The songs of "Magic'': Part one

Springsteen's new album with the E Street Band, "Magic,'' hit the stores today and Springsteen fans will pore over it like linguists studying the Rosetta Stone. The man can turn a phrase and write a tune.
The thing is, those of us who grew up on Springsteen are now getting older with him and what we hope is that the songs will still tell us things we need to know about our lives these days.
It's always a risk to take on the songs one by one. It's part of the Springsteen mythos that he conceives albums as a whole, designed to tell a story moving songs on and off any given album, reconfiguring song order until he gets it right.
But for now, let's just take them as they come.
"Radio Nowhere''
A sonic blast of guitar and drum begins the song -- a rock 'n' roll Emergency Broadcast Signal -- and then the message: "I was tryin' to find my way home,'' Springsteen sings.
And in these dark times, who isn't?
The singer wants to know, "Is there anybody alive out there?'' -- something Springsteen's been asking his audiences for decades now.
"Radio Nowhere" -- with its "thousand guitars, pounding drums and a million voices speaking in tongues'' -- becomes the rallying cry for the gathering of a community, a community of those who stand ready to listen to the bright music and midnight black sentiments that follow.