Podcast Summary

The New Yorker Radio Hour: Bruce Springsteen Talks with David Remnick

Date: November 24, 2017
Host: David Remnick
Guest: Bruce Springsteen

Episode Overview

This episode features a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation between Bruce Springsteen and The New Yorker's David Remnick, recorded live at the 2016 New Yorker Festival. The discussion follows Springsteen’s then newly-released autobiography, Born to Run, delving into his working-class roots, formative family relationships, creative journey, lifelong struggles with depression, political consciousness, and his musical legacy. The tone is confessional, humorous, and reflective, offering fans insight into the man behind the myth.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Memoir: “Born to Run” — Why Now?

• Springsteen’s Motive: Bruce wrote his memoir to capture memories before he forgot them (02:57).
• Process: He reached out to friends for help remembering—no extensive research. "I had a few friends. I called up buddy... But I didn't do much research on it." (03:21)
• Honesty and Vulnerability: The hardest part was writing about people he's still close to, especially his wife Patti. She gave him space, not acting as a censor (04:42).

2. Family Relationships and Influence

a. His Father

• Complicated Bond: Bruce reads a moving passage describing his tumultuous relationship with his father, marked by love, turmoil, and generational divide.

  “He loved me, but he couldn’t stand me. He felt we competed for my mother’s affections. We did. He also saw in me too much of his real self...” (06:08)

• Understanding Came Late:

  "How long did it take you to begin to understand him from the inside?"
  Springsteen: "35, 40. I don't know, 50 years. Two psychiatrists. One died on me already." (08:45)

b. His Mother

• Supportive, Musical, Modern: His mother fostered Bruce’s musical interests.

  "She had the radio on top of the refrigerator that played top 40 music every morning..." (10:43)

• Music as an Inheritance: Music ran on his mother’s (Italian) side; it was always present at home and car rides (11:01).

3. Finding a Voice and Place in Music

• Origin of Aspiration: Springsteen, like many kids, dreamed—fantasizing about taking Mick Jagger’s place if he fell ill (11:54).
• Asbury Park Scene: An unlikely but vibrant music hotbed due to its seasonal party crowd and youth clubs, notably the Upstage Club (12:43).
• Experimentation: Bruce played various genres and venues—from teen clubs to psychiatric hospitals (14:10).
• Embracing Songwriting: Realized he couldn’t compete with the best instrumentalists/vocalists, so he carved a path as a songwriter.

  "I just came to a crossroads and I said, well, if I'm going to take the next step, I'm gonna have to write some songs that are fireworks..." (16:48)

4. Breakthrough: The John Hammond Audition

• Origin Story: Auditioning for legendary producer John Hammond was a pivotal moment.

  “One of the biggest weenie shrinkers of all time... Mike Appel tells Hammond he’s there to see if he really had ears or if discovering Dylan was a fluke.” (23:04-23:29)

• Magic Moment:

  “And when I was done, I looked up, he had that big smile on his face. You got to be on Columbia Records.” (25:06)

5. The Band, Clarence Clemons, and The Dream

• Band as a “Dream”:

  "A band is a dream... of another world, of some other place that feels adventurous, that feels, I suppose, safe... The connections you make amongst your band members become near sacred positions as you get older." (26:35-27:10)

• Clarence Clemons:

  “Carnage was like a dream I had. You know, I'd been looking for years for a saxophonist...and that was Clarence...the sound that came out of his saxophone was a real force of nature.” (27:13-28:49)

6. Making “Born To Run” and Finding Catharsis on Stage

• Total Commitment:

  "I wanted to make a record that felt like, okay, this is the last record you’re ever going to hear. And then the apocalypse, my friend." (30:29)

• Perfectionism: After finishing Born To Run, Bruce doubted it so much that he threw an LP copy into a pool (31:41).

  "At the end of the day, we came back to the motel and I threw it in the pool. And that was my... But it all worked out later..." (32:07-32:14)

7. Performance as Escape and Communion

• Losing Himself:

  "Losing myself was a big something I was shooting for... It's playing is orgiastic. It's a moment of both incredible self realization and self erasure at the same time. You disappear and blend into all the other people..." (33:11)

• No Drugs Rule: Springsteen avoided drugs out of fear and a sense of hard-won self (34:23).
• The Role of the Live Show:

  "Why do people come to a show? Well, you want to be reminded of how it feels to be really alive..." (35:24-35:48)

• On Purpose:

  "I get paid to be as present as I can conceivably be on every night that I’m out there." (36:41)

8. Mental Health, Ritual, and “Workout” Routine

• Music as Medication:

  "Music was the first way that I kind of medicated my anxieties...I would simply go out and play until I just, you know, burned up or felt incandescent inside." (37:53-38:17)

• Work Until Exhaustion:

  “Partly because I realized when I was done working the night, the next day I'd feel incredibly clear and quite free and simply too fucking tired to be depressed.” (38:40-39:21)

9. Art as Therapy and Political Awareness

• Songs about His Father:

  “It was an imperfect way to communicate with somebody you love...it was the only thing that I had.” (41:27)

• Political Roots: Springsteen grew up in a politically active time, playing anti-Vietnam war benefits early on.

  “If you grew up in the 60s, politics was… just in the air.” (42:41)

• On Trump Country:

  “Deindustrialization and globalization hit a lot of people very, very, very hard...there’s this sea of people out there who are waiting...looking for something that's going to bring some meaning back into their lives...so it's not a surprise someone comes along and says, you want your jobs back. I'm Going to bring them back..." (44:04-44:52)

10. On Family, Fame, and Parenting

• Protecting His Kids’ Normalcy: Uses the analogy of Barney the Dinosaur to explain his fame to his young children (49:09-49:38).

  “Barney, you're a dinosaur, right?...People are interested in me in the same way, except grown-up people.” (49:32-49:38)

• Integrating Family: Patti, his wife, insisted the kids be included in public life so they didn’t feel hidden or separate (50:42).
• On Aging and the Stage: Open to evolving as a performer—willing to become an “old blues man” in a chair when the time comes (52:16-53:10).
• Loving Fame:

  "I knew I was never going to be like Woody Guthrie. I liked Elvis. I liked the pink Cadillac too much...I like a big fucking noise. And in my own way I like the luxuries and the comforts of being a star." (53:49)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He loved me, but he couldn’t stand me. He felt we competed for my mother’s affections. We did. He also saw in me too much of his real self.”
  — Bruce Springsteen on his father, reading from Born to Run (06:08)

• "35, 40. I don’t know, 50 years. Two psychiatrists. One died on me already."
  — Springsteen, joking about how long it took to understand his father (08:45)

• "A band is a dream, you know. It’s a dream that all your band members are having."
  — Springsteen on the sacredness of band relationships (26:35)

• "Why do people come to a show? You want to be reminded of how it feels to be really alive."
  — Springsteen on the audience/performer dynamic (35:24)

• "Music was the first way that I kind of medicated my anxieties...I would simply go out and play until I just, you know, burned up or felt incandescent inside."
  — Springsteen on the connection between performance and mental health (37:53-38:17)

• "There is no end."
  — Springsteen on his willingness to evolve and keep performing however he can (53:10)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:57 – Why write a memoir now?
• 06:08 – Reading about Bruce’s relationship with his father
• 10:31 – His mother’s influence and love of music
• 12:43 – The Asbury Park music scene
• 16:48 – Embracing the role of songwriter
• 23:04–25:06 – The John Hammond audition and Columbia Records offer
• 26:35–28:49 – Meeting Clarence Clemons; the mythic bond
• 30:29–31:41 – Making Born To Run; perfectionism and self-doubt
• 33:11–34:52 – Performance as self-erasure and avoiding drugs
• 35:24–36:28 – What the audience seeks from live music
• 37:53–39:21 – The role of music and exhaustion in managing depression
• 41:27 – Writing and performing as communication with his father
• 42:41–44:52 – Political engagement and understanding working class disillusionment
• 49:09–49:38 – Explaining fame to his children
• 52:16–53:10 – Contemplating the future, aging, and performing
• 53:49 – Bruce on “liking a big fucking noise” and embracing rock stardom

Tone and Language

The conversation is candid, self-deprecating, and often laced with humor and warmth. Springsteen is reflective about his past, willing to probe psychological and social terrain, but always with an eye toward storytelling. Remnick’s questions are probing but admiring, contributing to the confessional yet celebratory atmosphere.

Conclusion

This episode provides fans and newcomers alike with a thorough, soul-searching portrait of Bruce Springsteen. It covers the complexities of his youth, the catharsis of rock performance, the challenge of self-acceptance, his creative and political evolution, and the enduring importance of family. Enlivened by memorable stories, a few songs, and plenty of laughter, Springsteen asserts again why he remains such an influential figure in American culture.