@The Imposter I think it's crucial and healthy to keep this secondary perspective. This is a great piece of writing, the author did an excellent job intertwining Bruce's answers into his text. Maybe if we had only seen this in Q/A format, we wouldn't' have been so smitten. Of course, the article is promotional with the intent to push sales.
We know Bruce was, and apparently still is, focused on his past. Reading this article I felt he has now pushed his recently favored theme - the time comes to us all - to the limit. There are parts of this interview where it seems like a cross from Bruce talking in the present, and Bruce answering from behind the grave.
Am I the only one to take what Bruce says in interviews with a grain of salt? He has a story to tell, a personal brand to promote and an album to sell. I think he makes his answers up to fit the picture he wants to paint. Who knows when and how he wrote these songs?
I'm with you on this. Bruce is a savvy professional. While I'm sure he is sincere with what he is saying during interviews, he is also keenly aware of his audience. And despite being a gazillionaire, he still has a product he'd like to sell. So some embellishments are to be expected....IMO.
That said...the interview still has me a bit excited for this E Street album....which is the primary goal when an artist gives an interview on the eve of a new release. I hope I'm not disappointed.
This is a story to savour because it touches on so many things. I copied it into Word and will dissect it paragraph by paragraph.
It shows once again that Bruce is a really wise man, has learned a lot during his lifetime, has reflected on it and is sure of many things. Being unsure of some just shows you're wise!
(He came from such an unpromising background, had little learning and a problematic upbringing. His father might just have been one of those gung-ho Trump voters, switching from voting Democrat to seeing the Great White Hope in the charlatan from Queens.)
Loved that. Great read. And man, it sounds like we still have a lot of new music (even 'old' new music) to look forward to... And that's a really good thing.
QUOTE: There’s a reference in there to churches and jails, and I ask if it’s a nod to a similar line in “Jungleland.” Springsteen laughs. “That line has been tickling my brain since we recorded the record,” he says. “And I wasn’t sure where I heard it! You just reminded me where I heard that line before.” UNQUOTE
Either Bruce is just having a laugh here, or otherwise for the first time probably ever I'm glad for the teleprompter onstage because without it who knows what nonsense we would've been listening to live in the Reunion era.
Some of the songs were written waking around the house, because of that Italian guitar, others were already there, but they recorded them all live in 5 days. Or no?
@Mario Brega I also got lost. The songs announced in the WS era are not the same as Scorsese's? I understood that everything came from the same creative attack.
@Tom Joad it‘a a confusing one, and loads can affect an artist’s choice to shelve an album - I’ve read that the 1994 ’hip hop’ album was shelved due the success of Streets of Philadelphia resulting in Greatest Hits, for example.
Neil Young’s recent release of 1974’s shelved Homegrown is a case study showing not all shelved albums are bad - it’s a masterpiece of an album and classic 70s Young, it’s just that he didn’t want to release such an open album at the time and he shelved it and chose to release Tonight’s the Night, instead
I’m cautiously optimistic. With the Paramount performance of Darkness being my favourite thing Bruce has ever released, the news that this album was recorded live as a band is very, very promising. However, I didn’t like the first single. I didn’t think it was particularly inspired. So I don’t know exactly what to expect.
Well, if that doesn't get you fired up for October 23, not much else will.
Except another single, I guess.
Lay that Thousand Guitar sucker on us next Bossman, that sounds immense from what's described in the article. Infact, it sounds like ESSENCE to me already...
A couple of people over on BTX and the like have theorised that the album "in the can" will feature the songs he wrote for the band and referred to at the Western Stars premiere back in October.
It's therefore more likely these songs on Letter To You are the ones he mentioned in the talk-in with Marty Scorsese last May.
Loved his response about it not being about Trump, "that would be the most boring album of all time."
That's how you get under the skin of the President, you don't give him the satisfaction of a dedicated album, you outright say he's not worth writing about.
Weird, for some reason now I can read this one, as soon as they put up the paywall, nothing seemed free, meaning no five free articles for the month, like other sites. But hey, this one is in full text so that is swell.
Thought the very same thing...The mythology he employs is magical regardless of the story being true or not. It doesnt matter to me. What matters is the new work being obviously looking back and taking stock of the damge that time has wrought upon us all. Loss of work, loss of time, loss of family, the march of time. All themes I can highly relate to. This man knows my heart. My brother in law said that as we stood watching a WOAD show in L.A. back in '09. I hear it now, those echoes. I connect that moment to standing on my chair in '80 in the same building watching him kiss Clarence. How that sparked my imagination then and it brings a feeling of warmth to me now. We hold these truths self evident. We rise and fall amidst such loss. I miss my Mother like the rain. I miss my youth. I embrace that loss and I carry on. Thank you for reading.
This graph is Springsteen's magic trick, the often returned to truth we all cling to. The everlasting now...
Once he’s back at the table, he plays the song over the computer speakers, eyes shut, head nodding to Weinberg’s beat. “It’s about this entire spiritual world that I wanted to build for myself,” he says, “and give to my audience and experience with my band. It’s like that gospel song ‘I’m Working on a Building.’ That’s the building we’ve been working on all these years. It also speaks somewhat to the spiritual life of the nation. It may be one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. It draws in everything I’ve been trying to do for the past 50 years.”
"In that spirit, he went as far as to lead the band through muscled-up rearrangements of three often-bootlegged, never-released songs from 1972 or 1973. All of them made the album: “Song to Orphans” (a Dylan-derived slow-burner that may have captured some of Springsteen’s turn-of-decade disenchantment with the dreams of the Sixties), “Janey Needs a Shooter” (a lost classic the band rehearsed as late as 1979 in a near-identical arrangement, leading Warren Zevon to half-borrow its title for his own “Jeannie Needs a Shooter”), and an unexpectedly hard-hitting take on the gleefully sacrilegious gem “If I Was the Priest” (covered by Hollies singer Allan Clarke in the Seventies). Last year, Springsteen was working through his archives for a follow-up to his 1998 outtakes box set, Tracks, when he “sort of came across these songs.” There’s no particular message in their inclusion. He simply wanted to hear the band play them now, he says, “to be able to go back and sing in your adult voice but with ideas of your youth.… It was kind of insane fun, because the lyrics for all those songs were so completely crazy.”
Bruce's music moves me immensely but this interview does to. That bit about having dreams of those who have died and then being a dream in return. e know the album isn't political but maybe Bruce's most personal album. After the autobiography and Springsteen on Broadway we shouldn't have been surprised.
Some nice backstage footage from the photoshoot!!!
@The Imposter I think it's crucial and healthy to keep this secondary perspective. This is a great piece of writing, the author did an excellent job intertwining Bruce's answers into his text. Maybe if we had only seen this in Q/A format, we wouldn't' have been so smitten. Of course, the article is promotional with the intent to push sales.
We know Bruce was, and apparently still is, focused on his past. Reading this article I felt he has now pushed his recently favored theme - the time comes to us all - to the limit. There are parts of this interview where it seems like a cross from Bruce talking in the present, and Bruce answering from behind the grave.
Am I the only one to take what Bruce says in interviews with a grain of salt? He has a story to tell, a personal brand to promote and an album to sell. I think he makes his answers up to fit the picture he wants to paint. Who knows when and how he wrote these songs?
This is a story to savour because it touches on so many things. I copied it into Word and will dissect it paragraph by paragraph.
It shows once again that Bruce is a really wise man, has learned a lot during his lifetime, has reflected on it and is sure of many things. Being unsure of some just shows you're wise!
(He came from such an unpromising background, had little learning and a problematic upbringing. His father might just have been one of those gung-ho Trump voters, switching from voting Democrat to seeing the Great White Hope in the charlatan from Queens.)
Loved that. Great read. And man, it sounds like we still have a lot of new music (even 'old' new music) to look forward to... And that's a really good thing.
QUOTE: There’s a reference in there to churches and jails, and I ask if it’s a nod to a similar line in “Jungleland.” Springsteen laughs. “That line has been tickling my brain since we recorded the record,” he says. “And I wasn’t sure where I heard it! You just reminded me where I heard that line before.” UNQUOTE
Either Bruce is just having a laugh here, or otherwise for the first time probably ever I'm glad for the teleprompter onstage because without it who knows what nonsense we would've been listening to live in the Reunion era.
Ok, I read the interview. Loved it.
I do seem to spend a lot of time these days with my eyes welled up....
When the album is out, we'll be play this game...
Connect the song with the appropriate room.
Some of the songs were written waking around the house, because of that Italian guitar, others were already there, but they recorded them all live in 5 days. Or no?
@Mario Brega I also got lost. The songs announced in the WS era are not the same as Scorsese's? I understood that everything came from the same creative attack.
Bruce talking about “lost albums“
makes me anxious. I mean, if they’re bad, sure, Lee them hidden but don’t mention them. If they’re good, why on Earth would you be sitting on them?
I can read the article and I've saved it to Word if anyone wants it?
I bet Bruce gave a little Bruce giggle.
I’m cautiously optimistic. With the Paramount performance of Darkness being my favourite thing Bruce has ever released, the news that this album was recorded live as a band is very, very promising. However, I didn’t like the first single. I didn’t think it was particularly inspired. So I don’t know exactly what to expect.
Great piece! I wonder if he was able to keep a straight face when he said something like “hey, if I record music, I’m going to put it out there!”.
Well, if that doesn't get you fired up for October 23, not much else will.
Except another single, I guess.
Lay that Thousand Guitar sucker on us next Bossman, that sounds immense from what's described in the article. Infact, it sounds like ESSENCE to me already...
I’m saving this interview to read tomorrow when I can give it the attention it deserves. 😊
I am a bit confused... This was supposed to be an album of recently written songs, right?
But Rainmaker was written before Trump took office?
I'm glad it's not a political album.
Weird, for some reason now I can read this one, as soon as they put up the paywall, nothing seemed free, meaning no five free articles for the month, like other sites. But hey, this one is in full text so that is swell.
Best article / interview I've read in a very long time.
Would one of us be out of order in copying and pasting it onto here?
I could do that now, but if it's immoral/doing a disservice to Brian Hiatt for his work, I'd rather not.
I copied the URL and pasted it for a Google search. It worked.
This new subscription thing is going to piss me right off, though I understand the need for it in the world of today. But not my music info site!
A fan from Italy gave him a guitar... He took that guitar, went from room to room, and started to write music...
Imagine you are that fan, how would you feel?
‘Raw & rocking with the worlds greatest bar band’. Bring it on!
This graph is Springsteen's magic trick, the often returned to truth we all cling to. The everlasting now...
Once he’s back at the table, he plays the song over the computer speakers, eyes shut, head nodding to Weinberg’s beat. “It’s about this entire spiritual world that I wanted to build for myself,” he says, “and give to my audience and experience with my band. It’s like that gospel song ‘I’m Working on a Building.’ That’s the building we’ve been working on all these years. It also speaks somewhat to the spiritual life of the nation. It may be one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. It draws in everything I’ve been trying to do for the past 50 years.”
This has my mouth watering.
"In that spirit, he went as far as to lead the band through muscled-up rearrangements of three often-bootlegged, never-released songs from 1972 or 1973. All of them made the album: “Song to Orphans” (a Dylan-derived slow-burner that may have captured some of Springsteen’s turn-of-decade disenchantment with the dreams of the Sixties), “Janey Needs a Shooter” (a lost classic the band rehearsed as late as 1979 in a near-identical arrangement, leading Warren Zevon to half-borrow its title for his own “Jeannie Needs a Shooter”), and an unexpectedly hard-hitting take on the gleefully sacrilegious gem “If I Was the Priest” (covered by Hollies singer Allan Clarke in the Seventies). Last year, Springsteen was working through his archives for a follow-up to his 1998 outtakes box set, Tracks, when he “sort of came across these songs.” There’s no particular message in their inclusion. He simply wanted to hear the band play them now, he says, “to be able to go back and sing in your adult voice but with ideas of your youth.… It was kind of insane fun, because the lyrics for all those songs were so completely crazy.”
Bruce's music moves me immensely but this interview does to. That bit about having dreams of those who have died and then being a dream in return. e know the album isn't political but maybe Bruce's most personal album. After the autobiography and Springsteen on Broadway we shouldn't have been surprised.
Thanks @Mario Brega . That was a good read. I loved the Mount Rushmore line.
Cut live in the studio with minimal overdubs. I like the sound of that.
I've read this, now I'm going to print it, take a marker, and go paragraph by paragraph. There's so much information here....
Subscription only?
This is incredibly revealing. How many things to analyze!