**"The Promised Land"** is a profound concept that has been a part of the world's music for *several thousand years*. It is most certainly not uniquely associated with Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry, or any other musician.

Undoubtedly, the concept and the image of The Promised Land resonate with Springsteen because of his Roman Catholic faith. The concept of "The Promised Land" comes up again and again in the theology and teaching not only the Catholic Church but also in all forms of Judaism and Christianity, throughout all history (and may well come up in Islam as well, although I do not know much about Islam).

In the earliest parts of the Bible, "The Promised Land" refers, geographically, to the land of [Canaan][1], a region corresponding to modern-day Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, western Jordan, and southwestern Syria. Another name for Canaan or The Promised Land is "Zion".

The Promised Land is also a literary and artistic symbol for any ethnic group achieving freedom from oppression, especially slavery, and of achieving peace after struggle and suffering.

It can also refer to the Christian concept of Heaven (or of a person experiencing death and going to Heaven), as a land of rest after the suffering and struggle of life on Earth.

**Within American music in the last two hundred years,** references to "The Promised Land", "Canaan", "Zion", and "crossing over the River Jordan" can be found frequently in African-American spirituals, black gospel, and in reggae music. But it has always been found, world-wide, throughout the entire history of any kind of Christian or Jewish sacred music or any music inspired by those traditions, in every language.

African-Americans who were slaves in the USA in the 18th and 19th centuries, and who became Christians, saw the Bible stories about the Hebrew slaves gaining their freedom and inheriting and possessing the Promised Land to be a metaphor for their own struggle to achieve emancipation from slavery and live as free citizens in the USA. That is why there are so many references to The Promised Land throughout African-American spirituals. African-American spirituals are the direct ancestors of the blues, jazz, gospel, and rock and roll music. And Bruce Springsteen's music, too.

The Promised Land is a very important and frequently-referenced concept of the USA's African-American Civil Rights movement. The [Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.][2], like all other Christian pastors and priests throughout history, makes frequent references to The Promised Land in his sermons and speeches. Watch this short clip from Dr. King's final speech:

http://youtu.be/4WZbxYGy3As?t=1m50s

You can find many references to "Zion" and "The Promised Land" in the music of Bob Marley and in other reggae music. For the Jamaicans and adherents of the Rastafarian religion, The Promised Land refers to their own struggle for equality and freedom for their ethnic group, but also had specific references to nations in Africa gaining independence from European colonial influences in the 20th-century. 

**The literal meaning and original concept of The Promised Land**, as the land of Canaan, originates in the Jewish Bible, the Old Testament, in the Book of Genesis. The concept is referenced time and time again other books of the Bible after that, throughout the Jewish and Christian Bibles (the Old and New Testaments).

[Wikipedia article on The Promised Land][3]

In the Book of Genesis, God establishes an eternal contract with the family of a man named Abraham; he is the progenitor of the Hebrews, later knows as the Jews or the Israelites. God tells the Hebrew people that they are the Chosen People of God. He promises them that they will inherit the Promised Land (Canaan) and be able to live there as a nation. Once the entire race of the Hebrews have been freed from slavery in Egypt, the prophet Moses leads the Hebrews to the edge of the Promised Land, and the military leader Joshua takes the Hebrews across the River Jordan and into the Promised Land and conquers its peoples. This leads eventually to the establishment of the city of Jerusalem, and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

**Throughout the subsequent history of the world,** many writers, poets, artists and musicians have made frequent references to "The Promised Land". Not only was this a literal reference to the Bible stories; it also became a literary and artistic symbol for any ethnic group achieving freedom from oppression, and peace after struggle and suffering.

No, "The Promised Land" has nothing to do with Bruce Springsteen, per se. It has to do with Bruce Springsteen's Christian faith, and with thousands of years of world culture.


  [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan
  [2]: http://youtu.be/4WZbxYGy3As?t=1m50s
  [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_Land