Original subtitles

[Music]

thank you

come home in the moment

go to bed feeling in the same way can't

start a fire

word about your little world falling

apart his guns were higher

even if we're just Dancing in the Dark

if I couldn't be a musician tomorrow and

I had to find something else to do I

have no idea what I'd do

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

one of the greatest live performers in

the history of rock and roll

the boss Mr Americana champion of the

Everyman

Bruce Springsteen

[Music]

music was really my first Refuge against

things that were bothering me so it did

help a lot

[Applause]

[Music]

you're young and you don't understand

the different things you're feeling uh

you certainly don't understand if

there's any chemical imbalance in your

makeup so all I knew was when I played

it deeply centered me and chased away my

blue

I think that's how it all started

let me find it yeah

okay

all right I have a uh

favorite place I go I go to was a

favorite spot that my pop used to go to

was a place called The Manasquan Inlet

and um

yeah it's just a place where the boats

come in and the boats go out

it was by the beach lovely set of rocks

so

this is me traveling home from uh short

visit

at the Manasquan Inlet

uh traveling to a stream of headlights

as commuter cars holding their day

Travelers

flash by inches from my left handle grip

I moved North up the highway until a

traffic recedes

leaving only my headlight Illuminating

blank Road and dashes of white line

white line

white line white line

my Ape Hanger high-rise handlebars

thrust my arms out in Skyward shoulder

height

opening me up to the winds full force

it's a rough embrace

as my gloved hands tighten their grip on

that new evening sky

the cosmos begins to flicker to life in

the Twilight above me with no fairing a

60 mile per hour Gale steadily pounds

into my chest

nudging me to the back of my seat subtly

threatening to blow me off 600 pounds of

speeding Steel

reminding me of how the next moment

holds no guarantees

and of how good things are

this day this life

how lucky I've been

how lucky I am

I turned the corner off the highway onto

a dark country road I hit my high beams

I scanned the flat Farm Fields looking

for deer all clear I twist the throttle

that's rushing into my arms comes home

foreign

amount of wonderful qualities about it

you know I mean I just love the country

itself I always have I think that I've

had

a critical but creative voice is the

voice I search for in my music whether

it was born in the USA I think the thing

that was about that song they had a

critical verse critical voice in the

verses and yet there was a sense of

pride in in birthplace in the choruses

and that's where I've always come from

you know I've I've

you know I've grew up in America and my

music is Thoroughly American and uh

while I certainly have a lot of

criticisms about where we live it's

something I've also always been uh I've

always had a lot of pride in so

chasing hell drinking devil's blood

born in New Jersey in 1949 Bruce

Springsteen spent his early years on

South Street in Freehold Borough his dad

Douglas was a bus driver of Dutch Irish

ancestry and his mother Adele zarrilli a

legal PA of Italian parentage

growing up as something of a shy and

ghost loner his love of Music shown

through from an early age he was seven

when he first saw Elvis Presley on The

Ed Sullivan Show

oh and not come home Glory Hallelujah

[Music]

oh that's what I

I think that's how it all started

you know you're young and you don't

understand

the different things you're feeling uh

you certainly don't understand if

there's any chemical imbalance in your

makeup so all I knew was when I played

it deeply centered me and chased away my

Blues you know for whatever the reason

was

um I think it was there was an enormous

amount of self-realization in playing

and when you walked off the stage at

night you knew who you were

you know and you felt you've done

something constructive so you're left

with a certain feeling of lightness and

a certain positivity that eluded me in a

lot of the rest of my daily life so

music was really my first Refuge against

things that were bothering me so it did

help a lot

[Music]

in 1965 Bruce started playing as a

jobbing musician along the Jersey Shore

it was during this period that he was

dubbed the boss

[Music]

if your father with whom he had a very

troubled relationship was alive today do

you think he would be tempted to vote

for Donald Trump that's a good question

if he voted at all you know I'm not sure

I don't know

he'd have a hard time he'd have a hard

time he was an angry man there wasn't it

he was an angry depressed married

he had you know I think if you just

if you just look towards my music and

you hear the way I I created a bit of an

archetype in my songs about him and it

was a little bit of a one-dimensional

one one-dimensional portraiture he had a

I had a lot of different qualities

beyond the fact that he struggled you

know with with his with his life and his

and working you know so he was a much

more complicated character than that

what about your mother would she be

in love with Hillary Clinton as a

candidate

that's a good question I'm not sure you

know my mother

who when I was very young I know was

very democratic

um she was the first one to say you know

who are we mom we're Democrats why

they're for the working people

that was the only political discussion

we had in my house when I was a kid but

um

she was also she tended to get a little

more conservative as she got older but

she wouldn't be a trump voter

it's obvious that his life was a bit of

a struggle at the start and his his mum

bought him a very cheap guitar but I

have the save for it I think it was an

18 guitar a few years later she took out

a loan for another guitar and much

better guitar for sixty dollars so years

later he paid her tribute in the song

The wish which starts off with him and

his mum looking in the music shop window

and then him getting the Japanese guitar

beneath the Christmas tree and talks

about dancing around the living room

with it with his mum so it was a it was

a lovely tribute to his mum it became

readily apparent like that he had a

really prodigious gift and talent and

skill and he was playing talent shows

and forming bands locally in New Jersey

he was a bit of a loner he didn't bother

going to his own high school graduation

and of course this new music is

happening all around him you know rock

music he's giving him his he's giving

him clues about how he can piece

together his identity if you like as far

as when I became really conscious of

seeking out music as a way to search for

identity that was early Rock Records

um you know probably the early Elvis

records early surf records some of the

doo-wop records from the late 50s and

60s that was when you were those are the

those are the years when you're in your

late teens or actually early early teens

where

you know you're trying to figure out who

you are and I think kids turn to popular

culture for for

initially a starting place I like the

way that guy dresses or I like the way

the feeling this music evokes or that's

cool so those are the earliest records

that that I think that I experienced as

a search for for identity which I really

kind of carried through all of my music

to this day you know he ended up

becoming lead singer of a band called

The castiles and it's interesting

because there's like this whole

psychedelic Revolution kind of going on

in 1965 1966 and Bruce Springsteen's

kind of untouched from that

when Bruce was only 18 he was called up

to the draft in the Vietnam War

[Music]

a committed pacifist it was a cause he

did not believe in but he failed his

physical anyway following a motorcycle

accident a few months earlier

[Music]

Bruce was now free to pursue his music

career

playing in dingy Dives at Smoky bars

along the east coast he was determined

to make it big and it wasn't long before

he became the greatest exponent of what

was soon to become the famous Jersey

Shore sound

[Music]

by now he had carefully cherry-picked

the band that would back and support him

for nearly 40 years minus one very

important character the story about when

he first met him he came into a club and

and the wind was howling so much the

wind clowns opened the door the hinges

fell off and Clarence enters you know

it's wonderful mythology you know it's

love

you know it's more than being married

it's more than being male female as two

men two men too strong very veral men

finding that space in life where they

can can Let Go enough of their

masculinity to to feel the passion of

love you know and respect and that's

what it is it's love respect and Trust

you know three qualities that every

marriage should have you know that's and

it's based on that you know friendships

are based on those things and you feel

it with a kiss

that Bruce trying to articulate The

Sounds in his head it requires trusted

musicians who know his shorthand know

his lingo and I think that's what these

Street Band really do for him

one of the things I always say I'm the

proudest of is that a friendship

survived and and uh those are the things

that were really important and and right

now it's just it's just nothing but a

ride you know it's great

finding clearance was like gold dust for

Bruce the chemistry between the two men

became legendary and their friendship

was to spill over onto the stage much to

the Delight of their fans

the E Street Band family was now

complete

in his early career in particular a lot

of people thought that he wrote like

Dylan and he also wrote like Van

Morrison and sounded like Van Morrison

and I can understand a little in terms

of there's a certain blue-eyed Soul

there's a certain garage there's a real

masculinity to his music the early the

Early Bruce Springsteen stuff like

definitely has a lineage to Bob Dylan

obviously he was obsessed with Woody

Guthrie and Bob Dylan was obsessed with

what he got three music critics are

they're a very jaded species and if

somebody sounds like somebody then

they're like they're instantly

dismissive because they're like well why

do I need to listen to this person if

another person like this exists it

wasn't long before Bruce discovered how

cruel and demanding the music industry

could be the music that I loved the most

I go back to if I think about the 40s I

think of Frank Sinatra if I think of the

60s I think of probably Dylan and you

know the stones and the Beatles you

think of the 70s I probably think of the

sex pistols and The Clash and and uh you

know in the early 90s I I think Nirvana

a lot of the new rock bands did that so

I think it's something where

where

that was music music that was evocative

of a particular time in a particular

place put on Hank Williams and you see

that American Countryside in the 40s the

minute his voice in the geography of the

land are intertwined you know it's it's

inextricable from one another you know

Frank Sinatra New York City where people

imagine New York City in the 30s and 40s

that's intertwined forever you know and

I think I always wanted my music to to

summon up a certain time in a certain

place in a certain

inner geography Bruce began working on

his music with a ferocity an energy that

would ultimately totally confound his

critics

with John Hammond's guidance he said

about recording his debut album for its

title he stayed true to his roots naming

it greetings from Asbury Park a place in

Jersey which held many happy memories

for him it's interesting because you

have Bruce Springsteen coming at 72-73

on the east coast in New Jersey and then

you have this parallel you know Los

Angeles singer-songwriter movement and

they were kind of doing schmaltzier more

saccharine kind of things and you have

somebody like Bruce Springsteen he's not

sitting there and kind of enjoying the

LA sunshine and kind of smoking weed by

pools he's in these like kind of gritty

bars and like you know he's he's around

these people he's getting real

experiences

if you think about it just the title

greetings from Asbury Park like he is

rooted in such a sense of place that's

undeniable and I think he understood

that early on it has this audacity to

say I'm here and I'm from New Jersey

it's not New York hipster it's not La

folky it's not this kind of Dylan

traveling hobo thing it's Jersey I

always thought I was writing American

Music in the sense that that was where I

came from but on the other hand my

biggest audience

certainly for the past 10 years has been

in Continental Europe you know

where we've had a deep deep support from

our fans over there I watched your

concert the other day but four hours and

10 minutes I think I told you

um how do you do it I always have a

trouble stopping so it's not really it's

the opposite you know it's not really uh

yeah yeah the the night has an organic

life of its own you know if I come out

at night not quite knowing exactly where

the audience is going to take me or

where I'm going to go and I want people

to go home feeling like they've had a

night that they're gonna that's gonna

resonate within them that's going to

hopefully we go out to entertain we go

out to inspire uh we go out to stir you

to action

um so there's a lot at stake I feel when

I go out on stage at night I I like that

I like playing for those steaks I always

have since I was a young man and that's

that's the way I go about it foreign

[Music]

all the way from New Haven Connecticut

we need tickets he's opening his tour

tonight I've seen him 78 I need tickets

and I need them bad

right here both of them all right this

is it I'm off I'll be honest with you

really okay I have to hand it to Bruce

Springsteen I don't think that it's just

uh him in particular being an artist

that has made this whole Fascination uh

totally you know just everybody go crazy

and he has uh I think it's his

personality that has done it he has

coupled his

um

oh boy he's made everybody love him more

than they love Jesus okay basically no

I'm serious I mean he has sold more

records than anybody as ever sold

far as I I can see you know and sold out

more concerts and everybody wants them

and everybody wants to touch him and you

know but he has to be doing something

right and that is he's basically a nice

person

what do you expect to see that you can't

see from anybody else one guy real sway

the one guy who puts it all on the line

more work more everything I crawl three

thousand miles on crushed glass to see

Bruce perform

[Applause]

ance

[Music]

real friends

[Music]

[Music]

come on

[Music]

I would say he has this extraordinary

ability to to take a giant room a

stadium and reduce it to the size of a

small room I I remember seeing him you

know before I actually saw him live when

I was a teenager saw him on a TV and I

think it was about 1978 and it was a

concert in London and I just thought wow

and you could see the happiness on his

face you know that's where that's where

he belonged however many shows he wants

to play on the East Coast especially you

know if he wants to book 10 shows and 10

football stadiums across the Eastern

City Board he's going to sell at 10

shows I love coming across Him Live you

know I'll go out of my way to see him

live you know Big Boy and steal a ticket

to see him live because that to me is

the essence of of who he really is and

he knows exactly how to structure what

could you know a two-hour set he never

Flags

and he will always he will always play a

song with your desperate desperate to

hear and his energy is just unfailing

it's it's remarkable he makes an effort

to come to every single part of the

stage

responds to the crowd so that barrier

that now exists these days in modern

certain Concepts between between the the

front of the the crowd and the stage

evaporates I had a friend who was really

into him and he went to play at a

football stadium called St James's Park

in Newcastle and that the friend said

look this guy's on stage for so long we

may have to break away and have a meal

during the concert so I I bought this

idea that Springsteen plays for four

hours we go for an hour we go and have a

meal in a restaurant we come back for

the last hour of course it wasn't quite

like that we went into this massive

crowd tens of thousands of people we got

near the front as you do you push

through when you're in your teens and we

were just locked in position for the

full set which must have been two and a

half three hours and I can remember

almost every song and and it was it was

incredible he is an incredible performer

because his his songs are built for

stadiums

by 1974 the Jersey Shore sound was

really Making Waves in the Rock world

and Rolling Stone magazine decided to

send one of its top Riders along to

discover what all the excitement was

about what happened next was quite

extraordinary

around the time of E Street Shuffle he

encountered for the first time John

Landau and he was to become a really key

figure in his in his life in his career

and Landau wrote after seeing Bruce that

he had seen the future of rock and roll

and his name was Bruce Springsteen and

he said on a night that he needed to

feel young he brutally made him feel

that he was hearing music for the first

time it's almost like you yes you're

saving for gold every day so he would

have been excited by Springsteen and he

will have got it what he actually did

was was create his own future

so there's the sense that suddenly John

Lando has a future away from being the

miserable existence of a rock critic

which is a an awful cul-de-sac my first

impressions of him from seeing him live

and getting to know him in 1974 were

that he was he was a genius and that's

not something you you you lose you know

and he's the same guy that I knew then

today I think he's better than ever and

uh he's an incredible person that inner

core of talent and perception about the

world around him it's just he brings it

with him it's just wherever it came from

he brings it with him so uh landau's

partnership with Bruce led to the

exciting creation of a sound that would

stamp Springsteen's musical genius all

over the world with Born to Run

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

s I've ever made where after we mixed it

I came home I put it on the next morning

and said that's exactly what I want it

to sound like he at this point really

started to show his perfectionism he

spent 14 months recording this and six

months alone on the single Born to Run

and he was tremendously frustrated he is

pacing about the studio and he's angry

he's like a little ball of tension and

he's scrolling lyric after lyric after

lyric in his notebook and trying to

communicate to his band why the sounds

they're playing aren't good enough and

why they aren't water in his head he

went through all this torment with

himself because he'll have been

listening to it and thinking that

doesn't really sound like me what would

my mate saw the people that I grew up

with in you know New Jersey think of

that and then he brought in Steve

VanZant and almost like Steve VanZant

was to say well look Bruce this is a

great song this is a great sound and

he'll have needed that you know because

it you know really you know part of the

sensitivity part of what makes him

special is is kind of that self-doubt

and that lack of self-confidence the

process we used then was quite similar

to the process we use now except not

anywhere near as painful you know it was

uh we were just learning to make records

and so uh the records were long and they

were hard and we didn't really know what

we were doing and we were also trying to

build a core philosophy around what our

band was going to be and what we wanted

to talk about and and so it was really

it was a very shaping

album it had to be amazing it had to be

amazing and therefore it had to sound

amazing because all rock music really is

its sound he was still massively

frustrated uh and legendarily through

the entire recording into an alley and

said that he would rather cut this album

live at the bottom line which is a dingy

club that they used to play at

um then then go back into a recording

studio and have that frustration of not

being able to perfect that sound

those seven or eight people or nine

people or something where

just such a

a big part of my life at this point that

uh

uh

you know I mean I've lived my life I've

lived a lifetime with them you know

probably several lifetimes already so

it's it's always great to have everybody

alongside me at night

but just when many thought Bruce

Springsteen's Glory Days were over he

bounced back with an astounding

Vengeance with one of the most exciting

rock albums in music history Born in the

USA

one of the big hits from from Born in

the USA was dancing in the dark and it

has a quite legendary video

which shows Bruce playing live and he

picks a girl out of the um of the

audience to dance with her on stage and

and people I think at the time thought

maybe it's genuine footage it wasn't the

girl in the audience was an actress in

fact she was Courtney Cox who would go

on to be a huge star in friends and and

probably that video really started her

career

[Music]

can't start a fire

word about your little world Fallen

apart

guns were higher

even if we're just Dancing in the Dark

[Music]

even if we're just dancing

even if we're just Dancing in the Dark

[Music]

1985 was to prove an astonishing year

for Bruce not only did he assert himself

as one of the biggest rock stars of all

time but he also met his future wife

actress Julianne Phillips and married

her soon after

it was very short-lived marriage and

quite an unhappy one by ol accounts

um it would go on to create the album

ton of Love which

was radically different to a lot of the

bombastic songs that he'd been recording

before is he seems very vulnerable

a little broken and it's really one of

the classic breakup albums of all time

when you're in love with someone and

you're married to someone you you know

and especially with him coming from that

kind of Catholic background no divorce

love is forever you've made that

commitment that will have tortured him

too there's a track called brilliant

disguise in which there's a lyric which

goes well I've tried so hard baby but I

just can't see what a woman like you is

doing with a man like me and I think

that pretty much sums up

but it wasn't long before his broken

heart started to mend he began dating

one of his backing singers Patty ski

Alpha whom he had also romance prior to

his marriage with Phillips

for the first time in his career Bruce

had to endure serious criticism in the

Press not about his music but about the

hastiness in which he and Patty had

started their Romance

not long after he and Julian divorced on

March 1st 1989.

seems to be one half of a great

partnership with Bruce they seem to rely

on each other a great deal I think

creatively as well as personally along

with talking about Jersey he will always

talk about Patty on stage particularly

if she's not there you know some people

say Arvest is attract and and for me

I just

and I couldn't function like that I like

to feel very close to somebody and know

their whole feel like I know their whole

internal landscape and and that they

would know mine in return so that you're

both in the same business we end up

working together but

but um I just find it really helpful

because you really understand what the

person needs and they understand what

you need and

my parents work together so it was

natural to me to be in a house where

people had very similar paths I like

that you know Bruce and I we grew up 10

miles from each other so we have all the

same

you know in in our minds the old picture

files are the same you know the it's

nice to have a lot in common I think

that it just really helps you in that

distance of that you feel like very

Kindred when Bruce and I got together

and and to have a strong marriage and

have a beautiful family and three

children they're healthy it's so blessed

it just really is and I that's my

priority because for me

it's it's beautifully stable and warm

and of course you have all the problems

you know the same those kind of problems

but but in the long run I've never felt

better in my entire life emotionally

I've never felt emotionally better

thank you thanks thanks a lot

thanks thanks a lot good it's uh surreal

I'll leave you here

in 1994 Bruce won the Oscar for best

song for Streets of Philadelphia it was

the soundtrack of the highly acclaimed

movie Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks as

a struggling HIV patient

on March 1st 1995 he won four Grammys

and in 1996 he was Oscar nominated for

Dead Man Walking for the film of the

same name but in 1998 he found himself

Waging War in a London court against a

company which had released some of his

early 1970s recordings without his

permission they eventually settled out

of court with Springsteen gaining back

the rights to his work well the way that

the way that you release and the Saucy

releases the way that you shape your

work it's the way that you shape your

career and then and who you are you know

it's the one of the most important

things the songwriter in the world you

know it's something I've fought for

since I was very young you know was the

uh control and of my music you know it's

still a really important issue for me so

I'm glad that I came and I do it again

he is respected by his peers

um sting Bono

um

you know authorities on music Grail

markers people like that they adore

Bruce he's an intelligent

but personable musician who is also a

genius I heard they gave you I heard

they gave you a standing ovation

yesterday in rehearsal bro oh yeah but I

think all these people were paid to be

there so I'm not sure if it counts

[Music]

[Music]

foreign

I was working for one of the TV news

programs here and I had to fly to the

states and then having reported from New

York I then went to New Jersey and I met

there a woman whose firefighter husband

had been in one of the twin towers and

who hadn't come back it was incredibly

powerful interview because she said to

me I'll never forget it that she he left

a note for her that day just to say and

this is just a normal day my love I love

you so much you changed my whole life I

live for you and I can't wait to come

home and you know stay safe and it was

him that died and I remember being so

affected by just how much had been

ripped away that day and then just as we

were chatting after the interview she

said I've got a call from Bruce

Springsteen and I said well that's

amazing because of course he's from

around here you know I always wonder

whether he's still connected with New

Jersey and still cares about it and she

said yeah usually she said he'd been

ringing up the the widows of

firefighters and you know she loved his

music and he was local and he was a real

child of New Jersey but more than that

he'd he'd run up the widows of the

firefighters to speak to them at length

about what they were going through and

you know to try and give them some

comfort and I found that incredibly

powerful I mean actually sort of

reinforced to me the fact that that what

I feel I hear in Springsteen's music is

something very very authentic about blue

collar New Jersey and that he's still

very much locked into that world

[Music]

foreign

really understood what had happened or

what could happen and so I think I was

sitting down to just sort of

okay well what do I do now you know what

what do you say now how is your dialogue

with your audience changed

what what do they need what do you need

to say

you ended up talking to the families and

a lot of that ended up inspiring kind of

uh that record and again you know that's

that's he's doing research you know he's

collecting oral history is he's doing

what Woody Guthrie did you know he's

he's hearing the stories firsthand and

that's I think what makes him a great

songwriter he's doing research and he

was back on form and he's back to what

he does he you know there's that

directness about it you know he doesn't

he doesn't shirk the issues because

again there's a part of Springsteen that

goes back to New Jersey and where it

came from and that Catholic thing he

wants to put something back and I don't

mean financially I mean emotionally

you know because otherwise what's it all

about it's not just about being a pop

star

do you think it's your duty as as a

famous musician as a Lyricist as a as a

kind of Guardian of the American soul to

get involved politically

not necessarily you know I think that

I've had a voice that's spanned over a

period of 40 years now

people generally know where I'm coming

from and uh my point of view

I believe that if you figured out there

on the stump which I've done a few times

um

I think it's nice to show some support

but I I don't necessarily believe that

musicians turn the tide or or have any

deep deep political influence in that

sense

[Music]

fire

fire

without a spawn s for higher

even if we're just dancing

he's very careful I think not to get too

involved in Party politics that's not to

say that his songs aren't very political

with a small p and and the rising was

clearly a song about in some way

reaffirming the American Soul after it

had taken such a a beating on 9 11.

um but I think he's somebody who stays

Above The Fray he's very because his

words can can move people and he doesn't

he doesn't speak as much as he could in

the political world it's quite

interesting I think he he's got a sense

of his own importance actually when

Obama had won

um his song The Rising was the first

song played apparently um

the announcement after Obama's speech

and again I think after his inauguration

that wonderful flowering he had under

Obama when suddenly he sees the better

side of America that the side of America

that that really wants to do good things

that still believes in this innocent

sense of the American dream and in his

60s he still has the American dream and

and the Reformation of of the E Street

Band and suddenly he's not on his own

playing lonely Melancholy songs about

the breakdown of a society and the

breakdown of a dream he's suddenly up

again he's lifted himself up again he's

got this incredible power again he's

with his mates we're all in it together

we're out again we're gonna we're gonna

conquer some more territory we're gonna

do a bit more plundering and that's what

I love about Bruce

that same year he received a Golden

Globe for best song in a movie for

Mickey rourkes the wrestler after

receiving a heartfelt plea from Rourke

Springsteen supplied the song for free

I was just so glad when Bruce got it for

the wrestler because you know I wrote

him a letter and he wrote the song for

me and

you know that would have been enough for

me tonight

and what of the E Street Band now sadly

Danny federici has died now

um but he was a very talented man and

played everything from the accordion to

God knows what else everything

um max is the band leader for the Kenner

and Brian show his son Phil Jay has

filled in on tour for Bruce uh so he

hasn't had to give up his day job and uh

Steve VanZant appears in The Sopranos

which uh it's all quite extraordinary

but they all come back together to

support Bruce

Clarence Clement says it is an

extraordinary figure in um in Bruce's

band and on his records he couldn't be

nobody else could fill that role and

Bruce obviously loves him with a fiery

passion

um musically he brings something that I

think could only really belong in a in a

blue collar town this kind of ritziness

it dresses up a song like it's going out

on the town you know it gives a bit of

Razzle Dazzle you know there have been

times they thought about leaving him off

a record but then he comes back in and

he makes it he makes that E Street sound

when we went on stage to play we were

playing for each other you know we had

live up to the expectations of each

other as a group to ban and to to turn

each other on to keep each other going

you know and the other thousands of

people just like peeking through a peak

a peak hole at what's happening oh these

guys having a great time on stage and so

that's how it's always been with uh with

the E Street Band we've just been having

a great time ourselves and we invite

others to look in you know to because if

we play to the best of our own

capacities that that's that's sufficient

you know that's that's what it's all

about yeah

[Applause]

thank you

[Music]

I think what's happened is it's very

visible right now because

the past 40 years as the

de-industrialization

and globalization has affected a lot of

work lives

the issues that that matter

to a lot of hard-working folks have

haven't been addressed you know it's

like this if I couldn't be a musician

tomorrow and I had to find something

else to do I have no idea what I'd do

I'd be at a loss so your steel mill

closes down your factory moves it moves

south or moves overseas

um

that's your life walking away from you

you know so uh

it's really a moment where their

concerns have come to the front of

course it usually only happens when

someone wants your vote but uh it has

happened and so there you know I think

they're demanding a response of some

sort and neither party has has really

addressed their concerns I mean the the

Landscapes that you write about in your

lyrics and I've traveled through a lot

of these places in America myself I

think they're heartbreaking and these

are heartbreaking Landscapes of kind of

urban desolation and despair and

abandonment

and a lot of the people that I speak to

on these trips they love Donald Trump

they love him because they think that he

is finally hearing them do you get that

in New York in your community I mean the

people that you used to know in New

Jersey as well can you understand where

that's coming from I mean I know some

Trump voters you know but um

I think that he's really

he's really preyed upon that part of

part of part of the country because he

because he's very glib and superficial

answers to very very entrenched and very

difficult problems but their answers

that sound pretty good if you've

struggled for the past 20 or 30 years so

um you can understand his appeal oh yeah

yeah I can understand somebody with

simple answers to very complicated

questions who sound like they're

listening to you for the first time do

you think the people who like about

racists

no no I I don't I don't believe that uh

you can't generalize like that you know

I think I think there's all kinds of

people that are interested in them for

for a variety of different reasons but

in a way those I mean America's bill

that part of America has been looking

for someone to come and talk to them for

a very long time you did it with your

music and uh you write about that very

eloquently in your book yeah but

politically they've been left behind

haven't they I believe so yes

are the Democrats the answer this time

is Hillary Clinton the answer I don't

know you know I don't really know

um

I think Bernie Sanders had had some

appeal you know

um

but I'm not sure if there's anybody out

there who really

is going to dig into those problems

because I saw you uh playing with Barack

Obama in Madison Wisconsin I think it

was his last rally in the last election

in 2012. massive crowd

um are you going to play for Hillary

Clinton this time around hmm I don't

have any plans at the moment you know

it's only three weeks left in the

election and uh has she asked you

um

no they've been in contact to use a

piece of music or something which which

is is fine by me I think she she I think

she'll be a good president you know I

don't hear undiluted enthusiasm you know

but

um

um but you know can we play for Trump no

[Laughter]

Bruce Springsteen has won 20 Grammys two

Golden Globes and an Academy Award and

he sold over 120 million albums

worldwide

Bruce has said that he spent much of his

life as a musician measuring the

distance between the American dream and

the reality to me that quote completely

sums brings you up because it's true

he's come from a working class New

Jersey background and he's made it he's

fulfilled the dream but I don't think

he's even noticed he's actually really

looking at all the people who who

haven't made it who haven't got what

they dreamed of and he's feeling like he

had no right to dream of it himself in

the first place and it is always that

sense you know the the Chevrolet is

hurtling down Thunder Road but where's

it going to you know it's it's going to

end as a burnt out wreck and it's all

the passengers you know Wendy and Born

to Run and the sadness of of her

realizing as well that they they weren't

going to get anywhere and I think I just

it's so powerful it is such an American

thing as well it's it's because I think

the Americans dream bigger to me

Springsteen's just one of those people I

will always be interested what's he

gonna come up with next I think he's

aware of the fact that the American

dream isn't necessarily then you get

whatever you want you didn't give up he

like suffered through like you know a

legion of hardships you know there was

doubt and heartache and all these things

and he they're wrapped up in this person

he has in many ways achieved the

American dream playing rock and roll on

a great American invention however he

misses I should imagine certainly his

songs would suggest the life of the

ordinary man with the porch and the girl

dancing and the radio playing there is

that chance that his best song might

still come and I think there's very few

artists that you can say that about and

that's what makes him so rare and so

special I've been doing it for 30 years

I'm going to continue to do it mainly

because I like it it's fun for me I hope

it provides lots of other things you

know uh we try to be dutiful about it we

try to be professionals about it I

believe in the band as a professional

unit when you buy your ticket our

handshake is our word we're going to

come out when you come on that night

we're going to be the greatest band we

can be you know we work real hard to

provide that consistently every night

[Music]

looking ahead

you know you've done so much what else

are you going to do what's your what are

your what are the things you haven't

done there what's on your bucket list my

thing is I just keep doing the same old

thing you know I mean I work I put my

records out

I continue to talk about the things that

I'm interested in

and uh

um

you know it's it's those are the uh

that's the way I approach my job so I

take it day to day you've written this

this great book so obviously now you're

going to get The Nobel Prize for

literature I don't think so that's why

you wrote it oh yeah sure not just not

just for your lyrics but also for you

know for a real book

the boss Bruce Springsteen

one of the greatest performers ever to

Grace the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and

one of the brightest stars that will

continue to shine for Generations

let me find it yeah

okay

all right I have a uh

favorite place I go I go to was a

favorite spot that my pop used to go to

was a place called The Manasquan Inlet

and um

it's just a place yeah it's just a place

where the boats come in and the boats go

out

just by the beach lovely set of rocks so

this is me traveling home from a short

visit

at the Manasquan Inlet

traveling to a stream of headlights

as commuter cars holding their day

Travelers

flash by inches from my left handle grip

I moved North up the highway until the

traffic recedes

leaving only my headlight Illuminating

blank Road

and dashes of white line white line

white line white line

my Ape Hanger high-rise handlebars

thrust my arms out in Skyward shoulder

height

opening me up to the winds full force

it's a rough embrace

as my gloved hands tighten their grip on

that new evening sky

the cosmos begins to flicker to life in

the Twilight above me

with no fairing

a 60 mile per hour Gale steadily pounds

into my chest

nudging me to the back of my seat

subtly threatened in the blow me off 600

pounds of speeding steel reminding me of

how the next moment holds no guarantees

of how good things are

this day this life

how lucky I've been

how lucky I am

I turned the corner off the highway onto

a dark Country Road I hit my high beams

I scanned the flat Farm Fields looking

for deer all clear I twist the throttle

as rushing into my arms comes home

[Music]

can't start a fire

word about your little world falling

apart these guns were higher

even if we're just Dancing in the Dark

even if we're just dancing

even if we're just Dancing in the Dark

[Music]