressed the greatest level of authenticity, representing an outlier across his body of work. We also found that cognitive processing declined across albums and that his songs are focused on the present and tend to express positive emotion. These patterns vary from those observed in popular music, which has more typically shown greater negativity and increased cognitive processing over time.