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June 27, 2024 In 2022, Bruce Springsteen described Sam Moore to Rolling Stone 's Andy Greene as follows: "He’s the greatest high harmony, high tenor I’ve ever heard in my life. When we sing on anything together, it’s just incredible. He’s probably the greatest living soul singer right now." Moore duets with Springsteen on two tracks that highlight Bruce's latest officially released studio album, Only The Strong Survive (Covers, Vol. 1 . ) The tracks are "Soul Days" and "I Forgot To Be Your Lover." Moore also is among the major figures interviewed in HBO/Max's excellent and essential new documentary series Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A. So this is a perfect time for us to share with our readers Lisa Iannucci's two "lost" interviews with Sam Moore. Iannucci interviewed Moore in 2006 and 2010, each time with the intent to publish a feature on Moore for the late, great Backstreets Magazine . For various reasons, the feature never happened, and no material from either interview ever got published. But now, we at Letters To You are happy and proud to present both interviews below, in their entirety. They are wide-ranging, informative, deadpan-funny at times (not surprisingly, if you know Sam Moore at all,) and offer a great overview of Moore's life and career, with a special focus on his pre- Only The Strong Survive encounters with Bruce Springsteen. Special thanks to both Lisa Iannucci and our friend Chris Phillips, Editor/Publisher of Backstreets , for helping this to happen. Take it away, Sam & Lisa! ---------- Lisa Iannucci - first "lost" interview with Sam Moore - 2006 Lisa Iannucci (LI :) Good morning; it’s such a pleasure to talk to you. I’m so excited... I’ve been a fan of yours for years, and I can’t believe I’m really talking to you. Sam Moore (SM:) Oh my goodness, you just got me gushing all over. Thank you. LI: Well, you know, it’s funny. I’ve known Dave Marsh for some time, and I know he’s good friends with you and your wife. SM: Oh yeah, Dave Marsh. What did he say this time? LI: Um, I don’t know. I don’t want to say in mixed company. SM: So that’s the way it is; okay. Well yes, he and Barbara [Carr, Dave Marsh's wife and Bruce Springsteen's former co-manager] are among our best friends. LI: How did you get to meet him? How long have you known him? SM: It’s been about thirty years that I’ve known Dave; I’ve known him that long. And he’s been a rock and a warm place. When I did the book [ For The Record (series) - Sam and Dave: An Oral History ] and everything, it was Dave Marsh who did it with me. We have a great admiration and mutual respect for one another, and Barbara is a wonderful lady and whatnot, so we have been pretty close. LI: I’ve known Dave because I’m a big Springsteen fan and I work for the magazine and all, and I wrote him a fan letter, and he’s always been very supportive of my career. SM: Right, he’s that way. If he can do anything to help others, whom he sees want it or will accept it, Dave is right there for you. You wouldn’t think he is, but he really is and he’s very bright, very smart, and he can be very tough, but he’s very fair. LI: Okay, so I have to ask you about Bruce because that’s what the magazine [that I write for] is all about. Yeah, there’s a magazine all about Bruce; isn’t that scary? SM: Oh, that’s cute. Bruce all the time, I like it; I love it. LI: I’ll make sure you get a copy when it comes out. So I want to talk to you about when it was that you first heard Bruce’s music. When did you first sort of realize who Bruce Springsteen was, and what was your reaction to that? SM: When Dave [Prater, Sam Moore's late partner in Sam & Dave] and I played The Stone Pony, I was a friend to his big sidekick, Clarence [Clemons,] and whenever we played Asbury Park and the Stone Pony, at the time I was told that [Bruce] would visit The Stone Pony and sometimes perform. But I didn’t actually meet him then. Many times I had actually seen him over at Clarence’s house. I’d seen him when he was doing rock’n’roll – this was before he became “The Boss,” and all this stuff. I [first interacted extensively and personally with Bruce in the early 1990s] when there was a call made—we [Moore and his wife Joyce McRae Moore] were still living in L.A. at the time—and there was a call that came in when he was doing Human Touch , and they asked me if I would come in to do some background. So I went in, and that was the first time I actually spoke one on one with him. Before that, usually he would come over to Clarence’s house and I’d just say "hi" and that was it. But I met him then, and I think his wife was having the first baby then, back in 1990, ’91. And we did one song, and I went back to my house in Arizona and I got another call, and later I got another call—another song and another song, and then I went back and got another call. Actually, there were four songs. [To date, only three of the Moore/Springsteen collaborations from the Human Touch sessions have been released officially: "Soul Driver," "Real World," and "Man's Job." ] We got close; we don’t socialize but it’s the time that we’re in one another’s company that we enjoy. At least I can speak for myself. I can’t speak for Bruce and I won’t do that. But it’s a joy, it’s a pleasure, and it’s an honor to be in this guy’s company. And to my wife and to everyone else, he’s so sweet. We get to laughing and giggling, and we’re goofy. I’ll give it to you short. One time he was in Asbury to do a performance, and I just wanted to see him—I didn’t go to see the show; I came to see him —and I walked into the dressing room and he was like “What key is ‘Hold On I’m Comin’' in, Sam?,” and I was like, “I didn’t come here to sing.” But we wound up at the end of the night doing “Soul Man,” and he wanted to do the steps of Sam & Dave, and I told him, "We didn’t have no steps; what are you talking about? There ain’t no steps, we just did something." And he laughed. But we do that, and the most wonderful time was when he did the Christmas show (in Asbury Park.) That was a lot of fun. And I admire this man so much because he has worked so hard to get to what he is today. And there are no pretensions with him. What you see is what you get. Mostly it’s about the music, writing good stuff, and performing [well] when he gets up onstage. You know what I love is that with Bruce, you don’t see all the smoke and the big stage, and all the lights getting into your eyes so you can hardly see the artist and whatnot; this guy walks up there and he’s the working man’s entertainer... You know you have been entertained with this guy. And I believed it then, and I still believe it now. LI: I really see that a lot of that came from you, that he watched you and learned from you over the years. I wanted to ask you—you said that on your record [2006's Overnight Sensational , Moore's duets album that featured a Moore/Springsteen collaboration on "Better To Have And Not Need," ] you really wanted to hear his soul voice, that you thought it was something that a lot of other people didn’t know about. I always thought he was a soul singer, too, but I think a lot of people haven’t thought of him that way. What is it in him that you heard that you thought that nobody else heard? SM: One time he was doing a show, and he jumped up on the piano, and he had the audience in such a state. It was an amazing thing; he took the audience over. 'Cause he was preaching, and through his preaching, if you’re listening, he was testifying. He was actually testifying. And I don’t think he even knew that he was doing that, and I said, “Oh my God, who is this guy? This guy sounds a little like C.L. Franklin [father of Aretha], that squall in his throat and all that stuff, this guy can really [do that.]" And I told Jon [Landau,] and Barbara [Carr,] and even Dave [Marsh.] We discussed it, because Dave has listened to gospel as much as I have, he’s on that stuff, and he said, “Why don’t you get him to do it?” And I said, “I don’t know. Well whenever I can get something where I can get him to do that, I’ll try." I can’t make him, you know. And with that song, I listened and listened, and I said, “Uh oh, I see something I think he can do. I can get squall, that C.L. Franklin squall.” And I’m proud to be the one to set it up, where he just went there. And the call and response, like in the church…I just set it up in a way that he would have to do that squall, and when he did it and they sent the file back to me, I screamed. I called Dave and I said, “Dave, doggone it, he did it!” Oh my god, can you believe how he sounds on that? LI: Yeah, it’s amazing to me. You know, I’ve always heard that in his voice. I grew up hearing gospel and R&B, and I never understood why people insisted on putting him in that corner... "You’re a rock’n’roller; you’re not a soul singer." And that’s part of his Jersey Shore roots, as well. SM: It is. I mean, some of the earlier songs that he has written, they’re very church orientated. Some of the songs he started writing before Born to Run , all that stuff really [shows the] gospel in him. When he does a song sometimes, I’ve heard him, he’ll do it with that Soul Stirrers high C, during that nine-chord interlude going out. And you’re going, “Wait a minute? Where’d he get that from?” When he does that stuff, you know, you want to talk about a soul singer…He ain’t gonna like it, but that’s all right; I can do that. You talk about a soul singer; he can really do it. His approach—the way he attacks ---you can say wow, this man is really soulful. He can really be, he can really be. LI: You mentioned that holiday show from a couple years ago. To me, that was just the most exciting thing. Seeing you walking out on that stage—it was such an emotional moment for me, and I’m sure for a lot of the audience. And I heard later on that you were sick, but those were some really great, passionate performances. What was that experience like for you? SM: I was sick. And I’ll tell you what, [Patti Scialfa] was such a gracious, wonderful lady that she called—and I had fever all day—and she called and she spoke with my wife and she said, “If you can get Sam up to get to a doctor, I have called a doctor.” Yeah, she really did this. And [my wife] Joyce said, “Well, he’s still full of fever and he’s still sick, but he’ll come.” And Joyce checked with me, and we got in the car, and [Patti] set it up, and we went to the pediatrician...Who goes to this pediatrician? Bruce’s children! LI: Well, you could never tell [how sick you were] from the performance. And I have to tell you that it was a high point in my life, seeing you onstage with him. SM: So yeah, we did all the Sam & Dave stuff, and that’s okay, that’s fine. But you know what, just being up there with him for “My City of Ruins”—he was standing there, and I was standing there, and it was just….whew. And ever since then, he and I, we have been trying to figure out a way that we could just sing songs we enjoy, you know... Sam & Dave songs that we like, and just be up there together and have a good time being together. He is much closer [to me] as a performer than my former partner [Dave Prater] was. I’m not lying to you; I’m not blowing smoke here. I feel closer to him than I felt with my former partner. When it comes to performance and all that stuff, I feel much closer. I am so comfortable when I perform with him and whatnot. Now, you may ask about the others [on the Overnight Sensational album]—I’ve never performed with anyone else that’s on the album, so that’s why I single him out. Other people—Vince Gill and Sting and Jon Bon Jovi, those are my backups—but Bruce, whew—we’ve done some pretty good performances onstage. LI: Speaking of performing, what you do is almost a forgotten art. Soul music and R&B—I grew up with it, and it seems to be disappearing. Why do you think that is? SM: I don’t know. Maybe it’s the writing, the material. I don’t know. This is 2006, and it’s been fading into the background for years. I’ve heard—it’s been said to me—that it’ll never sell [now.] Well, I think we’ve put a damper on that [idea] with this album. I mean, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi... we’re not singing any of their material. We’re singing [R&B]. Now, we didn’t go out to do that [live]. But these lazy record companies—get out there and promote it, and do something about it. [And I will also say that] I basically just don’t think some of these kids are qualified to do it. I mean, when the camera’s on, they’ll say “My inspiration was Aretha Franklin," "My inspiration was Whitney [Houston]," "My inspiration was Luther [Vandross]," or "My inspiration was Bruce." But wait a minute! Nobody’s doing [R&B]. I mean, the inspirations that they fall back on now would be like, “Oh, the greatest soul artist in the world would be Solomon Burke, Betty Lavette, Candi Staton.” Wait a minute—Candi’s been a minister for over thirty-some-odd years and now she comes out and does a pop act [ His Hands , 2006] and you say that that’s [R&B]... Come on. LI: I think people just aren’t exposed to it the way I was, the way you were. They don’t hear it on the radio, they don’t learn about it in school. It’s not treated like it is a part of our culture. SM: You’re right; it ain’t even on the radio. You don’t hear nobody learning from Jackie Wilson or Sam Cooke or [Little] Willie John or Otis Redding, but the rappers will sample these people, the James Browns, the Sam & Daves, and things like that, and they say “Oh, that was my inspiration.” That’s not singing, you dig what I’m saying? And I’m not putting down hip-hop or rap, ‘cause I listen all the time and I love—I’ll hear something and say, “Oh, that’s a lift from Otis or a lift from Sam & Dave or a lift from James Brown,” and I keep on going. But you understand what my point is—these R&B artists are being lifted. But you don’t hear nobody lifting from Bruce. ‘Cause Bruce doesn’t stay in one position all the time. He moves. And that stuff he puts out there. I mean, “Jacob’s Ladder,” all that stuff he’s doing right now, this is old. This is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Pilgrim Travelers, The Soul Stirrers, you know, Mahalia Jackson. LI: You mention Otis Redding, and I have read several places that he was always in awe of you onstage. But who were some of your influences when you were first starting out? SM: Well starting out, naturally, it was gospel. So that was Soul Stirrers, The Pilgrim Travelers, The Nightingales, you know, things of that nature. Mahalia, Aretha’s father C.L., you know, that was when I started out. But when Dave [Prater] and I switched over [to soul], naturally it was Sam [Cooke], and Bobby Womack, and Jackie Wilson. And that’s the only reason I didn’t actually go with The Soul Stirrers. You know, they came out with Jimmy [Outler] and Johnnie [Taylor], but before that when they came to Miami, they were rehearsing to go back to Chicago, and I just went to see these guys... So those were my influences, and things of that nature. And I learned from some of the stars, the Sinatras, and I had a chance to do that. I was fortunate enough to be able to do those kinds of things. So I am blessed and lucky. LI: One last question, because I know you’re a busy man. Any plans to do any live shows with this record and/or any performances with Bruce? SM: Okay, I am glad you asked that, because I want to set the record straight. Yes, when it comes to the album, I am going to promote. With Bruce, that’s up to Bruce. If I’m someplace and Bruce calls and says, “Man I wanna go,” I’m up for it. But I am not - let me repeat - I am not going to infringe on that friendship, that relationship, by asking him to do that. I feel too close to him to do that, but if he calls and says he wants to do something, he would like to sing a song or even have me come on his show with his stuff, I’m all for it. But you will see me on stage with this record. I do have a band together. I’ll learn the songs and wait [until they’re ready.] That’s all I can do. ---------- Lisa Iannucci - second "lost" interview with Sam Moore - 2010 LI: So since I talked to you last, you did the Wilson Pickett tribute at the Grammys, played this year’s Grammys After-Party, and The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts at the Garden last fall. Since you put out the record in ‘06, people have been calling you up. How does that feel? SM: Well, this [Hall of Fame Concerts] call was also [Bruce’s] because he was in a position to invite someone that you’re comfortable, that you like singing with and whatnot. So I was fortunate enough that over the years…that the relationship that we had over the years - you wouldn’t believe because we really don’t socialize or [act] buddy-buddy and all that stuff - but it’s still gratifying and wonderful when someone in his position – we’ve known each other since the ‘70s – asks you to do things. I did the [2003 Holiday Show] one time in Asbury Park, and then this. So anytime he calls and requests, and says, “I want Sam..." It’s not that I have to climb, and neither does he. But we’re comfortable enough that we can have a good time doing what we do best. LI: Well the [Hall of Fame event] was exciting because young people are just starting to know who you are, and it was great to see you come out there and get that kind of reception. SM: Well it used to bug me a lot... It goes back to the “Soul Man” thing, when The Blues Brothers covered the “Soul Man” song, [which was] Sam & Dave’s. And I remember we were playing My Father’s Place there on [Long Island] in New York, and these kids came up to us after the show and said, “You know that song ‘Soul Man’? Well you cats do it better than them,” and Dave just went berserk. And I intervened and said, “Well look, they covered it, but originally it was Sam & Dave.” It was like that even when Dave and I were together. And then later [after Dave left], it was “Who’s going to do the other part?”. And that went on for oh, six or seven years. LI: But really, does that bother you? Because in all honesty, that is where a lot of people discovered you. SM: Well, honestly, that didn’t bother me as much as [it did] after Dave and I split in 1981, and then people would come up and say—you know, promoters did it—they would say, “You know, I like your [solo] show, I like what you’re doing, but it would make me feel more comfortable if you had a partner and we could put ‘Dave’ up on the marquee.” So yeah, after the split that did bother me for a long time. And then doing these things with Bruce and whatnot, and all of the people that I’ve sung with, a lot the time it was “Which one are you?”. And some of my friends tried to make it racial, and it wasn’t racial, it was just people didn’t know. And that’s still true today. People just don’t know. And what you have to do, [is] you have to work. It makes you work much harder to get that name as a single artist. You have to work much harder to get that name [out there]. And if that’s what you gotta do, that’s what you gotta do. And so that’s what I did. I did a lot of stuff—oldies shows—I sang with or opened for this person and that person and I’m gonna tell you, I had to sing my brains out. I really had to sell—not Sam & Dave so much. I had to sell Sam Moore as a single artist. And that was difficult. LI: Did you get a chance to see any of Bruce’s shows on this latest [ Working On A Dream ] tour? Because he seemed to be heading more in a soul music direction, especially with a lot of the covers he was doing. SM: You know, one of his key [band] members that was a friend of mine, Charlie [Giordano], told me about it and you know, he told me that [Bruce] did “Higher & Higher” at the end of the show, and it was almost like a 37-minute interlude before he would start singing the first words. And I had a taste of that at [the] Madison Square Garden [Hall of Fame show,] and I’m going “Whoa.” But you know, he’s been doing that for years. You know, even when we did the Christmas show [in 2003,] when we did “My City of Ruins.” But I even said to him, “Look, you made me come out here [at MSG...] okay, fine, but let’s do one of your songs.” Well, he doesn’t really like to do that. And he’s not trying to be Dave, he’s not trying to do that. And that’s why I enjoy performing with him more, because, you know, Bruce is Bruce. And I asked him to be on the album, and to sing a duet. And people said, “Well he’s not gonna do a soul song.” But I said, “He’ll do it.” And he said, “Send me the file.” And at the very end of the song—“Better to Have And Not Need”—he’s doing that like a gospel singer. And [producer] Randy [Jackson] said to me “Wanna hear what Bruce did?” and at the end he sounded like Aretha’s father [C.L. Franklin]. When he gets up on the piano and he preaches, he’s going on in these gospel tones—that’s Bruce, he likes to do that stuff. Look, it’s no surprise to me, but a lot of people are surprised by it. And again, it just goes to show that a lot of people just don’t know. And they’re gonna be like, “Why is he doing that?” LI: That goes back to what we were talking about before. Some people just have never heard soul music before. SM: You know what, I gotta tell you something. There’s this foundation that I have my name attached to [Sparks Charities] and I was asked to go to Miami and join Jordin Sparks [onstage]. And let me tell you, this kid—well okay, you know she did American Idol and opened for the Jonas Brothers—let me tell you something. This kid—she is as good as any of these hip-hop or pop singers. This kid is really good. And I sang with her. And I was worried about getting up there, being my age with this real young girl. But she asked if we could do “Blame it on the Rain” and I said “I’ll do it with you, but you do all the verses and I’ll ad lib around you.” And I’m telling you, when we did it it was like, we rocked it. And her grandfather came up to me after everything and said, “You know, I really would like for her to do some covers; what do you think?” And I said, she’s as good as…Alicia Keys. I said, “It all comes down to this, sir. It’s about the material.” It’s not like it used to be [in the sixties,] and it’ll never be like that again [with r&b and soul music.] The product is there, but you’ve got ProTools and you really don’t have to be that great of a singer, you don’t have to be that great of a talent. Because if you look at... You get up on that stage and you’re doing a lot of things that have nothing to do with the song, if you catch my drift. I was sitting in the audience looking at Beyonce and... In my day, if a woman did that what she’s doing, we couldn’t even get out of the place. But this is the way things are done—it’s geared to that kind of thing. But you know back in my time, a lot of things that we did onstage were not “acceptable.” So you gotta balance it out and say, okay, you may not like what they’re doing, but we were not all that “clean” with what we were doing up on the stage. Even me, I was like, ooh you know, that’s kind of nasty. But you know, that’s the way it is today. And I say, she needs good material, that’s all. ‘Cause this kid, she’s amazing. And I look forward to one day having her on my show and maybe we can do something, and people can really see. And that’s what I’m basically talking about: me staying in with my friends, and I’m enjoying myself. LI: It must be gratifying to still go out onstage and get the response that you get. SM: Yeah, it is. And it’s so gratifying to hear young kids that can perform. And they call and want to be on the show with me. I got a call from Joss Stone the other day, and she told me that she’s been looking for something that she and I can do, and I was going “What?” But yeah, you know, I guess it means that somebody still likes what you’re doing.

...as featured in the new HBO documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple June 24, 2024 "Got a picture of Brian Wilson that I pray to every night," sings Little Steven in "Love Again," which mixmaster extraordinaire Bob Clearmountain calls "one of my favorite songs of Steve's" in the excellent new documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple. And here (above,) courtesy of our friend and photographer extraordinaire Jim Shive, is a picture of Stevie that's definitely a worthy talisman for invoking the power of prayer, too. Jim caught Little Steven in action at what was then known as The Garden State Arts Center (a.k.a. the "opera out on the turnpike" in "Jungleland,") and is now known as PNC Bank Arts Center, on June 19, 1984. Jim's beautiful photo also appears in Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, and in celebration of the documentary's arrival on HBO/Max, he's now offering special limited-edition giclee prints of it in three different sizes. Click here for all of the details.

June 22, 2024 Tonight at 8pm ET, "Silvio" finally returns to HBO, along with "Miami," "Sugar," "The Kid," the "RockNRoll Rebel," and of course "Little Steven." At that time, the epic-length documentary Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple will get its broadcast/streaming premiere on HBO/Max. We got to screen the film last week, and trust us... If you're a Van Zandt fan (and who reading this isn't?,) you will want to see Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple as soon as possible. (Click here for information on getting access to the Max streaming service, if you don't have it already. You also can see the film with access to HBO, if HBO subscriptions are available through your television provider. Contact your specific provider for more information and pricing details, if needed.) The film tells the multi-faceted story of Stevie's life and career from childhood through present day. And even if you're a fan who's familiar with that story, there is so much to see here that few to no fans have ever seen before: archival family images and recordings, film/video footage never or rarely shared publicly (with a bit of it courtesy of Thom Zimny, not surprisingly, as you can hear below,) beautifully restored vintage footage, and newly filmed interviews with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, "Southside Johnny" Lyon, Gary "U.S." Bonds, Darlene Love, Jackson Browne, David Chase, Vincent Pastore, Maureen Van Zandt, Eddie Vedder, Bill Wyman, Peter Wolf, Bono, Joan Jett, Kenny Laguna, Jon Landau, Jimmy Iovine, Peter Gabriel, Ruben Blades, Arthur Baker, Bob Clearmountain, Ted Sarandos, longtime Van Zandt collaborator Zoe Thrall, Rich Russo, Palmyra Delran, Eddie Brigati, Chris Columbus, Michael Des Barres, Jesse Malin, Melle Mel, Scott Kempner, Richie Sambora, and - of course - Stevie Van Zandt himself. After screening the film last week, Letters To You editor/publisher Shawn Poole also got to chat with Disciple director/producer Bill Teck (One Day Since Yesterday: Peter Bogdanovich & the Lost American Film) about his almost-two-decades-long effort to make the Van Zandt documentary happen. Like his documentary's subject, Bill Teck is also a "true believer," to use Bruce Springsteen's words: a longtime Stevie fan whose persistence and professionalism eventually paid off in getting Van Zandt's approval for the film to be made. In the conversation, Teck shared many interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the making of Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple. You can click below to hear the entire conversation on either our SoundCloud or YouTube platforms: Shortly after we recorded that conversation, Bill Teck also sent us an interesting message with some additional behind-the-scenes information about three potenttial interviewees who unfortunately didn't make it into the film: "[Among the] folks I wanted most were Bob Dylan [with whom Stevie and Roy Bittan recorded a great alternate take of "When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky,"] Pete Townshend [who was a member of Artists United Against Apartheid,] and [longtime SVZ friend/collaborator] Steve Jordan. We couldn’t get Pete's and Steve’s schedules to work, but not for lack of trying. Steve and I went back and forth a lot, and he really wanted to do it, but we ran outta time. My understanding was that Bob Dylan hadn’t sat for an interview for anyone in a long time, and I thought it might be tricky to get him, but I just didn’t dare try. I’m so in awe of him. I guess I couldn’t believe I’d have all these amazing cats in one movie. But then... when I read [what Dylan wrote for the book-cover of Unrequited Infatuations,] I was like… I shoulda tried! And then at Bob’s most recent New York show he praised Stevie from the stage; said beautiful things about him and the Disciples of Soul. And I was like, 'I’m an idiot - I shoulda tried harder.'" But while Bill Teck may be regretting a few missed opportunities, as all great documentary filmmakers occasionally do, ultimately what's most important - and great - is not anything that's missing from Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, but everything that is in it. Teck has done a stellar job of assembling an astounding amount of treasures into a fresh, complete, and inspiring tale of one of E Street's - and rock-and-roll's - greatest heroes. Again, we can't recommend it highly enough; check it out as soon as you can.

June 21, 2024 From his first E Street Band gigs with the launch of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour (and the filming of the "Dancing in the Dark" music-video) forty years ago this month to the current tour - with many more stellar concerts, recordings, and other projects in between, of course - the "new guy on the guitar" never loses heart and keeps rockin' all night. Best wishes for a happy birthday and many, many more to the Godfather of the Guitar, the Minister of Heart and Spirit: the great, great Nils Lofgren! With both his 73rd birthday and the 40th anniversary of his joining the E Street Band occurring this month, we recently asked Nils if he'd like to share any special thoughts with our readers. Here's a special message from the "birthday boy" himself, written in the wee hours of this morning, as he relaxed and reflected in Barcelona, Spain, after performing the first of two scheduled 2024 Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concerts there: I can’t really describe adequately how grateful I am to celebrate 40 years in the amazing E Street Band, with Bruce as our leader. I’ve never seen anyone work harder at sharing such formidable music gifts as Bruce, and it remains a great honor to be on the road currently, with these dear friends and great musicians, after 55 years on the road. Turning 73 today, I just played a three-hour concert in Barcelona with Bruce and E Street. I got a gift for music I didn’t ask for, and I’m eternally grateful. Only thing missing is my wonderful wife, Amy, our son Dylan, and our beautiful dogs. Glad they’re all safe at home, as I work my way back to them. So bless all you wonderful listeners who keep coming to hear me play music at my own shows, with E Street, Crazy Horse, and all the great bands I’ve been blessed to work with. See you all soon, I hope. Love and Thanks, All… Nils Much love and thanks rightbackatcha, Nils! Happy birthday and many, many more to you, good sir. Long may you run! Official 2024 tour photography by Rob DeMartin; used with permission

June 19, 2024 In commemoration of Juneteenth, Jake Clemons has released a new music-video for his 2022 single, "Born Like Me." The single was written by Clemons, and he was joined on the track by Allison Russell, members of the Highlander Research and Education Center, and Tom Morello. It remains available for purchase and/or streaming on all major platforms. The new music-video was shot at Jake’s high-school alma mater, The Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) in Norfolk, VA. It was written and directed by GSA alumnus Daniel Russell (Missy Elliot, SZA, Cardi B, Khalid and Jason Derulo/Meghan Trainor.) The “Born Like Me” video features Jake Clemons' original song with 25¢ String Quartet performing an additional musical intro composed by Chace Moss, as well as a musical outro composed by Courtney Jay Connor, and visual performances by members of the school’s theatre, film, dance visual arts and music departments. You can watch the new music-video below: In his official press-release, Jake states, "'Born Like Me’ as both a song and a music-video is one of my most deep-reaching artistic efforts to date. The song was written at a time when the turmoils of the unjust executions of our American brothers and sisters were being captured on camera and highlighted amongst a wide media backdrop. A time when the realities of such painful discrepancies in our justice system were being brought into focus as voices crying for a stronger sense of humanity were ringing in the streets. "The stories of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s last moments among the living drew me in to recount the harshness of their earthly departures. This was happening to the folks ‘born like me.’ "I firmly believe that each of us are connected. All of humanity is ultimately made up of one single beautiful family, and it requires us to love and protect every part of it to make us whole.” In addition to being written and directed by Russell, the music-video for “Born Like Me” was produced by Lachlan McClellan and Matt Friedman, and was executive-produced by Deborah Thorpe and Michelle Cihak, with Ethan Wen serving as the director of photography. Jake also states in his official press-release, “While envisioning a vehicle to communicate the sentiment of this song visually, I chose to reach out to my high-school alma mater, the Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) in Norfolk, VA. I felt strongly about the importance of a powerful youthful representation coupled with a sincere level of artistic excellence to help tell the story, and there is no better resource for this than GSA. We teamed up with a fellow alumnus, award winning director Daniel Russell, and featured the incredible talents of each artistic department of GSA: Film, Theatre, Dance, Visual Arts and the Music. "I am extremely proud of the profound efforts put forth by these amazing high-school students, as well as the incredible leadership of the amazing staff. The goal was to connect every viewer to these stories, for them to feel a deeper sense of humanity as a part of a family, to fuel a conviction as they look at their neighbors and broader communities. I wanted for each viewer to feel compelled to declare for themselves that these terrible atrocities are not happening to ‘those people’ but, in order to make the statement true in their own voice, that all of this is happening to those ‘Born Like Me.’”

June 12, 2024 When you think about a party celebrating the publication of a book, what comes to mind? Folks sipping an oaky chardonnay in a bookstore or library-type setting, perhaps some wearing corduroy blazers, listening to the author expound voraciously and in a circumlocutory manner about their work? That's not how The Stone Pony does a book-publication party. Not at all. Swap out the library-type setting for arguably the most famous seaside bar in the word, the oaky chardonnay for ice-cold Asbury Park Sea Dragon ale, and corduroy blazers for denim. Lotsa denim. And kick it all off with a three-piece brass band, The Ocean Avenue Stompers, marching from the boardwalk right in through the front doors of 913 Ocean Avenue, Mardi Gras-style. Last Saturday night, The Stone Pony hosted a book-publication party for New York Times journalist Nick Corasaniti and his new book, I Don’t Want to Go Home: The Oral History of The Stone Pony. Corasaniti himself was on hand for the event, along with various legends and local legends from the Asbury Park music scene, representing many different periods of the Pony’s fifty-years-and-counting history. Over the course of three hours, a boatload of musicians led by the night’s band director, Marc Ribler of Little Steven’s Disciples of Soul, would jump on stage to do a song. A few, like Billy Hector and Bobby Bandiera, did more than a couple of songs, but generally it was a fast-moving night of music. And famed music photographer Danny Clinch was on hand both behind the lens and behind his harp to add his verve to a number of songs. Perhaps the most emphatic performance, and one that got the biggest ovation, as Lord Gunner himself, Lance Larson, sang an absolutely incredible version of “With A Little Help From My Friends,” based on Joe Cocker’s arrangement of The Beatles’ classic. Lance’s voice was strong, his face passionate, and the crowd loved it. Here’s the complete June 8, 2024 book-publication party's set list: Marc Ribler and Friends - “Trapped Again” and “Talk To Me” Bobby Bandiera - “Arms of Your Love” and “Like A Hurricane” Billy Hector - “Someday Baby” and “I Know How To Party” Stringbean - “Mystery Train” Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez - “Strange Brew” Lance Larson - “With A Little Help From My Friends” Renee Maskin - “Atlantic City” Dave DiPietro (of TT Quick) - “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” Rachel Bolan (of Skid Row) - “Highway Star” (with DiPietro, and Lily Slix of Arkist) Pam Flores - “18 & Life” (with Bolan, and Darrin Bell of Arkist) Paul Ritchie and Eric Rudie (of Parlor Mob,) and Slix - “Rock and Roll” (the Led Zeppelin song, not the Velvet Underground one) Brian Fallon, Alex Levine (of Gaslight Anthem), Bryan Kienlen (of Bouncing Souls) - “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” Jim Babjak, Dennis Diken (of The Smithereens) - “Blood and Roses” and “Behind The Walls of Sleep” Harry Filkin and Peter Schulle - “Bitch” and “No Surrender” The night then ended with a crowded stage that included Corasaniti on guitar, and everyone performing “The Promised Land,” “Born to Run,” and a wonderful long version of “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” of course. Finally, the house lights at the Pony flickered on, and people did indeed have to go home. They left, however, with another great Stone Pony memory – a book-publication party that included genre-and-generation-spanning music and musicians, one that nodded to the big history of that little bar on Ocean Avenue, in that sand-dusted town that many call Little Eden. Unless noted otherwise, all text and photos above by Mark Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography; used with permission. Click here to follow Mark on Instagram. And click here for a slideshow containing even more of Mark's photos from The Stone Pony's June 8, 2024 book-publication party for I Don’t Want to Go Home: The Oral History of The Stone Pony.

June 12, 2024 As we post this, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band are back onstage, performing the first of three scheduled concerts in Madrid, Spain after being forced to postpone four shows under doctor's directions, due to Springsteen's recent vocal issues. All four postponed shows also have been rescheduled, with the new dates recently announced as follows: Marseille, France - May 31, 2025 Prague, Czech Republic - June 15, 2025 Milan, Italy - June 30, 2025 Milan, Italy - July 3, 2025 These four rescheduled shows, of course, are the first Springsteen/E Street Band concerts to be confirmed officially for the spring/summer of 2025. They strongly indicate, however, yet another full-scale visit to European concert venues next year. Will Bruce and the E Streeters perform another full schedule of European shows for the third year in a row built around the same basic set of material they've been performing since 2023, with their sets' most recent studio-recorded material coming from 2020's Letter to You and 2022's Only The Strong Survive - Covers, Vol. 1? Or might there be some additional options from which they could draw by then, in the form of a new album of newly written/recorded material, a second covers album, and/or one or more collections of older but previously unreleased material? And will those 2025 European dates also be preceded by long-anticipated Australia/New Zealand dates earlier that year, as well as possibly even some more U.S. ballpark/stadium shows after Europe '25? Only time will tell for sure, fellow Springsteen fanatics. When it comes to answering such enticing questions, not even Madam Marie's fortune-telling could help us right now. Nevertheless, we hope everyone still has some fun speculating and anticipating while we wait for all to be revealed in due course.

June 10, 2024 Summer 2024 in the U.S. doesn't begin officially until June 20, but The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University (BSACAM) 's Conversations with our Curator series already has its online "summer sessions" lined up for this year, starting with tomorrow night's online event. Here for your easy reference and registration are the details on the monthly series, hosted by BSACAM Curator Melissa Ziobro, from June through August: Each of the Conversations with our Curator events listed below will begin promptly at 7pm ET on the respective date. Ziobro's online conversation with each author will be followed by an audience Q&A session. Registration to attend any of these online events is free and open to the public. Individual links to register for each event are available below. Tuesday, June 11 - Laura Flam & Emily Sieu Liebowitz, authors of But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?: An Oral History of the ’60s Girl Groups - Click here to register to attend online. Monday, July 8 - Warren Zanes, author of Deliver Me From Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska - Click here to register to attend online. Monday, August 5 - Holly George-Warren, co-author (with Dolly Parton and Rebecca Seaver) of Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones and author of Janis: Her Life and Music - Click here to register to attend online. All past Conversations with our Curator events also are archived at BSACAM's YouTube channel, so you always can catch up on any event that you might have missed, or re-watch any event. Click here to view the Archives' Conversations with our Curator  YouTube playlist.

June 8, 2024 Not surprisingly, this week has yielded some interesting online reporting related to the 40th anniversary of Born in the U.S.A.'s release. Two of the best features can be found at RollingStone.com and TheSecondDisc.com. And towards the end of the week, Springsteen himself provided his own 40th-anniversary "explainer" for the album, via his official online platforms. In case you missed any of it, here's our detailed weekend review/roundup, with direct links provided, as well: Rolling Stone's Brian Hiatt, author of Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind The Songs, recently chatted with Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg about the recording of Springsteen's all-time-biggest-selling album. The exclusive, wide-ranging interviews touch upon the strength of simplicity found in the title track's memorable riff ("To be able to just get down right down into your gut, and just lay into two chords and one riff, it’s elemental rock & roll," says Bittan,) the importance of Stevie Van Zandt's Keith-Richards-like rhythm guitar playing, and Weinberg's insistence - contradicting Springsteen's own 2022 Rolling Stone assessment of the still-unreleased material from the circa-1982 full-band sessions - that the legendary "electric Nebraska" material remains worthy of release. “[T]he sort of legend that has grown up around that material is that [the full-band versions] weren’t very good,” says Weinberg. “It’s actually incredibly good! It was just completely wrong for what Bruce wanted to do...and it was very much in the E Street Band style, and very similar to what we do now when we play those songs. It was great, and it was a rock record.” Mighty Max also relates the experience of staying at Springsteen's Los Angeles home and hearing Bruce creating "My Hometown," singing and playing it on his acoustic guitar as he composed it. Click here to hear Brian Hiatt's full RollingStone.com podcast with Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg, and to read transcribed excerpts from it, in "40 Years of ‘Born in the U.S.A.’: The E Street Band Looks Back at Bruce Springsteen’s Biggest Album." Hiatt also posted some additional transcribed excerpts here today. Meanwhile, Mike Duquette over at TheSecondDisc.com has delivered an excellent history of three of the most underappreciated and - due to their never having received any official re-releases in the digital-audio age - now virtually lost artifacts from the period when Born in the U.S.A. and its string of hit-singles began their historic chart performances: those Arthur Baker-produced 12-inch dance remixes of the album's first three singles ("Dancing in the Dark," "Cover Me," and "Born in the U.S.A.") Duquette conducted a new and extensive interview with Baker for this article, in which Baker provided many interesting behind-the-scenes details - warts and all - on producing each of the dance remixes for these three Springsteen singles. Among our favorite "fun facts" to be found here... Baker, a Boston native, is such a longtime Springsteen fan that he was in attendance at the same 1974 Harvard Square Theatre concert that inspired Jon Landau to write his famous "I saw rock and roll future" essay. And among the backing vocalists on Baker's "Dancing in the Dark" remix was former E Street Choir member and legendary backing vocalist Cindy Mizelle. (Incidentally, Mizelle and her fellow backing singers' "oh-oh-oh"s from that remix now often get sung back to Springsteen from audiences during his live performances of "Dancing in the Dark," despite his '84-remix-sessions request to Baker & Co. to downplay those very same "oh-oh-oh"s.) While Baker's candor throughout the new interview is admirable, it's a shame that he undervalues his and his collaborators' work on the "Born in the U.S.A." remixes. The "Freedom Mix" of that track, a YouTube link to which the article provides, pulled out and spotlighted some crucial, brutally beautiful elements that were fully buried in the originally released mix found on the album, such as Springsteen's mournfully sung "Oh, my God, no, no" (which he would then begin adding to his live performances of the song on the '84-'85 tour,) and even a bit of that Van Zandt-channels-Richards rhythm guitar of which Max Weinberg spoke to RollingStone.com. Click here to read Mike Duquette's "You Can't Start a Fire Without a Spark: Arthur Baker on the 'Born in the U.S.A.' Dance Remixes," exclusively at The SecondDisc.com. And finally, as Bruce often noted while introducing his The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour performances of "Born in the U.S.A.," the songwriter always gets the last shot. (At least for now, that is, since we at Letters To You aren't quite done with Born in the U.S.A.'s 40th anniversary ourselves. But more on that later; stay tuned.) Here's the newly dropped official Springsteen take on BITUSA@40, aka the "Born in the U.S.A. Explainer," released on June 6 via his social-media and YouTube platforms:

May 25, 2024 Updated on May 26, 2024: Complete transcripts of Paul McCartney's and Bruce Springsteen's remarks have been added below. Below we've embedded all audio/video/imagery that's been released officially so far from last Thursday's Ivors Academy Fellowship presentation to Bruce Springsteen, via the Academy's and Springsteen's social-media platforms. As we reported previously, Springsteen is now the first-ever non-UK-native songwriter that the Ivors Academy, the UK’s professional association for songwriters and composers, has inducted into Fellowship since its founding eighty years ago. (U.S.-born contemporary-classical-music composer John Adams and the late French contemporary-classical-music composer/conductor Pierre Boulez also are non-UK-native Fellows.) He joins a prestigious group that includes Joan Armatrading CBE, John Barry OBE, Kate Bush CBE, Peter Gabriel, Sir Barry Gibb CBE, Maurice Gibb CBE, Robin Gibb CBE, Sir Elton John, Annie Lennox OBE, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Tim Rice, and Sting. McCartney was on hand to officially induct Springsteen into the Fellowship, and Bruce delivered an acceptance speech in a manner that conveyed just how deeply moved and honored he is to have been inducted. Even in the edited forms in which the speech has been released officially so far, it is still one of his best summations of not only why he loves British music, culture, and his UK audiences, but also of the essential element in his music and live performances wherever they are or have been heard and witnessed: "the people I've written for and about, and that I can still find them standing in front of me as the clock strikes seven and we go on... That remains one of the greatest privileges and honors in my life as a musician." The emotions of the evening, as well as a slight cold and the rigors of recent live performances, affected Bruce's voice during both the speech and his solo-acoustic performance of "Thunder Road" that followed it. Nevertheless, the deep, long-forged, and long-standing connections between the artist and his audience are what dominated the night, and appropriately so. Below you can see and hear the officially released audio/video/imagery to date, and we hope to post even more as it becomes available. Congratulations, Bruce! And courtesy of NME, here are full transcripts (re-edited to correct some of NME's errors and misquotes) of both McCartney's induction remarks and Springsteen's acceptance speech: McCartney: Springsteen is a Dutch name. Did you know that? In Dutch it means "man in charge." [Editor's note: Macca must've been joking here; "Springsteen" actually translates from Dutch as "jump stone," a type of stepping stone used in unpaved streets, possibly applied as a surname for stonecutters, historically.] So he’s the man in charge. So unlike Bruce’s concerts, I’m gonna keep this brief. I said to him, "I blame you, man; we used to play an hour, an hour and a half. The Beatles used to play a half hour.’" He starts doing one and we’re all playing three hours now. Anyway, I’ll get on with it... I can’t think of a more fitting person to be the first international songwriter fellowship except maybe Bob Dylan, or Paul Simon, or Billy Joel, or Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift. The list goes on. Just kidding, Bruce. Anyway, I was wondering how Bruce would fit into The Beatles. When it comes to talent, he was definitely in the Top Five. Anyway, as I say, he is a mate, and me and my wife Nancy go out to their place in New Jersey, and him and Patti are just the best hosts. I mean, they really look after you, you know? When you go there, it’s like in the winter, he’s got a great big fire going in the fire pit, so we sit outside and drink and chat about things. He is a fantastic guy. He’s a really nice guy, and he showed up for me at Glastonbury, and he promised to do that about three years before. Then COVID hit. And I thought, "Well, he’s never gonna show up," and then he shows up. He’s a lovely boy. He’s known as being the American working man, you know? But he admits he’s never worked a day in his life. It’s true. So he’s a lovely, lovely boy. You know what, it’s great for me to be back here because I came here in the sixties. I know I don’t look that old. So it’s a great pleasure for me to present this to Bruce, and he is a Fellow. Springsteen: Back in 1975, I went on the long flight from New Jersey to the UK, with two different guys who had never been on an airplane. The airplane food was not so great, and my first thought when we landed at Heathrow was, "Where’s all the cheeseburgers?" The cheeseburgers had either been hidden or replaced by something called fish and chips. I knew what a fish was, but I didn’t know what a chip was. It was a little disconcerting. Our next stop was the Hammersmith Odeon, where I was greeted by a huge sign announcing, "London is finally ready for Bruce Springsteen." And all I thought was, "If London isn’t ready for a cheeseburger, they may not be ready for me." Me and my 25-year-old American cousins, who were visiting the land of the musical giants: The Beatles, The Stones, The Animals... They all met us, took us to school, told us their deep appreciation of our own American roots and music, taught us the right way to dress and wear our hair. For a young New Jersey rocker, you came to Mecca. We thought we had died and gone to heaven. Youth, loud, hipness, girls. And while I was stone-cold born in the bowels of the U.S.A., at sixteen I desperately yearned to be British. I had a pretty good fake British accent. That’s what the checkout girls at the local supermarket thought. But I have had a lot of wonderful history here. Next year is going to mark fifty years that I’ve been coming here to entertain you, and win your trust and confidence, I hope. I must first thank our extraordinary fans and audiences. They've been with me since that first night at Hammersmith, all the way to the great gigs that we did at Hyde Park last summer. Their depth of knowledge of my work and their dedication constantly keeps me invested here. It keeps me coming back to these shores, so that I can dig deeper, and so that I can deal more faithfully with my audience’s joys and their concerns. Now I want to be at the top of my game, and thanks to the inspiration that I see from so many musicians and writers who hail from the UK, we've tried hard to do that. Now, I’ve met many folks over the last fifty years, who worked at all levels at Sony Music, and one thing they all have in common is the dedication and respect that they’ve shown me, my songs, and my work, none more, of course, than Sony Music chairman Rob Stringer. Rob, thanks... I mean... I sold all my music and they still treat it like it’s mine. But being the first international artist to be granted this Fellowship – especially as an American, who I always suspected the British were always a little suspicious of our strange ways – makes today a meaningful experience for me. As we flew towards the UK in 1975, all I was wondering was, "What do I have that I could conceivably give back to those people who gave me so much?" And the answer is, I said, "Everything I got." We just came out of playing Sunderland last night… Hellacious weather, however; hellacious. A driving rainstorm, wind blowin', blowin', blowin'... But standing in front of me in the rain, I realized... These are my people. Now some of them are young, some of them were children, and some of them weren’t. Many wore the lines of their faces of lives hard-weathered and well-lived. Those are my people here in the UK, and I love to come and visit them. They’re the people I’ve written for and about, and that I can still find them standing in front of me as the clock strikes seven and we go on... That remains one of the greatest privileges and honors in my life as a musician. I want to thank you for taking my music into your hearts and into your souls. I want to thank you for including me in the challenging and beautiful cultural life of the UK. Once it was only a dream I had. Today it’s real, and I want to thank you for looking at me and seeing one of yours. I guess London is finally ready for cheeseburgers.

May 28, 2024 "Born in the U.S.A. changed my life and gave me my largest audience. It forced me to question the way I presented my music and made me think harder about what I was doing." -Bruce Springsteen, Songs He's just over three pages in, still in preface territory, but in There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” and the End of the Heartland, which becomes officially available to all readers today, music-writer Steven Hyden quickly makes it plain just exactly why the upcoming fortieth anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album, in the same year in which Springsteen will celebrate a landmark 75th birthday, remains such a big, important deal. "Although the question of 'best' Springsteen LP," writes Hyden, "is forever open to subjective judgment, there is no question about which one is most significant. This is true on a macro level— [Born in the U.S.A.] is a landmark in American pop culture, an all-time bestseller that placed Bruce Springsteen at an elevated position more analogous to a national monument than a pop star. It influenced how music sounded in the era, but more than that, it informed the national political discourse as well as the idea that monocultural phenomena can unite different and wide-ranging constituencies. Ultimately, it ensured that the most respected singer-songwriter of the eighties would be the world’s definitive arena rocker well into the next century." For my money, besides of course blasting the album itself and singing along this coming June 4, I can't think of a better way to mark this important anniversary than reading, re-reading, and discussing Hyden's excellent book. (But hey, if vinyl-based re-packaging is your thing, then you do you. No judgment here... seriously; I just strongly encourage you to order a copy of this book in addition to ordering that razzle-dazzle repackage, too.) One big reason that Hyden's book appeals so strongly to me is its relatively fresh and contemporary perspectives on the best-selling Springsteen album and its enduring significance. It probably helps greatly in that regard that Hyden is a decade younger than I am. In 1984, I first experienced Born in the U.S.A. and everything that surrounded it as a seventeen-year-old somewhat "newbie" Springsteen fan. (I really got into his music beginning 'round 1980, but didn't see my first show 'til '84.) Meanwhile, Hyden was first encountering this album - and its creator - as a six-year-old child, initially via the cassette-tape version in his father's car. Age aside, however, Hyden's since grown up to be just one damned smart music-writer, drawing important musical, cultural, and socio-political connections between Born in the U.S.A., what preceded it and what followed it in U.S.-culture-based popular music. Hyden not only looks back as far as Woody Guthrie and Hank Williams; he looks as far forward to, in his words, "the pop and hip-hop behemoths that supplanted rock stars in the twenty-first century." And he sees those connections not just from the perspective of a Springsteen fan following the various twists and turns of Bruce's fifty-plus years of recording and performing in the ever-shifting universe of popular music, but also now of that same fan/critic as an adult citizen and parent still very much concerned about the state of a nation - and planet - where the whole world's still out there, just tryin' to score. Nevertheless, it's certainly a very different world than the one that Born in the U.S.A. entered four decades ago. In some important ways, it's better of course, but in far too many other important ways, it's gotten much worse. "Born In The U.S.A.," Hyden continues in his preface, "now feels like an anachronism. Though if that’s true, why does the album still sound so vital? There are songs on Born in the U.S.A. that are prescient statements about the path America took beyond the eighties and into the twenty-first century. But the overall package evokes longing for an era where we could at least all bond over the greatness of Bruce Springsteen." That last sentence echoes - deliberately, I'm sure, since Hyden references and explores it directly later in the book - Lester Bangs' famous "we will never agree on anything as we agreed on Elvis" line. And then in his concluding paragraph, he previews the destination that anyone who digs as deeply as Hyden does in exploring this album's socio-political impact must eventually reach: "This is an album that managed to capture the center of American life. But the center did not hold. Perhaps it never did." Lester Bangs isn't the only other music-writer whom Hyden cites in his work. For example, he's wise enough to explore some of Ellen Willis' insightful writing about Creedence Clearwater Revival, which prophetically described exactly what Springsteen sought to achieve with Born in the U.S.A.: "Being a best-selling rock band was not enough. A serious rock star not only aspired to entertain the public but to alter its consciousness and so in some sense affect history." Unfortunately, Hyden - like Warren Zanes before him in last year's Deliver Me From Nowhere - also asserts that, upon the release of Nebraska in 1982, rock-critics like Greil Marcus and Dave Marsh erroneously overemphasized the contemporary political aspects of the Springsteen album that directly preceded and remains deeply connected to Born in the U.S.A. The songs on Nebraska, writes Hyden, instead "unfold either as distant memories or as imagined vignettes from another time." Hyden, Zanes, and even Springsteen himself seem to be in accordance on this idea, forgetting or ignoring that in 1982 there was nothing imagined or distant about what happened in "Atlantic City," to name the most obvious example, which also was Nebraska's only version of a U.S. single (actually more like an early version of a "featured track" via its MTV video) and one of the few Nebraska songs consistently performed live on the Born in the U.S.A. Tour. The same could be said about "Johnny 99," which is the Nebraska song that Bruce chose to perform onstage during the same tour's stop in Pittsburgh on September 21, 1984, in direct response to Ronald Reagan having invoked Springsteen's name during a New Jersey re-election campaign stop a few days earlier. ("I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album of mine must've been," said Bruce before performing the song. "I don't think it was the Nebraska album; I don't think he's been listening to this one.") And even Nebraska's songs with distant-memory aspects like "Mansion On The Hill" and "Used Cars" have their last verses set in the present day, with a clear sense that nothing's gotten or getting any better for the song's protagonist or his community. On the other hand, Hyden does an absolutely stellar job of debunking some enduring myths surrounding both Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. In the book's longest chapter, he skillfully deflates the pretensions and presumptions of those whom he calls the "people who think Nebraska is the best,” including Bruce Springsteen himself, and brilliantly refutes Springsteen's revisionist description of Born in the U.S.A. as merely a "grab bag" album. And yes, all of those Electric Nebraska proselytizers get schooled summarily and succinctly; hallelujah! (In that same chapter, Hyden's extensive research also reminds us of a cinematic influence on Nebraska that not only Warren Zanes missed, but so did we here at Letters To You: 1981's True Confessions, starring DeNiro and Duvall.) Obviously I don't agree with all of Hyden's theories and arguments, given what's written two paragraphs above. I also still fail to understand why Hyden, or anyone else, would use a word like "exuberance" in describing the music made by Springsteen and the E Street Band on Born in the U.S.A.'s title track, which always has sounded appropriately blistering and angry to me, even if I probably didn't get quite all of its lyrics clearly on the first listen or two, lo those many years ago. And at times, Hyden writes about the origins of Nebraska in a way that I feel doesn't make it clear enough just how unintentional an album it was, in spite of its greatness. (This is why it's especially absurd for any other musicians to talk about purposefully making an album like Springsteen made Nebraska, since Springsteen didn't intentionally "make" Nebraska at all. It's the very definition of a happy accident.) In addition, I think he underestimates the enduring importance, purpose, and greatness of Live 1975-85 and its beautifully powerful Bob Clearmountain mix, which incidentally has virtually no "piped-in crowd noise," as Hyden alleges. But disagreements like this (and yes, I have a few more of 'em up my sleeve) are actually part of everything that makes Hyden's book so great. It fits that same wonderful description that Bruce Springsteen provided for popular music itself in his 2012 SXSW keynote address: "a joyous argument-starter... a subject for long, booze-filled nights of debate with [a companion or companions as knowledgeable as somebody like] Steve Van Zandt." Fittingly, the book has a very moving - if not downright heartbreaking - ending, set at Springsteen's March 5, 2023 concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, the city where the Born in the U.S.A. tour began way back in '84. Hyden takes us both inside and outside the venue of that 2023 concert, reflecting on just how far the rock-and-roll dreams that created Born in the U.S.A. - and the dreams that it in turn has inspired - remain so distanced from our present-day reality, even more so than they were four decades ago, of course. As the album itself does, Hyden ends by simply describing as best as he can what currently is, leaving at best just a glimmer of hope as to whether and to what extent Bruce Springsteen and his audience still can do anything about it. In other words, take a good look around...but also remember that you still can't start a fire without a spark. Again, I highly recommend Steven Hyden's There Was Nothing You Could Do: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” and the End of the Heartland as essential reading for anyone interested in Springsteen's enduring, all-time-best-selling album and everything that's accompanied it through the years. Click here to purchase your copy.

June 4, 2024 I just re-listened to Born in the U.S.A., released forty years ago today back in 1984. Yeah, that year, the one we all grew up worrying about since all of us had read George Orwell’s alarming novel, 1984. Afraid that the omnipresent Big Brother would make an appearance, and our lives would never be the same again. But Bruce Springsteen’s best-selling, chart-topping 1984 album was different…Or was it? During my recent listen, my head was filled with vivid images of broken down cars and endless highways, dead end jobs and burned out romances, deserted streets and hard luck towns. Aching hearts... unrequited love…lust and hopelessness. Many of us share happier Born in the U.S.A. reveries and memories, as well. But recently as I listened again, and I mean really listened, I recognized that Born in the U.S.A.—the entire album, and not just its oft-misinterpreted title track—really could be about old soldiers like me, guys in our thirties in the 1980s, trying to navigate America after we’d spent the best years of our youth at war, both in Vietnam and back home in a divided America. And, crazily, all of what’s in Born in the U.S.A. hits me harder now, as I turn 77 in 2024. Not just because of that brutal, divisive, unwinnable war that I and others of my generation were sent to fight, but because America has become the gloomy, dystopian place Springsteen portrays in much of Born in the U.S.A. His is a world of lost love, hard work, and the staggered pursuit of happiness. Even the humor—and there is humor in Born in the U.S.A.—reminds me of the gallows humor we used as a coping mechanism in Vietnam when you had to find something to laugh about in the absurdity of that ugly war. That's why the Country Joe & The Fish song, “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin'-to-Die Rag,” was so popular with us GIs. “Ain’t no time to wonder why/Whoopee, we’re all gonna die…” Glory days indeed… I kept trying to tell myself I was wrong, that I was overreacting, much as I had when I came home from Vietnam and was so angry at my country. That helped to explain why, like so many of the narrators in the Born in the U.S.A. songs, I would get in my car and try to drive away the pain and the hurt. Go searching for something that would give me a reason to live. And, for many of us Vietnam vets, we found that hope and sustenance in a woman. Someone who didn’t judge or question but listened. Held us tight and got us through the night. Nowhere is that accentuated better than in “Cover Me:” “I’ve seen enough, I don’t want to see any more; cover me…” Our wives/lovers did that for us. Covered us with their love. Protected us. Brought us back home. And they did that each and every day… Lord knows we needed it. After all, we were born in the U.S.A. It was our hometown, our playground, in the 1950s and 1960s. We sat on our World War II daddies' laps and felt their surge of relief, hope, and optimism. We did what we were told and pledged allegiance to the flag. And when Uncle Sam told us we had to follow in our fathers' footsteps and go and stop Communism in Southeast Asia, three million of us did. Little did we know that we were “goin’ down,” that being a soldier in Vietnam and a Vietnam veteran bought you a ticket on that “downbound train.” That we were all on fire, needed a spark. We were guns for hire, alright, but was the joke on us? Where was the U.S.A. when we needed it? Now I don’t quite know if I dreamed all of that, or if I actually felt that way when I first heard Born in the U.S.A. in 1984. Or even if I finally realized it all when I just recently played the album again. And again... And again... “There’s a war outside still raging..." Was that then, 1984, or is it now? Don’t we all still want to "sleep beneath peaceful skies?” “Time slips away and leaves you with nothing…” I know this better now in my late seventies than I did forty years ago in my late thirties. And just as I did back then, I still often feel like turning out the light, bolting the door, and going out there no more. But then I look around, at today, and I say, no, not yet. Forty years on, we still need to listen, to heed the warnings of both Springsteen and Orwell. To speak out and stand up. In 1984, Orwell warned us about Newspeak, how it would control our minds, believing that war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. And Bruce reminds us that we’d not only lost our innocence but we also lost the American dream. That part of being born in the U.S.A. is a struggle against brutality and injustice. That’s why we have to keep on fighting, no matter how many times we hit the ground. So I join arms with Bruce, with my Vietnam brothers and sisters, reminding the U.S.A. that I’m still a soldier in the winter’s night, and I still have a vow to defend. No retreat, baby; no surrender. ---------- Vietnam veteran Doug Bradley is the author of Who’ll Stop the Rain: Respect, Remembrance, and Reconciliation in Post-Vietnam America, co-author with Craig Werner of We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War, which was named best music book of 2015 by Rolling Stone magazine, and author of DEROS Vietnam: Dispatches from the Air-Conditioned Jungle, now also available as an audiobook. His music-based memoir, The Tracks of My Years, will be released by Legacy Book Press in the spring of 2025.