Talk About a Dream: The Essential Interviews of Bruce Springsteen (54 page)
Your last two tours were about as far removed from E Street as you could get. One thing you said about the
Sessions
tour was, “During the course of the evening we play all the music that
leads
to rock music, but we don’t play rock music.”
Yeah—I’ll be playing the
rock music
this time. In case anybody’s wondering!
Once you get in that mode of performing in a whole new way, as you did on those last two tours, is it difficult to come back to the band setting at all?
You usually think it will be when you’re in it, because you’re
so
in it—it’s like everything else, for it to be really great, you’ve got to be 100 percent committed at the moment. So when you’re in it, that’s all there is. And I think that’s what it takes to be really good. So I’ll just lose myself in whatever form I’m working in at any given moment. And the other things seem distant: “Oh yeah, I like to do that too, and I like to do that too …”
But really, I’m very comfortable moving between all the different formats that I play in now. And I love them all, and I plan to continue doing them all—or variations thereof—in one form or another. I enjoy making acoustic records and writing those sorts of story songs; the Sessions Band was a tremendous discovery, and just such an amazing group of musicians that—I mean, those are some of the best shows that I feel that I’ve put on. So that was really just a great discovery, and it’s something I look forward to finding another outlet for at some point.
And then the Band is the
Band
, you know? It’s fabulous, and it’s the only place where I really do the thing that I suppose that I’m most known for, which is … it’s a
peak experience
. And so it’s very easy—I enjoy doing them all, and I’ll probably continue doing so.
You know, I always have a variety of records in the works. I wrote most of this E Street Band record while I was touring with the Sessions Band. So it’s not hard for me. I’ll go home and just—
boop!
—and I’ll switch over. And I’ve probably written some story songs already for
that
type of record. I’ll be working one thing, and when I go home at night sometimes I’ll already be slipping into another way of writing and performing. At this point, what I do enjoy is playing regularly and getting a good amount of music out to my audience. Which is really something that, in my early years, I had a difficult time doing.
And you’ve really managed to do it—it’s amazing, you’ve toured more in the last five years than you have since the late ’70s
.
Well, it was a promise I sort of made to myself, a decade or more ago. I just wanted to be more productive. And luckily—you have your muses, you’re always dependent upon your muses, but I’ve had a lot of songs to write, and records to make, and I’ve just found a lot of different ways of making music that’s allowed me to stay in contact with my fans on … I guess it’s been almost a yearly basis. So I like doing that a lot. I mean, that’s how I remember the bands that
I
liked: you know, every six or eight months there was something going.
The only thing that we’ve missed so far, because of the release schedule, was a film of the
Devils & Dust
tour. Which we have, and we’ve been in the process of working on, it’s just we had so much going on, it was one of the things that just—you know, the Sessions Band kind of came up quick, and we didn’t have the slot to get it out.
Plus you had the
Born to Run
30th Anniversary set in there, too
.
Yeah, there were a lot of things that just took precedence.
But that DVD is still in the works, that could still happen?
Yeah, I have a real nice film—I think it’s a collection of several nights that we played, I think there was some stuff from the last few shows in Trenton, which were some of my favorite shows of that whole tour, and some things from Boston when we shot there. It’s a blend of a series of shows. I formatted it a little different than the actual show, because I found that it plays better a little shorter, when it’s just me with a guitar on screen.
Yeah, I could see that being a struggle, bringing that to the TV screen. But it’s great to hear it’s still in the pipeline, we kind of thought that one was lost to the sands of time. Any idea when we might see it?
Well, I’ve had something for a while, we just haven’t kind of put the finishing touches on it and found a way to get it out. So hopefully, at some point—I’d like to even just sell it at the shows, or find some other way of getting it to people, because at this point, if I do something, I like to document it, and I like to be able to get it to the fans.
And we’re loving that. If I can help in any way, getting things out there [
laughs
], let me know!
Okay, great!
Back in ’99, when you were heading out for the reunion tour, you talked a lot about being grateful that the whole band was still around, and still alive, that no one was a rock ’n’ roll casualty. And here we are eight years later, and you’re still able to do it again
.
Yeah. That’s something that you become for grateful for as time passes. You know, I just lost Terry, my great friend of 23 years.
Which I was very sorry to hear
.
Yeah, that was a big loss. And you’re so aware that things are finite. I’ve always said, it’s like, “Hey, I’ve got my guys out there,” and the band really did take care of one another over the years. Like I’ve always said, it’s one of the things I’m proudest of, and I continue to be.
I mean, there are a lot of ways that life can take you, and you never know what tomorrow brings. And so to have that kind of stability … and not only that, but also just the personal relationships remain so thoroughly enjoyable, it’s a great gift.
Does it enter your mind that this could be the last time out? A “farewell tour”?
Oh, I’ll never do that, man [
laughs
]. You’re only gonna know that when you don’t see me no more.
Not for
you
, I can’t picture that … but for the E Street Band as we know it?
Oh, hell, I don’t know [
laughs
]. There ain’t gonna be any farewell tour. That’s the only thing I know for sure. I envision the band carrying on for many, many, many, many, many, many more years.
On October 2, 2007, Springsteen and the E Street Band began their world tour in support of the new album,
Magic
, a tour that would extend, albeit with a short break, through the release of
Working on a Dream
in 2009. In the interview, Springsteen develops his American vision.
Tonight, a rare look behind the scenes with Bruce Springsteen. It’s hard to picture, but Springsteen turned 58 last month. His breakout hit, “Born to Run,” is 32 years old. While most rock stars his age are content to tour with their greatest hits, Springsteen launched last week what may become his most controversial work ever as a songwriter. Even now, Springsteen is an artist in progress, having moved from stories about girls and cars to populist ballads that echo the dust bowl days of Woody Guthrie. Springsteen’s put all that together now in his first tour with the E Street Band in four years. He’s returned to full throated rock ’n’ roll, and a message that is sharper than ever, damning the war in Iraq and questioning whether America has lost its way at home.
* * *
[Springsteen’s voiceover]
You’re the shaman, you’re the storyteller, you’re the magician. The idea is that whatever the ticket price, we’re supposed to be there to deliver something that can’t be paid for. That’s our job.
You have got to be, wild guess, worth somewhere north of $100 million. Why are you still touring? You don’t have to do this
.
What else would I do? Give me—you got any clues? Got any suggestions? I mean, am I going to garden? Why would you stop? I mean, you know, you play the music and grown men cry and women dance, and, you know, like and that’s, you know, that’s why you do it.
It’s good to be a rock star
.
I would say that, yes, it is, you know? But the star thing I can live with; the music I can’t live without. You know, and that’s how it—how it lays out for me. You know? And I’m as—I got as big an ego and enjoy the attention. My son has a word, he calls it “attention whore.” You have to be one of those, or else why would you be up in front of thousands of people, you know, shaking your butt? But at the same time, when it comes down to it, it’s the way it makes you feel. I do it because of the way it makes it me feel and the way that I can make you feel when I do it. And I like making you feel a certain way when I do it. It thrills me, it excites me. It gives me meaning, it gives me purpose. You know?
Some of the pieces in the new record are going to be considered controversial. Give me a sense of what you think has to be said. Why are you still writing?
I’m interested in what it means to be an American. I’m interested in what it means to live in America. I’m interested in the kind of country that we live in and leave to our kids. I’m interested in trying to define what that country is. I got the chutzpah or whatever you want to say to believe that if I write a really good song about it, it’s going to make a difference. It’s going to matter to somebody, you know?
[
Voiceover
] E Street keyboardist Roy Bittan and guitarist Steve van Zandt go back with Springsteen more than 30 years
.
You have got to hate “Born to Run.” Right? Come on
.
Roy Bittan
: That’s funny you say that.
Come on, when it’s time to …
Bittan:
You know, we play it, it’s good, you know?
… comes up on the list, and it’s “Come on, boys, play it like you’ve never played it before.” Here we go
.
Bittan:
It’s funny—it’s funny you said that because I was watching something on TV, and it was Tony Bennett. And they asked Tony Bennett, “Aren’t you tired of singing ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco’?” And his answer was, “It gave me the keys to the world.” So, a lot of times we play that song, sometimes, you take it for granted and other times you go, “Well, there it is, you know?”
Steve Van Zandt:
Exactly.
Bittan:
That’s it.
Van Zandt:
You know, I figure if we do a few more tours, I might actually learn it. So, you know. I mean, we live and hope, right? I mean, he thinks I’m kidding.
Humor helps if you’re an E Streeter. Because in the 1980s, Springsteen walked away from the band after more than 15 years together. He wanted to play with other musicians, and sometimes with none at all
.
How was the news broken? Did Bruce tell the band himself? Tell me about it
.
Bittan:
I think Bruce picked up the phone and called everybody. And I think everybody was shocked and hurt and just felt really abandoned.
Was that hard? Was it heartbreaking? And you say, “Look, I’m going on. I’m leaving you behind.”
Well, I didn’t exactly put it like that.
So, how did—how did you put it? How did you put it?
I soft soaped it somehow. And, you know, everybody had different feelings. I mean, people were mad or angry, and some of them said, “OK.” But at the time, I wasn’t going to be any good to them at that moment. I think what happens is sometimes you’ve got to break your own narrative. You—we all have stories we’re living and telling ourselves. And there’s a time when that narrative has to be broken because you’ve run out of freedom in it. You’ve run out of places to go.
What’d you learn about the band tonight?
We made fewer screw-ups than I thought we might. You know? The main thing you learn is not so much the band, because the band will just play better from tonight on out, you know? But you learn a lot about the set, the set that you’re creating. You’re trying to work your new things and you’re trying to say what you’re trying to say, you’re trying to get people just to rock, you know, to go crazy and have fun.
Pretty good for 58
.
Oh, that’s nothing. That’s—I’m still a chiseled hunk of muscle. So, I guess I’ll keep going for a while.
You know, I was probably one of the smartest kids in my class at the time, except for you would’ve never known it. You know, you would have never known it just because where my intelligence lay was not—wasn’t able to be tapped within that particular system. And I didn’t know how to do it myself until music came along and opened me up, not just to the world of music, but to the world, period: to the events of the day, to the connection between culture and society. And those were things that riveted me, engaged me in life, gave me a sense of purpose, what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be, the way that I wanted to do it. What I thought I could accomplish through singing songs.
It’s not just the singing, it’s the writing, isn’t it, for you?
Of course. You wrote about what you were—what interested you. And every good writer or filmmaker has something eating at them, right, that they can’t quite get off their back. And so your job is to make your audience care about your obsessions.
His recurring obsession is the life that he knew as a boy, the harsh relationship with his working-class dad who didn’t think much of a rock ’n’ roll son
.
You know, hey, it was a tough, struggling household. People struggled emotionally. People struggled financially to get through the day. A small town, a small-town world which I continue to return to. It’s like when I went to write, though, I put my father’s clothes on. You know, the immersion in that world through my parents and my own experience as a child and the need to tell a story that maybe was partially his, or maybe a lot his.
