September 23 – A ‘Boss’ Birthday

“God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he’s no longer God. They’ll turn on him and I hope he survives it.” – John Lennon

Well, Lennon knew a thing or two about how quickly reputations could be made and destroyed. Public opinion may have turned his way again, unfortunately he wasn’t alive to see it. Springsteen may never have been quite as revered as the Beatles were in the ’60s, but neither has he seen the masses turn against him like Lennon predicted. It got me thinking about today’s Birthday Boy though. Bruce Springsteen turns 71 today. Hopefully it will be a happy one for “the Boss.” I’m sure many fans out there will be digging out the old vinyl and reliving his “Glory Days.”

That Lennon quote caught my eye, so I figured why not look at Bruce through some other people’s eyes to celebrate him. For instance : “What’s in my I-pod? Well, certainly Bruce Springsteen” – potential First Lady Jill Biden.

Sting says “my friends are Peter Gabriel, Bruce Springsteen. We’re singing about mortality, getting older. It’s an interesting time.” It’s been so long it now seems hard to remember when those two weren’t household names, or that they both began scoring radio hits around the same time a little over 40 years ago.

“My life changed because Bruce Springsteen got a mic in front of me,” says Jimmy Iovine, co-founder of Interscope Records, a label known primarily for un-Boss-like rap music.

“I like movies and radio, Bruce Springsteen and New Jersey. That’s what I like,” declares Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem (one of the under-rated rock bands of the past decade we might add.)

“A lot of political music can be rather pedantic and corny, but when it’s done right like Bruce Springsteen or Jackson Browne, there’s nothing better,” declared Bonnie Raitt.

Speaking of Browne, he wrote in Rolling Stone ”in many ways, Bruce Springsteen is the embodiment of rock & roll. He’s got his feet planted on either side of that great divide between rebellion and redemption.”

“I would say from an all-around point of view, Bruce Springsteen is one of the two great poet lords of America. Bob Dylan (the other); the two of them.” one of ‘The Boss’s” first bosses, Clive Davis, president of Columbia Records when Bruce was starting out.

“Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen. These are soul guys. Bruce doesn’t sing like Otis Redding, but he sings with White soul. He’s singing and writing from the bottom of his gut.” – Robin Thicke.

And one last great quote: “the greatest challenge of adulthood is holding onto your idealism after you lose your innocence.” Yep, that one is from Bruce himself. Happily he seems to have done that.

Advertisement