American musician (1949- )
I wanted to make the greatest rock record that I'd ever heard, and I wanted it to sound enormous and I wanted it to grab you by your throat and insist that you take that ride, insist that you pay attention, not to just the music, but just to life, to feeling alive, to being alive.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, Rolling Stone, August 25, 2015
There was a lot of stuff we loved in it from the music we loved, but there was something else too -- and that something else was quite a sense of dread and uncertainty about the future and who you were, where you were going, where the whole country was going. That found its way into the record.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, Rolling Stone, August 25, 2015
You ride in a limousine the first time, it's a big thrill but after that it's just a stupid car.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Bruce Springsteen Talking
Poor man wanna be rich;
Rich man wanna be king.
And a king ain't satisfied
Till he rules everything.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Badlands", Darkness on the Edge of Town
Laying here in the dark you're like an angel on my chest,
Just another tramp of hearts crying tears of faithlessness.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Backstreets", Born to Run
What I have gotten used to doing is I do delegate a lot more in the studio than I used to, which is nice because I don't think I could work the way I did in my 20s when I, we had a little bit of the half-blind leading the blind in that we all went in and just recorded until a record happened.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, NPR, January 15, 2014
And she was blinded by the light. Cut loose like a deuce,
Another runner in the night. Blinded by the light.
She got down but she never got tight, but she'll make it alright.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Blinded by the Light"
Now a life of leisure and a pirate's treasure
Don't make much for tragedy.
But it's a sad man my friend who's livin' in his own skin
And can't stand the company.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Better Days", Lucky Town
It's a fairytale so tragic,
There's no prince to break the spell.
I don't believe in magic,
But for you I will, for you I will.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Countin' on a Miracle", The Rising
It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Badlands", Darkness on the Edge of Town
Now I think I'm going down to the well tonight
And I'm going to drink till I get my fill.
And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it,
But I probably will.
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
A little of the glory of,
Well time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of glory days.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Glory Days", Born in the U.S.A.
These days we don't have to go out and play 150 shows every time the band comes together. You can go out and play 20 shows, if you have something to do -- or if you just feel like it. We're no longer bound by the previous rules of, "You've gotta have a record, then you've gotta go out and tour for two years...." I don't think we have to do that anymore at this point.... You know, you can get the band together and play a few dates -- with an idea behind it, and something that you think the fans might get a kick out of. We'll play the record start to finish, and then we'll play some of the special outtakes that are there, and we'll play some favorites, and it should be a nice night.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, Backstreets, December 10, 2015
I've always got many, many songs running around looking for homes at all times. And I'm always trying to figure out how to give them one, you know.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, NPR, January 15, 2014
Your success story is a bigger story than whatever you're trying to say on stage.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Q Magazine, August 1992
Now I know your mama she don't like me 'cause I play in a rock and roll band.
And I know your daddy he don't dig me but he never did understand.
Papa lowered the boom, he locked you in your room;
I'm comin' to lend a hand.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)"
If the angels are unkind or the season is dark,
Or if in the end
Love just falls apart.
Well then here's to our destruction.
Baby let me be your soul driver.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Soul Driver", Human Touch
If I have a song that I feel is really one of my best songs, I like it to have a formal studio recording because I believe that something being officially released on a studio record gives it a certain authority that it doesn't quite have if it comes out on a live album or is just a part of your show, you know.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, NPR, January 15, 2014
I was unrecognizable to myself.
I saw my reflection in a window I didn't know
My own face.
Oh brother are you gonna leave me?
Wastin' away
On the streets of Philadelphia.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
"Streets of Philadelphia"
I was always concerned with, you know, the show is about this moment, it's about you, it's about tonight. This moment belongs to the people that are in the room, and that was my first and foremost concern. And anything that got in the way of that, I was against at the time.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, Backstreets, December 10, 2015
It's very strange, I've always thought, that the first thing that people do, when they come out on tour, is they break the album completely up. They play a few songs here, a few songs there ... it's actually very unusual, considering all the time and the care you take in the sequencing and in the content of the record.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
interview, Backstreets, December 10, 2015