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Glory Days
Reported by Meg Guroff, Jim Jerome, and Lyndon Stambler, September & October 2009
Friends of the Boss share their most intimate insights
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Relive Your Glory Days
Got a favorite Bruce Springsteen song or memory? Celebrate the Boss' 60th by sharing your own Springsteen story in our rock 'n' roll forum
Jon Landau
Musical Partner
A music critic, Landau became Springsteen's producer in '75 and manager in '77.
"I'd written a favorable review for Rolling Stone of Bruce's second album, but I'd never seen him perform. I went to a club where he was playing in Cambridge [Massachusetts]. They'd put the article in the window. Bruce was outside the club, hopping up and down, trying to stay warm while he read the article. I strolled up to him and asked how the article was.
" 'Pretty good,' he said. 'This guy is usually pretty good.' There were 15 or 20 people in the club. Afterwards we had a chance to talk about the performance, which was fantastic. He called me the next day, and we talked for several hours. That was the beginning of a conversation that we're still having about how to relate to the world around us and how to nurture who you are and what you want to do in the context of a universe that may or may not be sympathetic or interested.
"A few months later I saw him perform at the Harvard Square Theatre. He had this incredibly innate connection to the innermost parts of rock music experience. Although I came to know how much effort went into it, he had the humility to make it look effortless. You feel like you're in the presence of this unique and incredibly honest and authentic voice."
Luke Russert
NBC News Correspondent
Russert's dad, the late TV journalist Tim Russert, became an avid Springsteen fan after booking him to play at John Carroll University, Tim's alma mater, in 1975. Springsteen played "Thunder Road" via satellite at Russert's memorial in 2008.
"My father deeply identified with the blue-collar, working-class stories Springsteen tells in his music. They were all part of his life growing up in South Buffalo. The other attachment was the authenticity of the music. My dad always valued substance over style, and in a world of rock 'n' roll where you had Jimi Hendrix lighting guitars on fire and God knows what during disco and the '80s, you could identify with Springsteen: he never forgot where he came from. I find comfort in Bruce's music and,
specifically, in 'Thunder Road.' "
Ron Kovic
Author and Vietnam Vet
Kovic's 1976 book Born on the Fourth of July inspired Springsteen to write the 1984 hit song "Born in the U.S.A."
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"In the late 1970s I was living in Hollywood at the Sunset Marquis Hotel. I'd sleep in and then write every day. I'd take a break in the afternoon and sit at the pool to clear my head. One afternoon I was watching this young man in the pool, swimming up a storm. He looked familiar, like Bruce Springsteen. I went over to him in my wheelchair. 'Excuse me, you probably don't know me, but my name is Ron Kovic. I'm a Vietnam veteran, and I wrote a book called Born on the Fourth of July.'
"He looked surprised. 'You're that guy? I just read your book. I couldn't put it down.' Two or three days later I opened up the front door of my hotel room. An album and a bunch of tapes fell down. He had picked up Darkness on the Edge of Town and some of his earlier albums. He had written: 'If my music can touch you and move you as much as your book moved me, that will mean a lot to me. Bruce Springsteen.'
"He invited me to see him at Winterland in San Francisco. All of a sudden he told the story to the audience about how he picked up Born on the Fourth of July and how much it had meant to him. He went on to talk about how he met a guy named Ron Kovic. Then he sang 'Darkness on the Edge of Town.' He said, 'This one's for you, Ron.' I sat there in my wheelchair with tears in my eyes."
Bonnie Raitt
Singer-Songwriter
Raitt shared the stage with Springsteen for the No Nukes concert in 1979 and the 2004 Vote for Change tour.
"It was an incredible boost when Bruce committed to joining the No Nukes concerts. From the groundbreaking Amnesty International tour, to helping stop Contra aid in the '80s, to a steady stream of benefits, I don't know if any other American artist has made as profound a difference. I think he taps into the promise of who we want to be. In a world where persona is so carefully calculated, Bruce is the real deal. And people love him for it."
Donna Summer
Disco Goddess
Springsteen wrote "Protection" for Summer's 1982 LP Donna Summer.
"My producer, Quincy Jones, called and said, 'I got a song for you called "Protection." Bruce is going to come over.' My husband, Bruce Sudano, just loved Bruce's music, so I had gotten very into it as well. When Bruce came into my house, he played the song. We sang it. He told me to make it my own.
"Bruce was humble. I think he always sees himself as a kid from Jersey. Then, when he's onstage, once he flips that switch, boy, it's like a tornado roars through there. You can tell by his words, you can tell by the rasp in his voice, that he's been through something, and behind that quiet there's a storm brewing.
"When Bruce Springsteen performs, you're getting a workingman. That grit tells you you don't get that way from nothing. You get that way from abuse, use, work, getting through things. When people see him onstage, they relate and align themselves with him, no matter where he goes in life, because he started in a place they all understand."
Nils Lofgren
Guitarist
Lofgren has played with the E Street Band since 1984 (and offers online lessons through the Nils Lofgren Guitar School).
"When I joined the E Street Band, I moved into Bruce's house in New Jersey to get ready for the Born in the U.S.A. tour.
He suggested we wake up and go for a leisurely five-mile jog every morning. We'd eat breakfast by 9:30, then get our tennis shoes on and run down near the Jersey Shore. Then I'd shower up and get on with my studies of the songs because we had these massive rehearsals headed our way. Early on in the rehearsals Bruce approached me. He knew I'd been doing a backflip while I played the guitar in my own show. He asked me: 'If you did it 100 nights, how many times are you going to fall?'
" 'Probably in 100 nights I might fall once on my ass and get embarrassed but not hurt,' I said.
" 'Okay, let's put it in the show,' he said.
"During a lot of the Born in the U.S.A. tour, I also did dive rolls across the stage. It takes quite a bit of sprint velocity to do them without your hands while you're playing the guitar so you don't crush your neck. One night he stopped me before I was going to do it. He gets down on all fours and dares me to dive over him. Like a fool I ran and did it. Over the next dozen shows it became a nightly bit. Then the voice of reason, Phil Dunphy, our trainer on the tour, pulled me and Bruce aside and informed us that we were out of our minds. If we kept this up there was going to be a paralyzed guitar player soon, and we'd better knock it off.
"Bruce is pretty consistent about working out daily and maintaining a high level of physical health. He's living proof it's not some voodoo. It's just a good work ethic and a reality check. If you're going to be 60 and do shows like this, it requires some work and energy."
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