Bruce Springsteen returns to ‘The Howard Stern Show’ (COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT, VIDEOS)

Bruce Springsteen & the Street Band performed on “The Howard Stern Band,” Oct. 23.

Bruce Springsteen appeared on SiriusXM satellite radio’s “The Howard Stern Show,” today, for nearly 2 ½ hours, with no commercials or other breaks. And it was very different from Springsteen’s first appearance, in October 2022.

First of all, whereas in 2022, it was just Springsteen, solo, The E Street Band (minus Steven Van Zandt and all the horn players except for Jake Clemons) was also featured on some of the appearance — performing and answering questions from Stern. The interview was also looser, and more far-ranging, and less devoted to topics Springsteen has covered frequently in other interviews.

The first interview delved into a lot of serious topics; this one was lighter in tone, with a lot more laughs.

At one point, Springsteen talked to Springsteen and Patti Scialfa about their relationship, both inside and outside the E Street Band. There was also a funny moment, during “Spirit in the Night,” when the band paused, Stern thought the song was over and started talking, and the band then continued the song. Stern later said he felt “humiliated.”

Springsteen said this marked his first performance with the band, live on the radio, since 1974. The appearance lasted for nearly 2 ½ hours, starting with Springsteen solo, and then segueing to Springsteen with the band.

The appearance was intended to promote Springsteen’s “Road Diary” documentary, which will premiere on Hulu and Disney+, on Oct. 25.

It was announced yesterday that Springsteen is planning to make rally appearances for Kamala Harris, Oct. 24 and 28, but current politics came up only briefly, when he included some negative commentary about Donald Trump in his introduction to “Long Walk Home,” with said the song “speaks to the bizarre moment we’re in,” and represents “a little prayer for a week from now” (i.e., Election Day).

Here is a nearly complete transcript, with just some minor editing, along with some videos posted by “The Howard Stern Show.” Enjoy!
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As Springsteen enters the room, Stern plays a recording of Chuck Berry’s “Nadine.”

Howard Stern: Chuck Berry.

Bruce Springsteen: Lovin’ it, man.

Stern: Isn’t that good?

Springsteen: That is one of my favorite Chuck Berry songs: “Nadine.” “I saw her on the corner/And I turned and doubled back/I saw her steppin’ into/A coffee-colored Cadillac.” I painted my Cadillac coffee because of this song (laughs).

Stern: How do you remember lyrics the way you do? Do you have, like, an endless library in your head, of lyrics?

Springsteen: (laughs) No, man. I will tell you straight out, I cannot remember, at this point, any of my own lyrics. And I have a little help when I go onstage. But I can’t remember ’em anymore. When I was a kid, I did, and I got up onstage, one night, in Detroit. And it was like … first song’s gonna be “Born to Run,” right? “I think I know that one.”

Stern: You should.

Springsteen: But I’m backstage, and I’m not sure. So I start playing it on my little tape player, over and over again. Biggest mistake of my life. I go out onstage, 20,000 people, Joe Louis Arena. “One, two, three, four …” (plays opening riff of “Born to Run” on guitar). “So good, so far.” (laughs) And then it comes time for me to … and I can’t think of a damn word to the song. I can’t think of one word. So I’m standin’ there, and I look over at Steve (Van Zandt), and Steve is like … his jaw has dropped. Everybody is in deep fear. And I’m thinking, “All right, I’m just going to stop and sing another song.” But I realize, not only can I not remember the words to “Born to Run,” I can’t remember the words, at that moment, to any song I’ve ever written.

Stern: What do you attribute that to? I mean, here you are. You’re a guy who’s been playing, almost your whole life, in bands and everything. What is it, stage fright?

Springsteen: Yeah! I psyched myself out, you know. So I’m about to stop the show and say, “Folks, I’m having a nervous breakdown, I’ll be back in 10 minutes.” And then out of the crowd I hear, (sings softly), “In the day, we …” The crowd started to sing it. And it reminded me of the lyrics. I was fine the rest of the night.

Stern: Don’t you think that, in a way, if you had your druthers … I know you love live performing … what’s so weird about you is you do it all so well. You do the live performing. But the songwriting: being able to write all these songs, this endless catalog of songs … if you had your druthers, do you think, just sitting in a room, writing songs, never having to go out and perform them, would you have preferred that?

Springsteen: That’s pure torture.

Stern: Oh, it is?

Springsteen: (laughs) Hell, yeah!

Stern: Why is that torture?

Springsteen: ‘Cause writing is really hard …

Stern: It’s difficult.

Springsteen: … and you’re failing, 90 percent of the time. You’re writing either stuff that’s mediocre, or worse. And so, as I’ve gotten older … the only good thing is I’ve learned to recognize what’s mediocre and worse, sooner. But otherwise, you know … I’ve gone for two years without writing a song. And then written an entire album in three weeks.

Stern: Explain that to me. So, you don’t wake up on any given day and hear some sort of tune in your head? Like today, you didn’t wake up and say, “Man, I kind of got this thing going around …”

Springsteen: No.

Stern: There’s nothing there.

Springsteen: No.

Stern: I can’t believe it.

Springsteen: No. I don’t know if I’ve ever done that. I think the only time I ever did that was I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote a song called “Surprise, Surprise.” It was on a record called Working on a Dream. And it was the only song I’ve actually dreamt, and then awoke, got up and written. But I’m not sure it counts. But no … songwriting … you’re soul mining, is what I call it. All right? So you’re down in the soul mines and just like any miner, you’re chippin’ away, looking for a vein, right? Now, I’ve been lucky. I hit a lot of veins in my lifetime.

Stern: A lot, yeah.

Springsteen: But you do not know if you’re going to hit another one. Nobody knows, and nobody can tell you, until you do, and then when you do, bang! You get on it. …

Stern: So it’s a mystery to you, in other words. It’s not even something you can explain …

Springsteen: That’s why it’s magic, you know. Songwriting, and performing, is real magic. You are taking something out of the air, and you are making it physical. And for it to be a true act of magic, it needs the x thing that you cannot possibly understand, how you’ve particularly written a certain song, even with all the craft you’ve learned.

Stern: You couldn’t teach a class to a bunch of kids, on how to write songs, because you don’t even really know. There’s not a Bruce Springsteen process. There’s not a formula.

Springsteen: You can’t teach somebody to write great songs. You can probably teach somebody to write okay songs, or good songs, or mediocre songs, or bad songs. But it’s up to that individual … if that individual has a good song in him or not, you know … I don’t think you can teach someone to write great songs.

Stern: I was talking before you came in here. I said, “People don’t know that … or at least I assume they don’t … it’s a small fact that the first band that you were ever in, like when you were 15 years old, you’re the guy who got thrown out of the band.”

Springsteen: (laughs) That’s true!

Stern: Where are those assholes, now, who threw you out of the band? Like, the one guy who could actually do something. … Who were those guys?

Springsteen: I am still semi in touch with some of them, though we don’t speak about it.

Stern: Do any of them say to you, “I’m such an asshole”?

Springsteen: No, man.

Stern: I would feel like, “Oh my God, I had a chance to maybe work with Bruce Springsteen. What was I thinking?” What was the problem? Your guitar wouldn’t stay in tune and, what, did they pull you aside …

Springsteen: You are exactly right. My problem — as I was told, when I was dismissed — was that my guitar was simply too cheap. And I didn’t have the heart to go home and tell my mother that the guitar that she busted her ass to buy me, one Christmas, was too cheap. So I just bit my lip and went home and went up to my bedroom and starting just playing, and playing, and playing, and playing, and playing. The first solo I learned was from “It’s All Over Now,” the (Rolling) Stones song.

Springsteen sings and plays, solo, part of “It’s All Over Now” by Bobby Womack, as covered by The Rolling Stones

Springsteen: And it was a great Keith Richards solo, from the version the Stones did. I can even still remember that (performs a bit of it). And that was the first solo I taught myself. …

Stern: Don’t you think, the reason you are a superstar, an American icon, whatever you want to call yourself …

Springsteen: Okay (laughs)

Stern: … don’t you think it’s because you had the tenacity … a lot of kids would have crumbled and said, “I suck. My band is shit, and they fired me!” But you went home and did those thousands of hours of practice. How do you learn the Rolling Stones song? You don’t have a teacher, right?

Springsteen: Nothin’!

Stern: What do you do? You listen to the record over and over again?

Springsteen: All right, here’s the secret: You got a 45 record, right? One: You turn it down to 33 speed.

Stern: Who told you to do that? How do you know to do that?

Springsteen: (laughs) I don’t remember. Maybe I just thought of it myself … I said, “Well, if I turn this down to 33, the solo will become much slower, and I’ll be able to learn it easier.” Everything slows down. Of course it slows down in tone, too. But you do learn it, and then you speed it back up, and you play it to the record. And that was how I learned a lot of the solos. Me and Steve Van Zandt, we learned a lot of solos from those classic records, just like that.

Stern: So you learned to play by ear, by doing that.

Springsteen: Absolutely.

Stern: It’s an unbelievable thing, that you did that. I just can’t imagine the patience … first of all, slowing down a record to 33, and then stopping it, so that you can kind of figure out … you almost have to be a maniac, right?

Springsteen: That’s me (laughs).

Stern: You’re a maniac. … Early on, you’re a kid, this song is one that you really tried to master.

Stern plays recording of Bill Doggett’s “Honky Tonk.”

Springsteen: Oh, man. Hell, yeah. “Honky Tonk,” baby!

Stern: It’s a great song, everybody knows it.

Springsteen: I still got it.

Stern: You got it?

Springsteen: Of course.

Springsteen plays an excerpt from “Honky Tonk.”

Springsteen: I still love it, too.

Stern: It’s a basic blues kind of progression, right? What is it?

Springsteen: It just swings. Bill Doggett, I think, was the artist.

Springsteen is still playing “Honky Tonk.”

Stern: Now as you play it, I notice, you’re alternate picking. How do you learn all of that stuff, if you don’t have a teacher?

Springsteen: You just figure it out. Actually, I was lucky: I had a good mentor. … The first guy we had was a guy who played only in country bands before he joined The Castiles. … He knew a lot of those old country blues riffs and songs. And then I had a guy named Ray Cichon, who was in one of the greatest local bands, called The Motifs, him and his brother … Ray and Walter Cichon. And Ray Cichon was like a burnin’-ass guitar player, back in 1965, and he would stop by my manager’s house. A little house on Center Street in Freehold. And he would come in, and sometimes he’d practice there. And if I was there, he’d show me anything he knew. So you did trust on the kindness of strangers, somewhat, to learn a few things. And then what I’d do, whenever there was a gig on the weekend, I’d go down, and I was that guy you saw with his arms folded, standing — not dancing, just standing in front of the band all night long, watching the guitar player’s fingers.

Stern: You could learn, from watching.

Springsteen: Absolutely.

Stern: That’s a recommendation that, if you want to learn guitar, it’s not enough to just go practice. You have to immerse yourself. You have to watch other guys play.

Springsteen: Of course!

Stern: And when you first start playing … you’re not even a professional yet.

Springsteen: Not close

Stern: Did your hands shake? To me, it is such a difficult instrument to master. Were you just a nervous wreck, playing that thing?

Springsteen: Well, not really. Actually … to master, is probably difficult. To play, though … a guitar is relatively easy. You can probably start playing songs in two, three weeks, or a month or so. I mean, people all over the world are doin’ it, you know.

Stern: What about this song?

Stern plays recording of The Beatles’ version of “Twist and Shout.”

Springsteen: (laughs) You’re hittin’ me where I live, man.

Stern: You love it. You learned this one, too, didn’t you?

Springsteen: That was the first song I ever sang in public.

Springsteen starts playing “Twist and Shout” guitar riff.

Springsteen: Yeah, I still sing it. It’s still the last song we sing, very often, when we go out and play at bigger places. First of all, it’s a great song, written by, I believe, Bert Berns. It’s just an incredible song. Two incredible recordings of it: One, The Isley Brothers, and obviously, two, The Beatles, with John Lennon, on one of his greatest rock vocals of all time. So it’s just a quintessential rhythm & blues/rock ‘n’ roll song that still drives people crazy at night, for some reason.

Stern: But your songs are so lyrical, and they paint stories, and you take us into working class neighborhoods … “Twist and Shout,” you say, is a great song, but it’s like, “Shake it up, baby/Twist and shout” …

Springsteen: That’s correct (laughs) …

Stern: And then some more “Shake it up, baby”s. Does that kind of bother you, in a sense, too. Like, why is that so fucking great?

Springsteen: That’s a good question. Why is it so great? Because … you can’t really say why it’s so great. It’s just a combination of the rhythm, and then the performances were … The Isley Brothers’ performance, particularly, but The Beatles, too, were just outstanding, so that made the song sound really good. But it’s just a great rock song. In my business, what makes a great song … as we said, it’s a little bit mysterious. … I mean, “Louie Louie” …

Springsteen sings and plays some of “Louie Louie,” solo

Springsteen: What people don’t know, most of the people — I was talking to somebody the other day, saying this — “Louie Louie” … do you know what “Louie Louie” is about?

Stern: First of all, I always thought he said, “I wanna lay that girl.” Is he saying that? Because that was the rumor.

Springsteen: That was the rumor. And it got the song banned in a variety of places. But he is not saying that. “Louie Louie” is a sea shanty. It goes …

Springsteen sings and plays more of “Louie Louie,” solo

Springsteen: That’s a great fucking song (laughs)

Stern: And C, F and G, right? That’s it.

Springsteen: That’s all there is to it.

Stern: Three chords. And that’s why every kid plays that song. Because it’s something they can do.

Why don’t you play bar chords, when you play that? Why do you play open chords?

Springsteen: I’m not a big bar chord player. I mean, bar chords are hard to play, and they’re hard to get around on. I can play ’em, but I actually … I never played them. I’ve never played them in concert, in 40 years.

Stern: So you don’t go up the neck? I mean, I watched you when you play. You know what the hell you’re doing with the guitar.

Springsteen: Yeah, I go up here, but I use the capo, usually. Which is something that can change the key that you’re playing in, as you move up the neck. So I’ll use that. But I haven’t used bar chords very much.

Stern: The reason I played “Nadine,” the Chuck Berry song, when you walked in, was because I thought that you guys, early on, before you became Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, that you guys backed up Chuck Berry on some gig.

Springsteen: We did!

Stern: And was it a nightmare? ‘Cause I heard Chuck Berry was really difficult.

Springsteen: Well, he was just kind of … eccentric is the way that I would put it. We did a gig at the … Maryland Field House, or something (Note: It was the Cole Field House at The University of Maryland in College Park). This was 1973. If you see the bill, which I just recently saw, it has, in big letters, “Chuck Berry,” and then, “Jerry Lee Lewis,” and then, real tiny, “and Bruce Springsteen.” But still, it’s still one of the bills I’m proudest of. I’m 23 years old, and I’m on the same bill, the same night as Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. It was a classic night. And Chuck was very funny because it was like 10 minutes before he was supposed to go on. He’s not there. And I’m standing there, and the promoter’s trying to talk me to go back on. But people don’t even know who I am at all. I’m goin’, “I don’t think I’m goin’ on. People are waiting for Chuck Berry right now.” And about five minutes before he was supposed to go on, the door slammed, you see him walking up the ramp, him and his guitar, nobody with him. Walks into the management office. Supposedly, he got $11,000, and $1,000 he gives back to the promoter if the band was any good, and if the equipment worked (laughs).

Stern: Can you imagine? Think about you, before a concert. You are obsessive. You will go to the soundboard. You will sit in every seat in the house. This guy shows up five minutes before his gig.

Springsteen: It was crazy.

Stern: And he doesn’t know you guys. And you’re his backup band.

Springsteen: Right. All he did was, he did walk into our room. He said, “Hey fellas, how we doin’?” We said, “Great.” And then we said, “Chuck, what songs are we going to play?,” you know. And he says, “Oh, we’re going to play some Chuck Berry songs,” and walks out.

Stern: That was it?

Springsteen: And that was it.

Stern: Had you guys rehearsed these Chuck Berry songs?

Springsteen: No, no, no! All he did was go (stamps his foot on ground). You’d heard the stomp and then (plays a Chuck Berry guitar riff). And you were left to find out the key.

Stern: Oh my God!

Springsteen: But we were so young, you know.

Stern: Wait a second. Explain that to me. I’m not a musician. You’re onstage, in front of an audience, people have paid good money to see this guy. … And you’re like, “Hey, let me go figure this out while I’m standing here.”

Springsteen: Exactly.

Stern: Oh my God!

Springsteen: All I remember was, we started playing, and Chuck ran back to me and said, “Play for that money, boy! Play for that money!” And I thought, “Chuck, we’re not making any money. We’re backing you up for free, because we love you.” But it was fun, it was something to remember, playing on the bill with them. Those were the fathers, and the geniuses, who we forever will owe a debt to. Men and women of genius who we will forever owe a debt to. Any kind of contact with them was always eventful, and a lot of fun.

Stern: Oh my God. What a learning experience. And it’s so opposite of you. Although I was watching … by the way, Bruce has a wonderful documentary that’s going to be out on Hulu on Friday, called “Road Diary.”

Springsteen: You’re making my manager happy now.

Stern: I bring it up because, in a sense, I get, from this documentary, that you basically torture your band in the same way.

Springsteen: Well, of course (laughs).

Stern: You’ll do a Chuck Berry on them. You will just call an audible and say, “All right, we’re playing this song right now,” and these guys have to kind of pick it up, real quick.”

Springsteen: Yeah. It was just something we used to do for fun, during the course of the night. We didn’t do it so much on this tour. But torturing the band is a bandleader’s prerogative. In the documentary, they complain about it, somewhat, and that I used to keep them playing for hours during a soundcheck, while I walked around the entire arena, making sure every seat had optimum sound. And I did use to do all that. We used to spend hours at soundcheck, and then play for hours at night. And occasionally, we’ll still … if we’re learning something, we’ll spend a good time at soundcheck. But it’s all a little more functional right now.

Stern: Why would you do that to the band? Why do you change arrangements at the drop of a hat. In other words, you want them to be at peak performance … or is that a way of tweaking their performance? Or keeping them on their toes.

Springsteen: I know what the band can do. I’m very aware of my players, and my buddies, and the musicians in the band. I know what they’re capable of. I throw something that’s maybe at the edge of their envelope, but they’re always there for it.

Stern: You mentioned … like, 10 minutes ago, you said the first song you performed in public was … did you say “Twist and Shout” was the first one?

Springsteen: Yeah.

Stern: What do you mean by that? In other words, were you just a guy without a band, and you got to perform somewhere? What was your first public appearance?

Springsteen: I was at the Elks Club in Freehold. It was 35 cents to get in, on a Sunday, and you have about six bands, and we’d set up in a circle, and everybody would play two or three songs, and pass it to the next band. And kids would come in. It was run by a guy named, I think, Circus Bob or something. But it was a place where everybody was 15 or 16. And the first time I sang, I don’t remember how good or bad it was, but I did get out in front of the band and hammed it up for everything I had.

Stern: How old were you?

Springsteen: Probably about 15.

Stern: Jeez. I can’t imagine. Where do you get the balls, at 15, to stand up, even at an Elks Club …

Springsteen: It’s not balls. It’s desperation. I was so desperate to be heard, or to be seen, or to be taken into account, that it overcame my great fear of personal humiliation (laughs).

Stern: It’s amazing, really, to get up at 15, when you think about it. I mean, it’s just insane.

Springsteen: Yeah, I look back on it now and I sometimes think, “Damn, I wouldn’t mind going back for a few days and getting the feel of what it was like when you were that age, with just four or five guys, and dragging your equipment in, and dragging it out.” There was something that’s sort of both banal but wonderful about it, also. It was a great time. Great time.

Stern: You know, sometimes I think the opposite. I look back on my career and I go, “Where did I get that energy to go work at every dumpy little radio station and sit there by myself and endlessly do this thing?” Like I was thinking about you. Would you really want to go back? I mean, you’re at such a nice point in your life. Those days are filled with such mystery, but the mystery is like, “Am I even going to be able to make a living?” and it’s horrible. You know what I mean? And your friends are getting jobs, and they’re starting to make money. It’s horrible.

Springsteen: I think you’re right. It’s just pure nostalgia. …

Stern: When I was watching this documentary, I was kind of taken with … the band was talking, and you were talking about the early days of touring, and you had some shitty bus, and you said you guys slept on bunk beds, but the bunk beds weren’t chained down, so I guess when the tour bus — do we even want to call it a tour bus? — would move …

Springsteen: Yeah, the beds would just tilt completely over in the aisle, and I’d come face to face with Steve Van Zandt and his bunk and I’d have to push my bunk back, and go crashing back. That was all part of it. And it’s something … you’re young, you’re on the road, you’re probably staying in these little $6 hotels and Holiday Inns that are still better than your apartment. And so … I always considered myself fortunate, simple as that.

Stern: I was thinking about you, early on, and you’re opening up, before you’re a big success, you’re on the road, you’re opening up for, like, Grand Funk Railroad, and the band Chicago.

Springsteen: And Brownsville Station. And Black Oak Arkansas. Just everybody. Sha-Na-Na. All kinds of acts.

Stern: And when you’re watching these other bands, and they’re the headliner …

Springsteen: That’s right.

Stern: … are you saying to yourself, “I know I’m better than these guys.” Not that you’re sitting there being competitive. But you say, “I’ve got stories in me. I’ve got music in me. I got stuff. How is it that Grand Funk Railroad or Sha-Na-Na is a bigger draw than me?” Are you sitting there filled with angst and mystery, like you can’t figure this out?

Springsteen: (laughs) No, I’m just glad they spelled my name right on the outside of the building, because the first year, it was always misspelled. At the time, they were just the big hit groups, and we were kind of coming up, and we were glad to be on those bills.

Stern: But you weren’t tempted to change your sound? Like, did you ever go, “Hmmm, maybe I should …”?

Springsteen: No.

Stern: You knew to stay true to what you were doing.

Springsteen: I did what I thought was the best that I could do. And I played in bands with a lot of different styles, by that time. I had played in R&B bands with horn sections. I had played in hard rock bands, where your hair’s down to your shoulders. I played a big Les Paul through a Marshall stack. And so I had done a lot of different styles of music. So I knew that where I had landed, whether it was going to be the most lucrative place or not, was where I wanted to be. And that’s what mattered the most to me. Because it was where I thought I could be my best. I could have the most impact, and my voice would be singular. So that was the way I thought about it. As I’ve said before in interviews, more than making a fortune, or being good-lookin’, or gettin’ all the girls, I just wanted to be great: I wanted to write great songs, and have a great band, because that’s what I got back from the music that I listened to. I just wanted to be my little link in the chain.

Stern: That’s great. I think that’s very evolved thinking, honestly. When you’re opening up … I read you opened for Cheech & Chong. I mean, what the hell? Are people going, “Hey, get off the stage, we want to hear some comedy”? Or are they respectful.

Springsteen: No, they’re not respectful. … I think we played about five songs, and somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said, “You’ve got to get off now.”

Stern: How do you go on? I bet a lot of guys gave up the dream, just when they’re like opening up for Cheech & Chong, and you get the tap on the shoulder.

Springsteen: And my recollection is, that was one of our very first professional gigs. We were glad to have it. But you open up for a lot of different kinds of people. And like I said, I was 23 years old. I was having a good time.

Stern: Oh, it’s just wild. Can I ask you about a couple of songs?

Springsteen: Yeah, let’s do it.

Stern: “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” This is one of my favorite songs of yours. I told you last time, when you do it with Tom Morello, onstage, it takes on a whole sort of new sound. But it’s so good. Who the fuck is Tom Joad, anyway, Bruce? I mean, I know he’s a character from …

Springsteen: He’s a great character in the Steinbeck novel (“The Grapes of Wrath”). … That song was a funny thing. I kind of laid off topical songwriting for about 10 years, from “Born in the USA” to “Streets of Philadelphia.” And “Streets of Philadelphia” was sort of the first topical song I had written in a long, long time. But then after that, I said, “Well, maybe I should go back into writing a little more topically.” And so, we needed a song for the Greatest Hits package, and I wanted to write a rock song for The E Street Band, and it was “Ghost of Tom Joad,” which we did learn, later, how to play it hard and loud, but at the time, I couldn’t figure it out, so I ended up with … (gets distracted trying to make sure he has the right harmonica for the song).

Stern: What’s with harmonica? You’ve got to buy a whole set of ’em in different keys, right?

Springsteen: You are absolutely correct.

Stern: The first time I ever saw a guy strap a harmonica to his neck was Dylan, right? …

Springsteen: That’s the first time I saw it. But people had been doin’ it for quite a while.

Stern: Is harmonica hard, Bruce?

Springsteen: No (laughs).

Stern: I’m thinking of taking it up. Maybe that or bongos.

Springsteen: You’ll do great on it.

Springsteen sings and plays “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” solo

Springsteen: So that’s a song that …

Stern: It’s so sad, this song. And I don’t even know why I get sad. The chords that you used when you wrote that, are there chords you can use to evoke emotion? Like, you knew … I don’t know what chords you’re using …

Springsteen: Well, it’s a minor key. And when you’re in a minor key (plays a chord), boom, sadness. Compared to a major key (plays a different chord, then a riff).

Stern: That’s happy.

Springsteen: That’s a whole other ball of wax. And this was song I wrote … I read a book called “Journey to Nowhere” (by Dale Maharidge), which was a book about post-industrialization in the United States, the effect that it’s had on so many of its citizens. Still, to this day. Also, there was a lot of immigrant reporting in The Los Angeles Times. And I was living in California. So I look at all this music as kind of my California music: this song and the rest of the songs on that record.

Stern: Was this one of those where you’re sitting there and you’re laboring over the thing, or was it just fairly coming to you, once you read this book?

Springsteen: Yeah, I think … well, you know, the last verse is the speech in the book, and also at the end of the film. It’s almost verbatim.

Stern: So it’s like … you could watch a TV show or a movie or a documentary, and then write about that experience that you just saw, rather than something that happened to you.

Springsteen: Oh yeah. First of all, very few of my songs are really directly autobiographical. Most of them, you’re putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes. That’s what writers very often do. You put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, and you walk a little bit, and you get your audience to walk a little bit in those shoes, and create some compassion and understanding for other people’s lives.

Stern: I feel like the song “The Wish” is autobiographical.

Springsteen: That’s the one. I was gonna say (that).

Stern: When I was watching the documentary, and when people watch this on Friday, on Hulu, you’ve got to wait through the credits. There is this really insane moment, where … I don’t know who was video-ing this. Your mom was in the late stage of Alzheimer’s, I believe, and you went to visit her, and the two of you are dancing together, on this porch. It looked like an outside porch.

Springsteen: Yeah. We were at my house. My brother-in-law … it was just three of us sitting on the porch, and I knew my mother loved ’40s big band music. That was her times. So I put on “In the Mood.” And she just gets up and starts going to it. She was pretty good then. She could still get around. And she could still dance. I think only her short-term memory was affected, around that time. She had it for 10 years, and it got much worse, later. But he just happened to film it, and when my mother passed away, I found it on my phone, so we just tucked it on the end of the film.

Stern: I had a heavy kind of reaction, to seeing that. I felt the burden of Bruce Springsteen having, in a way, not only to be a son, but also the good husband, to his mother, meaning, your father was tough on your mother. You even say, in the song, “If pa’s eyes” — meaning your father — “were windows into a world so deadly and true, you couldn’t stop me from looking, but you kept me from crawling through.” Meaning your mother was the woman who kept you from taking on some of the worst parts of your father.

Springsteen: Yeah, that’s true.

Stern: That is heavy. And in a way, when I’m watching you dancing with your mother, I see the joy in it, but also the burden of a son, to carry that weight: “Gosh, Dad was so bad to you, and I feel horrible.”

Springsteen: She actually did a great thing, in the sense that, really, her love and attention broke the chain of some of my pop’s more difficult behavior, for the family. That, and then some of the work — not some of the work, a lot of the work — I did in analysis, and different things, those were things that broke the chain. I didn’t hand those problems down to my children. I always say, you try not to hand your own sins down. Let them make their own sins, their own mistakes. Don’t try to build your mistakes into their lives. So my mother really was the beginning of helping me break a lot of those patterns. And then, of course, Patti (Scialfa). Patti really gave me a lot of direction and insight, into being not just a husband, but a good father. I think if I had lost my children — or lost the kind of contact, and emotional intimacy, that I lost with my dad — I’d have failed in my life.

Stern: Was Patti able — I know Patti’s here today, and I want to ask her about this, ’cause I’m so interested — was Patti one of the reasons that you could even check your own narcissism with the kids? In the sense that: Here you are, the great Bruce Springsteen. You get up onstage and people adore you. Was she able to say to you, “Listen Bruce, around the kids, you’re not Bruce Springsteen. You’ve got to keep that shit in check.” Was she the one who was able to do that?

Springsteen: (laughs) Of course, of course, you know. I said, “Darling, don’t you understand I’m thinking great thoughts.” She’s: “Great thoughts? Screw you. Take Evan over to see Billy, and get him some ice cream on the way.”

Stern: “Darling, I’m about to write a hit song!”

Springsteen: “I need a chauffeur!” … so she put everything in fabulous perspective, very easily for me. ‘Cause I always had a real hard time transitioning from the road, where of course you’re king, to my home life. I’ve gotten better and better and better at it. But I used to have a really hard time with it. She said, “Man, you’ve got to get that under your belt, because when you come home, the kids need you to be Dad, looking over them. And I learned how to do that. So I have to credit the lovely Miss Patti for that.

Stern: We’ve got to credit Patti, and your mother. And this is a love song to your mother, right, “The Wish”?

Springsteen: Yeah. I’ll sing a little bit of it.

Sings and plays “The Wish,” solo

Springsteen: That’s about as autobiographical as I get.

Stern: Yeah. Oh, does that give me the chills. You played that for her, I assume.

Springsteen: Well, I had written so many songs about my father that I said, “Damn, I’ve got to write one about my mother.” Now, writing about your mother is a tricky thing. Now, in country music, that’s okay. In gospel music, that’s just fine. Rock music, not so good, unless you’re doing it like The Doors did it (laughs).

Stern: Right. Not a lot of songs about Mom. Usually in rock ‘n’ roll, it’s a song about some girl you’re in love with, or some girl you want to be in love with. It’s weird. When you played it for her, though, the first time after you wrote it, what was the reaction? What was the scenario like? Did you say, “Mom, I wrote a song about you and I want to play it for you”? How does that work?

Springsteen: I’m trying to think. I might have made the record and gave her the tape.

Stern: Did she get it?

Springsteen: Yeah, she got it. She knew. And I one thing I can’t emphasize (enough), breaking that chain of toxicity — and her place and Patti’s place in it, and how it affects your kids — is enormous.

Stern: And don’t you think, Bruce, with all of your accomplishments, that might be your greatest accomplishment? That you passed onto your children a healthy attitude: You didn’t act like your father.

Springsteen: Yeah. I’d trade all my songs for it.

Stern: Right.

Springsteen: So yeah, it was important.

Stern: “Atlantic City” was a song I wanted to talk about. Because I am obsessed with the album Nebraska. I think this is the defining Bruce Springsteen album, out of all the great albums, and you’ve sold, what,150 million albums, or something crazy like that. It’s just so good, and it’s certainly not autobiographical, this song “Atlantic City,” but I don’t know, when you hit the line, “Everything dies, and that’s a fact/Maybe everything that dies someday comes back” … do you believe that? Is that something that you believe in?

Springsteen: I must. I wrote it. I must have believed in it while I wrote it, I guess. And in a way I do, you know. It’s funny: We just played in Asbury Park: the Sea.Hear.Now festival, to like 35,000 people on the beach. If you had told me in 1986 that Asbury would be thriving, alive, vital, and I’d be playing on the beach to 35,000 people … I didn’t think I’d see that in my lifetime. So, yeah. Asbury in particular came back.

Stern: Oh, that’s how you look at it. “Everything that dies someday’ll come back.” … Yeah, you’re right.

Springsteen: Like, in a different form, in a different way.

Stern: Oh, that’s heavy. This song is probably one of your most covered songs.

Springsteen: Yeah, a lot of people cover it.

Stern: Did you have a particular favorite? I had Ed Sheeran on the show. He did this song. I saw The Band, when they were in full force, did a version of it that I thought was absolutely phenomenal. I’ve seen Natalie Maines do it.

Springsteen: It was a kick having Levon Helm (of The Band) sing it. He sang it so damn well, you know.

Stern: Chris Cornell, too, did a beautiful version of this song.

Springsteen: Oh, really? I haven’t heard that.

Let me see how it goes here:

Springsteen sings and play part of “Atlantic City,” solo

Springsteen: It was a good one.

Stern: Oh, that is a good one. What comes to mind when you think of that song? Because … I guess most people know this about you: That you were writing that album simultaneously as you were doing, um …

Springsteen: Born in the USA.

Stern: Born in the USA. And these songs … “Born in the USA” was such a huge hit for you, but that could have ended up on Nebraska.

Springsteen: I had a version of it that was quite different …

Springsteen plays part of a bluesy solo version of “Born in the USA.”

Springsteen: So I had a version, something like that, that I had recorded with the acoustics and sound of Nebraska, that, if I had to choose again, I would have probably put it on (Nebraska). But in those days, nobody put the same song on two records. So I left it off, because I knew I had the big electric version that the band had played. But if I could go back now, I’d probably put it on the record.

Stern: If I went to your house, would there be a guitar in every room, in case inspiration hits? Is that the move?

Springsteen: Well, the funny thing … there never used to be. I wasn’t much of a collector. I looked at the guitars as just tools. The Telecaster’s a great workman’s ax.

Stern: Why a Telecaster over a Stratocaster? Why is a Telecaster better?

Springsteen: Well, for me, a Telecaster’s like a log. It’s just this piece of wood with some electronics, and some strings on it. A tank could run over it, and it’ll still play.

Stern: Do you prefer an electric guitar over an acoustic guitar?

Springsteen: Not necessarily. If I’m with the band, obviously. But if you’re playing on your own, the acoustic is a little bit more of a fuller sound.

Stern: Most songs are written on the acoustic guitar, for you?

Springsteen: Acoustic guitar or piano. I’ve rarely written on … an electric.

Stern: Have you started to collect guitars now? How many do you have?

Springsteen: There’s a lot of guitars that we use onstage. So there’s a bunch there. My own personal collection is, I don’t know, 50, maybe. Or maybe I’m undercounting. But we have them in the studio, and we use them for different sounds, and different things.

Stern: But in the house? How many guitars?

Springsteen: Oh, in the house? At one time, I wanted to have a nice guitar in every room, like you said. So I went out and I started to buy some vintage acoustics, and I laid one in each room. Not even so much to play, but it’s a totem. It reminds you of who you are, what you do, where you came from. When I see a guitar, or pick one up, that’s what it reminds me of.

Stern: And where would you buy these guitars? Would you go to a store and say, show me some old guitars that have some history behind them? Then where do you go?

Springsteen: There are some real well known guitar stores. The names are slipping on me.

Stern: Like Norman’s Rare Guitars, in L.A.?

Springsteen: Yeah. I have. I’ve been there. There’s a great one in Nashville, that I can’t quite remember the name of, at the moment. But you know, I’ve gone to a few of those places, and they have a nice collection of vintage guitars.

Stern: And you’ll plunk down some dough …

Springsteen: Yeah, they’re not giving them away. They’re making you pay for ’em (laughs).

Stern: But vintage is better than new? Because, why?

Springsteen: I have no idea.

Stern: You just like paying a lot of money for a guitar.

Springsteen: Well, I’m a believer in that things collect soul. Old cars, old guitars, old furniture, that they somehow absorb the souls of the people who have played them, sat in then, and that there’s something to that. Conversely, in theory, they may be rich in songs. That what you’re hoping for. Though, one of the guitars I have that I wrote all of Letter to You on, was something that a kid handed me when I was coming out of the play in New York City. He gave it to me. I thought he wanted me to sign it. I said, “No, man, it’s just for you.” And I got in the car and I started to play it, and it was one of the best-sounding guitars I ever heard.

Stern: What is the guitar?

Springsteen: I forget what brand it is. It was a brand I had never heard of, before. But it was beautifully made, beautiful- looking and beautiful-sounding. The guy just handed it to me on the street.

Stern: How generous is that?

Springsteen: That is generous.

Stern: That’s a meaningful gift.

Springsteen: It was a meaningful gift. And I went home and I wrote most of the songs from Letter to You on it.

Stern: Do you think that kid knows you wrote most of the songs (on Letter to You) on that?

Springsteen: Yeah, I think we’ve had some contact with him, so he knows the story.

Stern: That’s a fantastic story. Do you have a favorite guitar?

Springsteen: Well, I have, like, the guitar that I recorded Nebraska on. I’ve got, of course, my Telecaster that I played for 55 years.

Stern: You still have the same one?

Springsteen: Same one. That’s probably my No. 1 special guitar. I don’t even bring it on the road too much anymore, because it’s too special to me.

Stern: What do they mean by a guitar player’s feel? I’ll tell you why I bring this up. When you, at the end of the documentary … I had never seen you do this before. You come out without the E Street Band, it’s been a great night. You come out with the guitar and you do “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” which has become, again, one of my Top 10 favorite Bruce Springsteen songs. “I’ll See You in My Dreams.” But you come out just with the acoustic, and my wife and I were watching it. She goes, Bruce hardly hits the strings, like when he plays. And I said, I think that’s what musicians mean when they say, “This is the feel …”

Springsteen: Oh yeah, of course.

Stern: What does that mean, Bruce? “The feel”?

Springsteen: No two musicians have the same feeling on a guitar. I’ve never seen two musicians whose feel is the same. It’s your fingerprint, and they’re all different. Nobody touches the guitar in exactly the same fashion. And so it’s a very, very, very individual quality.

Stern: So when I see you playing “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” there’s a touch that you have with this acoustic guitar.

Springsteen: Oh, sure.

Stern: Not to make it sexual, but it’s almost like you’re fondling the guitar. You’re not hitting it hard. It’s a gentle touch.

Springsteen: It’s a good fondle (laughs). Like, hard is (plays a hard chord). And, to me, when you hit these electric acoustic guitars hard, the electric part (plays another chord) comes out. Or you can play it (strums), so I’m muffling it with my palm, is what I’m doing.

Stern: Your palm, muting the strings.

Springsteen: I’m muting the strings. It’s a technique I use all the time.

“I’ll See You in My Dreams” was the idea that, “Hey, death is not the end. Your spirit lives on. And your children, and the deeds that you have done during your lifetime, may they be good or bad … that you carry on, in one way or another, in the world.” I’ll give you a little bit of it here:

Springsteen sings and plays “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” solo

Springsteen: So it’s all about how you touch the guitar, how gently you play it, and how you intertwine it with your voice, so when you’re playing by yourself, you’ll accent places where your voice stops, you’ll bring the guitar down where your voice sings. It’s all just stuff that you learn as you go along.

Stern: Is this, again, in a minor key? Because this song touches my heart.

Springsteen: This is in a major key.

Stern: In a major key?

Springsteen: Yeah.

Stern: And you say a major key is happy … when you hit the line, “When all my summers come to an end” … immediately I think about, “Oh, my wife and my kids. I don’t want to leave them. I don’t want to die.”

Springsteen: Sure.

Stern: It brings up so many things. And this is about people you lost. Clarence (Clemons), I guess, and some of the guys from The Castiles, your original band. They all died, and you’re the last man standing.

Springsteen: Last guy up, you know. So yeah, it just came out of the death of my friend George Theiss, who was in the first band with me. And I realized that all the guys had passed away, except for myself.

Stern: How scary is that?

Springsteen: Yeah, I wonder who’s next! (laughs)

Stern: Oh, isn’t it awful to contemplate that? It’s just the worst. And when you say you have this person’s records, and their books, and their guitars, is that literally true, that this person, George, who died … do you have some of his personal items?

Springsteen: Nope!

Stern: Oh! You son of a gun. You manipulate me so well.

Springsteen: (laughs) Actually I do: I have a great picture of George and I, as I say in the song, on his wedding day. He got married very, very young. He was, I don’t know, 18, 19 years old. I got a picture of the two of us sitting on his porch, on his wedding day, that I hold very fondly. So yeah, I have a few things that I remember George by.

Stern: When you were singing that, do you think of him specifically. Or would that be dangerous? You’d probably break down.

Springsteen: You’re just inside the song. I’m not thinking super-specifically. It’s about all the people that you lose out of your life. As you get older, you know, death becomes a part of life

Stern: Bruce, before we bring in the band and everyone … so, I told you this … last night I started hearing from my brothers-in-law, from my wife’s friends: “You better have Bruce …” — like I’m in charge of you — “you better have Bruce do some of ‘Thunder Road’ or something.” This was, like, over and over again. That’s why I wrote you late into the night and said, “Bruce, I’m really screwed if you don’t do a little of ‘Thunder Road.’ ” What do you think it is? Is this the most requested song you get in concert?

Springsteen: It is one of them.

Stern: And you say when you wrote this, you were channeling the voice of Roy Orbison.

Springsteen: Well, I was both writing the song, not necessarily about Roy, but the feeling that his records gave me. “Only the Lonely” and “In Dreams” are just incredible records. And so I was deep, deep into Roy Orbison when I wrote this song. And so he came to mind.

Stern: Those vocals of Roy Orbison …

Springsteen: Forget about it. I’ve tried, and I can’t get close.

Stern: But this was your attempt, right?

Springsteen: On the record it is. You hear me singing in this real big voice. I don’t sing it much like that, anymore certainly not when I’m playing it by myself. But all right: A little bit of “Thunder Road.”

Stern: A little big. Just so I don’t get yelled at.

Springsteen sings and plays most of “Thunder Road,” solo.

Springsteen: Get you out of trouble there?

Stern: Oh, man, does that sound good. You like slowing ’em down, though, don’t you? It’s kind of fun to come up with a different vibe.

Springsteen: Yeah. That is one of my great songs. If not one of my greatest. It still holds a very fond place in my heart.

Stern: When you wrote it, did you know it would be one of your greatest songs?

Springsteen: No … I wrote it in a little place on West End Court in West End, Long Branch. 7 ½ West End Court. I wrote most of Born to Run in this little shotgun shack of a house. But no, you’re just writing your songs. You’re just writing your songs for your next album. You don’t know what’s going to happen to ’em, if it’s going to be a success or not.

Stern: Can you get caught in a trap as a songwriter? And then when you write a song like that and it becomes one of your biggest songs, you go, “I better go back to that house. I better go write …” Do you ever think, “I’ve got to capture that magic again”?

Springsteen: (laughs) The country that I live in, when I’m songwriting, is all in my head.

Stern: It’s unbelievable. It’s a complicated place, isn’t it?

Springsteen: Hell yeah.

Stern: You were talking, when you first walked in … just when we started this morning. You said, “Songwriting’s a real bitch, it’s hard.” But what was it about the song “I’m on Fire,” where I read that you said, “It came to me in two minutes. I wrote ‘I’m on Fire’ in two minutes.”

Springsteen: Exactly.

Stern: How does that … what was the process?

Springsteen: The process was very easy. It was just, I had a little riff going (plays it). Roy (Bittan) had a little synth line (hums it).

Sings and plays part of “I’m on Fire.

Springsteen: I wrote it in two minutes.

Stern: And that’s rock ‘n’ roll, because you’re thinking about a girl, right?

Springsteen: Well you know, the funny thing is: If you go on Apple or something, it’s the No. 1 song in all of our songs, over “Dancing in the Dark,” over “Born in the USA,” over “Born to Run.” “I’m on Fire” is usually on top. That’s the song people like the most.

Stern: Would you ever take a challenge, not in any literal sense, but like say it two yourself? Go: “I’m writing a song in two minutes. I’m going to do it again. That’s it.”

Springsteen: Nah.

Stern: No. You can’t do that. You can’t think like that, right?

Springsteen: Nah, I’m sorry. You can’t do that.

Stern: Either it happens or it doesn’t.

Springsteen: Exactly.

Stern: So, Bruce. What do you think? Should be bring in the band and celebrate, not only this great documentary that’s out — it’s called “Road Diary” …

Springsteen: “Road Diary”! That’s it. That’s what we’re supposed to be talkin’ about. …”Road Diary” is a lot about the band …

Stern: About the miracle of the band. Because as you point out in this thing, Simon & Garfunkel couldn’t stay together. The Beatles couldn’t stay together.

Springsteen: Hall don’t like Oates!

Stern: Hall hates Oates!

Springsteen: That’s right. I mean, Sam hated Dave, Phil hated Don Everly. It’s a long, long list. Like I say, the actual arc of bands is to break up, it is not to stay together.

Stern: What is the secret? Tell these young whippersnappers out there, who can’t seem to keep a band together … what is the secret, Bruce? Why does The E Street Band continue to exist?

There’s Patti. I’ve got to ask her about you.

Springsteen: There you go. She’s the reason!

Stern: She’s the reason the E Street Band is together.

Springsteen: Yeah. She’s in The E Street Band. If I want to break it up … you can’t do it.

Stern: You can’t get out. Hi, Patti, good to see you. We were complimenting you earlier. I don’t know if you heard it. But I think — again, this is all my imagination — the most difficult part of being married to Bruce Springsteen, and also being in a band with him, is that, you could go home, and he could still think he’s in charge, right? How does one manage that? Seriously, did you really have to sit Bruce down at some point and say, “Listen, Bruce. I’m in love with you, I think you’re great. I could even see myself spending my life with you. …” Was there an actual discussion where you had to map out, especially for your children, how Bruce should behave at home?

Patti Scialfa: Uh, not really. I think it was more done in personal expectations, of how you’d want a friend to be, or your lover, or your husband. I think, being in the band … I don’t know if everyone would agree with me, but I always tried not to be a wife onstage. I really did. I didn’t want to bring that onstage … never like, any kind of ownership, or husband-wife vibe. Especially in the beginning, I tried to keep that out of it. And Bruce always has this great saying that he says. It’s like, “Onstage, it’s, you know … but as soon as I get my foot off the stage …”

Springsteen: It’s over, baby.

Scialfa: It’s over (laughs).

Springsteen: I’m only The Boss for three hours. And then I surrender the title, happily.

Stern: Because everything I read about your family, and your kids …they seem, like, very well adjusted. And we know — and I’m sure you guys know, better than I do — you’ve probably met other rock stars or people who are extremely famous … their kids can be completely out of control, because they’re competing with dad and mom the whole time.

Scialfa: We try not to set up that dynamic. It’s funny you say that, because that’s the most important dynamic. I think … when you walk into our home, especially when the kids were growing up, you wouldn’t know what anybody did for a living. There was nothing in the house that indicated there’s somebody famous in the house, or this is an overwhelming situation. There were no pictures that related to the work or anything.

Springsteen: The kids didn’t know what we did until one day, I think Evan came home from first grade or … no, much later, even, second or third. He’s like, “Hey dad, what’s a Tenth Avenue freeze-out?” (laughs)

Stern: I hope you told him you don’t even know. Right, you’ve said, Tenth Avenue freeze-out, you don’t even know what a Tenth Avenue freeze-out …

Springsteen: I’m not sure.

Scialfa: They didn’t become interested, really — even though we took them on the road when they were very, very young — they didn’t really get involved until probably the past five years.

Springsteen: Yeah, and they still only remain very, very, very, very semi-interested. Now it’s like, “Okay, we’ll come down to the show, I’ll bring some friends.” But that’s about the size of it.

Stern: Because, really, you’ve got to make your kid the star. And you’ve got to cheer them on. They’ve got to somehow feel special, and when you’ve got a dad and mom like you two, it’s a difficult trick.

Springsteen: The key is, you have to be … first of all, they don’t need another hero. They need a father, or a parent, or a mother. And … I forget what I was going to say. Oh … you need to be their audience. You can’t go home thinking that … you know, there’s nothing more obnoxious than entertaining inside your own home. So, you’re their audience. They’re at the center of the …

Stern: I love a good love story, Patti. And when you’re falling in love with The Boss — and he’s literally, like, the boss. You know what I mean? Like, he’s your boss.

Springsteen: I don’t think so.

Stern: Have you ever screamed out in bed, “The Boss”? “Oh, Boss”? It’s never happened. Thank God.

Springsteen: I’ve never heard that.

Scialfa: Never. I don’t think I’ve ever called him that.

Stern: Here’s a romantic moment. Because I know both of you are songwriters. … I picture at home it being fantastic: Two songwriters. It could also be horrible, because there’s a competition between songwriters.

Scialfa: No.

Stern: You don’t find that at all.

Scialfa: No.

Springsteen: No, I don’t think so.

Scialfa: I’m not going to compete with him.

Stern: But is there a moment when Bruce has written, I don’t know, something … “Honey, wait till you hear what I just wrote.” Are you the first?… or when he writes a love song to you …

Scialfa: I’ll tell you a good story. So before, you asked Bruce, does he ever write anything, like, just right off the cuff. Right? And I go to that time, I was making my Rumble Doll record. We were living in L.A. We had just woken up, and I was talking about working, because I had to go to work with (Rumble Doll co-producer) Mike Campbell, and he was, “You know what you need on your record? You need one song where you really brag about yourself. Like really just throw it out there, and be really sexy and brag.” That’s not quite my thing, right? So I said, “No. No, no, no, I’m so not doing that, Bruce.” And he was, “Yeah, yeah, you’ve got to do it.” And he started singing “Red Headed Woman.” You literally got out of bed, picked up the guitar, and while I’m sitting in bed, you wrote “Red Headed Woman.”

Springsteen sings and plays part of “Red Headed Woman” (solo)

Stern: That’s fantastic!

Springsteen: Dedicated to my fabulous wife.

Scialfa: I had forgotten about that. And you wanted me to sing it on my record.

Springsteen: That’s right.

Scialfa: I had written all my songs.

Stern: I just picture a house filled with music, and you guys … there’s some romantic notion of, like, the two of you, writing. I don’t know.

Scialfa: I think that we do do, that the kids would sometimes complain about, is instead of talking, we’d sing everything back and forth to each other, and just make up …

Stern: How does that work?

Springsteen: It’s incredible.

Scialfa: (sings) “I’m making the pancakes” …

Springsteen: Ridiculous things occur.

Scialfa: Completely silly

Stern: Because you guys are married, Patti, are you able … while maybe the rest of The E Street Band cannot say to Bruce, “Hey Bruce, what you’re doing here isn’t working,” and this and that. Can you pull The Boss aside and say, “Listen, Bruce. I don’t like what’s going on here. There should be tuba on this song.” “Maybe there shouldn’t be tuba.” Are you able to go places the band can’t?

Springsteen: Abso-frickin’-lutely! Absolutely!

Stern: You don’t say, “Well, I’m The Boss, you can’t tell me this”?

Springsteen: Patti is opinionated.

Scialfa: I am full of ideas. And sometimes they’re very good.

Springsteen: They are. Patti’s a great producer. Produces her own records. She’s got a great new record — I’m gonna sell it right now — that hasn’t come out yet, but she just finished, or you’re close to finishing it. And she’s really good in the studio. So if she comes up with something, I listen to her.

Stern: So Patti is The Boss of The Boss.

Springsteen: Correct, yes. It’s absolutely correct.

Scialfa: I didn’t want to say it, but … women, when you have children and stuff, are usually …

Springsteen: The Boss of The Boss.

Scialfa: The Boss of The Boss (laughs). The head of the household. Let’s put it that way. That’s nicer.

Scialfa: When you found yourself falling in love with The Boss, did you say to yourself, “Oh, God, I shouldn’t be falling in love with The Boss. I work with this guy. I should just avoid this like the plague.”

Springsteen: It’s because he’s a suck-the-air-out-of-the-room attention whore, perhaps, I shouldn’t get involved with him?

Scialfa: When we first got together, you did everything for me. I did nothing. Nothing.

Springsteen: Patti was a real loner …

Scialfa: We were kind of feral, when we got together.

Springsteen: … and lived like I did. Like a musician. You lived like a musician when we got together. So I had to do everything. I had to make her breakfast.

Scialfa: He made me breakfast, did the orange juice.

Stern: He really spoiled you.

Springsteen: Yeah.

Scialfa: Just for a little while.

Stern: How many years in before Bruce stops doing all that? And he’s just like, “Ah, I can’t make breakfast, I’m Bruce.” …

Scialfa: He doesn’t do that.

Stern: He doesn’t do that? Thank God.

This band is so fabulous. We celebrate this band, because it is The E Street Band. And The E Street Band, in “Road Diary” — again, watch this on Friday, on Hulu. It’s great. I’m looking over at my friend Nils Lofgren, who … I was bragging about you this morning. And please don’t bring up the fact that you beat me in basketball, even though I’m 6-foot-5.

Springsteen: That’s crazy, man.

Stern: Well, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s really upsetting to me. And it never really happened. I let him win, I just want to say that. Nils, how are you?

Nils Lofgren: I’m good, Howard. And, you know, it was a close game. It was 34-4.

Stern: Yeah. I scored four points off you! I was convinced, maybe, I could win. But I was foolish. But I said about you this morning, I don’t know if you were listening in, but I said, it is an unbelievable thing that Nils Logren, to me, is in The E Street Band. Because Bruce, I remember, when I was a disc jockey at WRNW, 100 years ago, I would play Nils Lofgren solo records, and this guy had a big career.

Springsteen: Absolutely.

Stern: And when you announced that he was gonna be the guitar player and singer in your band, I was like, “That’s impossible.” Because he had this whole big thing going.

Springsteen: We were incredibly fortunate, first of all, you know

Stern: Were you filled with angst, Nils? Was that a big decision, to join The E Street Band?

Lofgren: No. Well, look, I was lucky. I was 17 … I had befriended Neil Young when I was 18. I did the After the Gold Rush album. …

Stern: Amazing! And he played piano.

Lofgren: And riding to the session in Topanga Canyon with, David Briggs, his producer, and blasting Creedence Clearwater, every day, I said, “Wow, it’s great not to be the bandleader. It’s great to be in a great band.’ There’s so much that’s non-musical, as a bandleader, that goes away. So when Bruce asked me to join the band, it was like a gift from heaven, because all this other stuff goes away, and I get just to be in a band.

Stern: Is there an audition process? Does Bruce call you in the room and say, “Okay buddy, play, you know, ‘Hava Nagila’ on the guitar”? … What is the process?

Lofgren: Well, I’d been up to see Bruce. It was kind of … in the early ’80s, I lost my record deals. They’d say, “Hey, Nils, you’re great, you’re a dinosaur, there’s no more work for you here.” Bruce invited me to his house, we went around, jammed a bit. Bruce and Steel Mill and my band Grin did an audition night for Bill Graham, trying to get an opening act gig in 1970, so I had been following Bruce ever since then. He’s always been kind and supportive. Anyway, six months later, Born in the USA was coming out. He said, “Hey, why don’t you come up for a couple of days, we’ll jam with the band.” Now I didn’t ask questions. But I figured that’s not bar-hopping. So I did some homework, played for two days with him, and he asked me to join, which was a gift. It’s a musical lottery. Actually, Patti and I, this May, it’s been 40 years.

Scialfa: Oh God.

Lofgren: We both joined the band 40 years ago this May.

Scialfa: We were the newbies, and are still called the newbies, probably, to this day.

Springsteen: The new guys!

Stern: Patti, did you have to audition? In other words, to get in The E Street Band can’t be a simple process.

Scialfa: Well, we had known each other before all that, too. We had become friendly. So he knew that I sang, and you very casually called me up and you said, “Hey, do you want to come up …”

Springsteen: I knew Patti could sing. I had seen her sing at The Stone Pony.

Stern: But Bruce, you had seen her sing at The Stone Pony but you wisely said to her … she was, what, a kid? And you said to her, “You’re not going in my band yet. You need to, like, finish school.”

Scialfa: That was another story. I was in high school … how embarrassing.

Stern: Why is that embarrassing to you?

Scialfa: Um, because how your life unfolds. And to tell you the truth, there are so many things that I didn’t remember, that happened. And I didn’t remember that I came and auditioned with you guys.

Max Weinberg: You did.

Scialfa: You told me what I wore. Remember, two years ago, you said, “I remember that …”

Weinberg: I remember what you wore.

Scialfa: “You had a peasant shirt on, and the coral beads.”

Stern: Max, you were looking a little too close, if you remember what she wore.

Scialfa: I was deeply flattered.

Stern: Damn right you are.

Springsteen: Max is the band historian. He pays attention to all details.

Stern: But you very lovingly said to Patti, at a different time in her life, “You stay in high school. You’re not ready.”

Scialfa: So sweet.

Springsteen: Well, I was only 20.

Scialfa: I was underage.

Springsteen: She was like 16 or 17. And we were traveling on mattresses in the back of U-Haul trucks. It just wasn’t good timing.

Scialfa: We grew up probably 15 miles from each other, in Jersey. So he was always known as the fastest guitar player. It wasn’t as a songwriter or as a singer. It was “Springsteen, the fastest guitar player.” That was the thing. So you’d always grown up around it. That’s when I was really young.

Stern: So when you were 17, you went to see Bruce, the fastest guitar player. You would go see him at a show.

Scialfa: No. I think I saw you for the first time, open up for, uh …

Stern: Cheech & Chong?

Scialfa: Jethro Tull.

Stern: Oh, Jethro Tull!

Scialfa: At Monmouth College.

Stern: What a double bill! Bruce Springsteen and Jethro Tull. Who threw that bill together?

Scialfa: Actually I went to see Jethro Tull, to tell you the truth.

Stern: You went to see Jethro Tull and you happened to see Bruce.

Springsteen: But hey, we opened up for Mountain, too. As we go on to talk about how many strange bills we had.

Stern: Bruce, was Leslie West a great guitar player?

Springsteen: Yeah, and he had a great voice. “Mississippi Queen.” But I had seen Patti sing in The Pony, and Steve had left the band, and so …

Scialfa: Right.

Springsteen: … believe it or not, when Max and Roy got in the band, they had to audition as singers as well.

Stern: By the way, Max, when you auditioned, what was the drum piece that Bruce asked you to play. I forget.

Weinberg: I think they played, with everybody, the same thing, but the thing I remember was ae Fats Domino song that they were playing, called “Let the Four Winds Blow.” It was kind of an up-tempo boogie kind of shuffle with a lot of accents.

Springsteen sings and plays part of “Let the Four Winds Blow,” solo.

Springsteen: That’s what we tested you on? I thought we hit you on something by James Brown. We did. I know we played some James Brown rhythms, because they were intricate. And Max was … give us a little bit, Max …

Weinberg plays some drums

Stern: Max, is the hardest drum song of Bruce’s to play, is it “Candy’s Room”? Is that the toughest?

Weinberg: It depends on where it is on the show. As a first song … yeah, that could be …

It was actually a pretty ballsy thing to just play a whole song on the snare drum.

Stern: Yeah. What is the drum part on that? Just give me a little.

Weinberg plays some drums

Weinberg: What’s funny: I start by myself, and (there is) a big roar of recognition. Just for that little moment, it’s Max Weinberg & the E Street Band.

Stern: That’s your big moment.

Scialfa: That’s one of the most fun songs to play live, isn’t it?

Stern: “Candy’s Room” is one of my favorite songs. You want to know about “Candy’s Room”? So I’m a disc jockey at WRNW in Westchester. And I’m the most uncool disc jockey. I don’t know any deep cuts or anything. I’m only playing the hits. And everyone at the station is a music aficionado. I go on the radio and one of the first songs I play is “Candy’s Room.” I’m thinking, “I’m the coolest guy. They’ll think that I know what I’m doing.” Because that’s a deep cut, you know what I mean?

Springsteen: It was. It still is, I guess.

Stern: I love it. “Candy’s Room” saved my ass.

Springsteen: It’s still popular when we play it.

Scialfa: It’s a powerful song.

Stern: Except it’s a little short. It’s hard to be a disc jockey and go to the bathroom. … you should add a few more verses to that.

Before I introduce the rest of The E Street Band, because I want to celebrate all you guys … I want to ask you about a song that you guys do. We’ll go way back and do “Spirit in the Night.” Here’s my fascination with this song: This is where Clive Davis, the head of the record company, says to Bruce, “”Ah, you’re working on an album, but you need a hit song.” I am floored by that statement. If I was a young songwriter and someone said, “Yeah, I just listened to your album but I need a hit song,” is the guy saying to you, “These other songs aren’t so good”? Is he saying to you, what, “These other songs aren’t a hit”? And by the way, how do you go off and write a hit song?

Springsteen: Well, first he said, “Do you want to be on the radio?” I said, “Yeah, I want to be on the radio.” He said, “You gotta write something that’s a hit.” So I had this long, really awful song, on the record, so Clive did a very smart thing. He sent me home. I think I went to the beach and brought my guitar, and I wrote “Spirit in the Night” and “Blinded by the Light.” The lucky thing was, for those two songs and only those two songs on the first record, we found Clarence Clemons. Clarence Clemons was missing in action for the entire first part of recording Greetings From Asbury Park. But we found him for those last two songs, so he’s on “Spirit in the Night” and “Blinded by the Light.” But … you want us to give you a little of it here?

Springsteen: Yeah, are you kidding? Whatever the band wants to do, I’m ready for it. Because … imagine the pressure on Bruce. The man says, from the record company, “Go write a hit song.” But did you say to yourself, “This is a hit”?

Springsteen: Well, it had a catchy chorus. That was all I could promise, you know.

Want to try it, guys?

Springsteen and The E Street Band perform “Spirit in the Night,” which Stern unintentionally interrupts at one point, thinking the song is over when it isn’t.

Stern: I’m goin’ home. Goodbye. I interrupted your song. That’s so humiliating. You guys …

Springsteen: That was so funny!

Stern: I suck. Oh, God. Get me out of here. It had a beautiful, jazzy feel to it, too. I love it.

Springsteen: That was the original feel. That was the original feel of the song. I don’t think we’ve played live on the radio since, like, 1974. But that was the original feeling of the song when I wrote it. …

Stern: When you wrote it, did you anticipate me interrupting it?

Springsteen: We’d have put that on, if you had been around at the time.

Stern: You want to know what, Bruce? I was in the band for a second. My voice. It was great. It was really very jarring. And perfect. Well, people can goof on me.

Scialfa: Did you have the riff first, when you wrote that? Did you have the riff first?

Springsteen: Uh, I don’t know. I don’t remember much about writing that one.

Scialfa: It’s just so nice.

Stern: The other thing about that song, too, from what I know, that’s the first song of yours you ever heard on the radio.

Springsteen: That’s right.

Stern: What was that like, and where were you?

Springsteen: I was in Connecticut. We were playing at a college. And I was standing on the street corner, and a guy pulled up with his window down, and I heard it coming out of a radio. And I was like, “Oh, my God. My dream has come true.” It was wonderful. I still love hearing my stuff on the radio, when it occasionally gets on.

Stern: And to hear it coming from another guy’s car …

Springsteen: So fabulous.

Stern: That’s unbelievable.

Springsteen: So fabulous.

Stern: And there’s something about the sound of it coming out of a car radio.

Springsteen: Oh, the best. The best! It was the best. Yeah.

Stern: That doesn’t get old, that feeling?

Springsteen: No! Hell no, man. Hell no.

Stern: And Jake, was is this legendary story about you? You showed up for your audition with The E Street Band and you were totally unprepared?

Springsteen: Oh-ho-ho!

Stern: How do you do that? Explain it to me.

Jake Clemons: Well, you know …

Stern: Bruce, were you shocked?

Springsteen: No. Well, you said you got lost, right?

Clemons: Yeah.

Springsteen: He was trying to find my house, and he got lost, and he came about an hour late, and … I didn’t know Jake, really, at all, at the time. So I didn’t know if he was, like, straight up or not. But go ahead, Jake. You can tell a little.

Clemons: This is an epic back story to the whole thing. But it worked itself out. One of the things that was really significant for me, at the time: That Bruce and I had both lost a cornerstone. Clarence and I were incredibly close. So we had spent some time together, before that …

Stern: And Clarence was the guy who probably said to you, “Pick up the sax,” right? I would think …

Clemons: He didn’t say that to me. But he was definitely the inspiration.

Stern: Right. So Bruce says to you, “I’m thinking about you coming into the band.”

Clemons: Yeah.

Stern: And you show up for the audition … what, you just didn’t know the songs?

Springsteen: No, I didn’t hear Jake until he played at Clarence’s funeral. I wasn’t even that aware that he played the sax that much, you know.

Stern: What song did you play at Clarence’s funeral?

Clemons: “Amazing Grace,”

Stern: On the sax.

Clemons: Yeah.

Springsteen: Yeah, it was beautiful. But Jake came in, and he sort of knew some of the things, but he didn’t have it down, super-tight. So I said “Jake, you should go back and get it down perfect.” And …

Stern: And he did.

Clemons: Yeah, then I spent the next three months getting my lips bleeding, playing for nine hours a day.

Stern: What did you do? You just listened to every Bruce Springsteen song, and learned them?

Clemons: Yeah, essentially. I was going back listening to the recordings. And for me, to be honest with you, it wasn’t so much about the gig, at the time, as much as it was to honor my uncle, and to continue his voice.

Stern: What pressure, to come into an E Street Band that your uncle was so legendary …

Springsteen: We were very, very lucky … I always say somebody up there likes me, because Jake Clemons exists. Really, I don’t know what we would have done without him. He carries on Clarence’s tradition, but at the same time, he’s his own man when he comes out at night and he brings his own spirit, something very youthful and wonderful, to the sax parts, now.

It’s nice to have you around. You did all right at the end of the day, my boy.

Stern: Bruce, let’s recognize Curtis King, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore and Ada Dyer.

Springsteen: The E Street Choir, ladies and gentlemen!

Stern: What a sound. Now, you guys … do you practice on your own? I love backup vocals. I love the harmonies that you come in, with Bruce. How do you work it out when, let’s say, Bruce isn’t around? What is that rehearsal like?

Curtis King: When we hear that the song’s to be done, we immediately kind of get into a huddle. We get together and we just start putting it together. So that by the time he comes to the stage, we’re ready for him.

Stern: So like on “Spirit of the Night,” what does it sound like without Bruce … when you’re just doing it a cappella, and you’re working it out?

Springsteen: Ready?

Springsteen and backing vocalists sing part of “Spirit in the Night” a cappella.

Springsteen: Sounds pretty good without a band (laughs). I’m fuckin’ the whole thing up.

Stern: That is great. Don’t you love that?

Springsteen: Yeah.

Stern: That’s too much. Let’s talk about … we were talking about “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).” Sandy is a compilation of women that you knew in your life, before Patti.

Springsteen: Yeah. … I was leaving Asbury, and I moved to Bradley Beach. Big move — one town down. I was living in a garage apartment. And that’s where I wrote a lot of The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. A little garage apartment on Fifth Avenue in Bradley Beach, just down from the synagogue. This was a song I just wrote, really, about leaving Asbury, and what that felt like as a 24-year-old young guy. Wanna kick a little of it, guys? Got the accordion?

Stern: You want me to talk during it?

Springsteen: (laughs) Yeah, you can do the DJ rap during it.

Springsteen & the E Street Band perform some of “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).”

Springsteen: That’s fun. I still like that song.

Stern: Are you sure you’re done?

Springsteen: We can keep going, man.

Stern: No, no, no. I don’t want to interrupt, you know. Wow, that is beautiful.

I’m so glad, Patti, that you’re here today. First of all, how is your health? I know that you issued a statement, you were going through some health problems. How are you feeling?

Scialfa: I feel pretty good. … I just don’t have the energy level to be touring. It would make me not feel well, and that’s not good for what I have.

Stern: Is it hard for you not to go on tour?

Scialfa: Extremely difficult to — something that you’ve done, for the larger part of your life, basically — to see everybody go out. So if I come to a show, I don’t go out in the audience and watch, because I just feel such a disconnect. Like, “Oh no, wait a second.” So …

Stern: It would be too hard for you to sit there, and see the band doing their thing.

Scialfa: I’ll sit by the side of the stage, but going back and sitting out in the audience, it just makes you feel just a little strange. … you miss it.

Springsteen: She’s been incredible. If it wasn’t for Patti, I couldn’t go out on the road.

Scialfa: That’s sweet.

Springsteen: She’s been such a soldier through the whole thing.

Scialfa: I wanted you to go out. You missed so many tours during COVID.

Stern: It was important to you to say to him, “Listen, even though I can’t go, I want you to go.”

Scialfa: Oh yeah, I was fully behind that. Fully.

Springsteen: It was very incredible and generous of you.

Stern: When I came to see you guys a couple of times on Broadway, to me, when you guys are onstage together … particularly I’m thinking about “Brilliant Disguise.” It is just such an emotional moment, with just the two of you singing that.

Springsteen: Patti really transforms the song, in the sense that … the song’s funny, it’s about the masks that we wear when we initially get together with people, or as we carry on, how difficult it is to know someone, or to simply know yourself. But when Patti sings it with me, she turns it into a love song — a tough-hearted love song, which is really a cool thing.

Stern: Patti changed the meaning of the song.

Springsteen: Yeah, absolutely. It changes the meaning of the song, when we sing it together. Completely.

Springsteen and Scialfa sing “Brilliant Disguise,” with The E Street Band.

Stern: Nothing more romantic than that. Oh my God. I watched the two of you do it. It is such a moment.

Springsteen: It’s fun.

Stern: Patti, when you come in: (sings) “brilliant disguise,” and you go up high like that, is that something you and Bruce rehearse a lot, or does that just sort of happen naturally?

Springsteen: We don’t rehearse it too much. Patti just hears it. She hears the part above mine. And bang, she goes to it.

Scialfa: We work it out and say, “Oh, is this okay? Is that okay?”

Stern: How old were you when realized that you could sing? That you could be a professional singer.

Scialfa: I wouldn’t be as egocentric to go, “Oh, I know I can sing.” But my older brother played guitar, and we had this little reel-to-reel, and we recorded the Sonny and Cher song, “I Got You Babe.” And I sang the Cher part. And I listened back, and I go, “I love doing this.” And I sounded okay.

Stern: Oh … Bruce is doing his thing, and then you double his voice, and come up … and it’s just brilliant.

Springsteen: It’s nice.

Stern: Um, let me say hi to Garry, on bass. Are you glad you’re not playing tuba today, or are you upset about it?

Garry Tallent: I am so happy, I can’t even tell you.

Stern: You brought a tuba with you, in case Bruce called for it. But we’re not doing tuba today.

Tallent: There was a rumor …

Stern: When do you realize, “Hey, forget the tuba, I’m going to play the bass”? You must have been a very young man when you did that.

Tallent: I was very young, yes.

Stern: And you’ve been with the band how long now?

Tallent: I’ve lost track.

Springsteen: Garry is the oldest serving member in The E Street Band. He goes back to 1971, I think.

Stern: Garry, did you know, when you joined, that it would last this long?. Did you have a premonition? Or did you think, this is maybe going to last a year?

Tallent: I never gave it a thought.

Stern: I always wanted to ask you this. What was it like … ’cause you’ve said that you feel Bruce did not like you, when he first met you.

Springsteen: I love that!

Stern: Did you just keep after him and say, “I don’t care if this guy doesn’t like me. I’m joining the band.”

Tallent: No, it wasn’t like that. Well, there was a time when he first came to Asbury Park, where he thought I was dissing him. I really wasn’t. I was there with Danny Federici … I was trying to start a band, and trying to get Danny to join the band, and he decided that he would go with Bruce instead. And I told him, “Go ahead.”

Springsteen: Danny was dissing me, too, but he got in the band. I don’t know how that happened.

Stern: When did you get over your dislike of Garry?

Springsteen: First of all, I never disliked Garry … Garry was in a band called Speed Limit 25, right, Garr? Yeah. And they were extremely popular on the Shore, at that time. They were a big-name band. so Garry was a prestigious player. So I’ve been lucky enough to have him in the band for, I don’t know, 55 years.

Stern: And Roy, you too. I mean, how long have you been in the band?

Roy Bittan: 50 years. A half century for us.

Springsteen: A half a century! Next year, that’s how long we’ve been together. We’ve been together for a half a century.

Stern: Unbelievable. If I played a game show, who would win in a quiz show about Bruce? Would it be you, or would it be Garry? I mean, you guys know him best, right? That’s it.

Bittan: I think Garry is a good choice there, for a game show.

Stern: Was Bruce very clean, when you used to tour with him on the bus? ‘Cause you see everything, you see every habit. Or was he a big slob on the bus?

Bittan: Well, the buses, oh my God. Well, I would say he was a pretty clean guy, all the way around.

Stern: Nice.

Springsteen: You have to understand: You’re talking to a guy who lived with Steve Van Zandt. … I’ll tell you one thing: I’m the guy that was doing the dishes, all right?

Stern: Were you resentful when you lived with Steve? There are guys who will not clean the bathroom, they will not clean the dishes. It’s a lot. It really is.

Springsteen: Yeah, Steve would kind of leave things as they were, and I would pick up a little bit, but it’s all right.

Stern: I was wondering, Roy. Because Bruce wrote most of Born to Run on piano, and you have to play the piano parts, was that an intimidating situation for you?

Bittan: Well, you know, I was very lucky at that particular moment in time, that he had written all those songs on the piano. And I really got an opportunity to interpret and to magnify and focus them. It was just, for me, an incredibly lucky moment: being at the right place at the right time.

Springsteen: Yeah, but he’s also… Roy was an incredible player, and had a very distinctive style and sound on the piano. I had my melodies and my arrangements, but Roy would take them and really transform them into something that made me sound good.

Stern: Patti, what was it like for you, when Bruce walks out of some room, and he says, “I’ve written a love song for you, my darling.”

Scialfa: I don’t think that’s happened yet.

Springsteen: That’s coming up.

Stern: I’m talking (about) “If I Should Fall Behind.”

Scialfa: Interesting. we were talking about that last night.

Springsteen: We were, yeah.

Scialfa: But I think, before we got married …

Springsteen: Actually, he’s right with this one, babe.

Scialfa: It was after we got married?

Springsteen: Yeah. This one and the whole Lucky Town record, was really …

Scialfa: Right, Lucky Town. You wrote that quickly.

Springsteen: … I wrote that in three weeks.

Stern: Does Bruce walk out, let’s say, after an argument and say, “Never mind the argument. I’ve written you a love song.” How does it go down?

Springsteen: I wish I could write that, that quickly. Because man, I’d be busting them out here and there.

Stern: Bruce, on this song, were you excited to play this for Patti and say, “I’m professing my love for you, my darling”?

Scialfa: (laughs) I think I would drop dead.

Stern: Is he not romantic, that way?

Scialfa: He’s extremely romantic, but he’s not …

Springsteen: I’m not vocally romantic so much, maybe. But we’ll play a little bit of it …

Stern: Bruce, before you play it, do you want to say something to Patti about this song?

Springsteen: Oh, you’re killing me now. I’m going to remember this.

My darling, I love you dearly, and I wrote this song for you and only you, baby!

Stern: How romantic.

Springsteen & the E Street Band perform “If I Should Fall Behind.”

Springsteen: There you go. That’s for you and only you, Patti.

Stern: You’re shy about being romantic. You can say it to her in a song, but it’s hard for you to verbalize it, isn’t it?

Springsteen: Well, that’s how I said a lot of things. That’s why I started to write. I started to write because I was kind of shy and introverted. I probably still am, you know. So I needed to express myself through music. If you could say these things, you probably wouldn’t have written them, you know? …

Scialfa: But you’re super-romantic.

Springsteen: Oh, thank you!

Stern: What is the most romantic thing The Boss has done? …

Springsteen: You’re killing me!

Stern: What would you say, Patti, when you think about him at home: He did something that you just say, “I’ll never forget how romantic Bruce was in this moment.”

Scialfa: No, because, he kind of …

Springsteen: I’m pretty good with the flowers.

Stern: But you don’t pick them yourself. Let’s be honest.

Springsteen: I pick them myself sometimes.

Scialfa: That’s what I love: If they’re picked in my garden.

Stern: Bruce, what do you mean when you’re in concert and you say, no one goes home until Max Weinberg goes home? What does that even mean?

Springsteen: Max Weinberg is the hardest working drummer in show business.

Stern: He’s a phenomenal drummer.

Springsteen: Max, how old are you, man?

Weinberg: A little younger than you. I’m 73.

Stern: You’re the young kid in the band, aren’t you, Max?

Weinberg: I think Nils is a month younger than me. …

Springsteen: He’s doing something, first of all, it could kill him. You gotta give him a gold star for pure balls and bravery, every night.

Scialfa: Toughing it out.

Springsteen: Second of all, the guys stop a little bit between songs. Max Weinberg does not. Max Weinberg plays from the minute we get onstage for three solid hours, pedal to the metal, until we get off, and he’s doing things that — if you watch this film, “Road Diary — he’s doing things that are simply incredible.

Stern: And he puts his hands in ice, after every show, because they hurt so much after drumming for three hours. Is that true, Max?

Weinberg: Yes.

Stern: It is. It sounds awful. Bruce, that’s dedication.

Springsteen: Yes it is.

Stern: It really is.

Springsteen: There is no more dedicated man than Max. Max Weinberg, man, covers your ass, 24/7, 365 days a year.

Stern: Max … besides yourself, take yourself out of the running. Who is the greatest drummer that ever lived?

Weinberg: Buddy Rich.

Stern: Buddy Rich?

Weinberg: Buddy Rich, overall. And then there’s any drummer you can name, by name.

Stern: John Bonham.

Weinberg: Oh! John Bonham. He’s always at the top of everybody’s list.

Stern: Right. Keith Moon …

Weinberg: You know, Neal Peart. Ringo, of course.

Stern: Ringo is great.

Weinberg: Levon Helm. Charlie Watts. Keith Moon.

Stern: Keith Moon.

Weinberg: Although I didn’t play like him at all — thankfully, ’cause I’m in The E Street Band — Ginger Baker.

Stern: Fabulous. Ginger Baker from Cream. And who is the better guitar player, Bruce Springsteen or Conan O’Brien? We need to know.

Weinberg: Bruce Springsteen!

Stern: I would say so. Listen, I don’t want to keep you guys, but there’s a couple of songs I would pay to hear …

Springsteen: Come on!

Stern: You’re okay with this?’

Springsteen: Hell, yeah! That’s why we’re here.

Stern: You said earlier that you do not know what a Tenth Avenue freeze-out is.

Springsteen: I don’t have a clue! I just made it up!

Stern: You made it up.

Springsteen: But it ended up being a great story about the band. I know that. It’s about, sort of, the band … to me, it’s the story of the band getting together, and me trying to get that going. Are you ready, boys?

Springsteen and The E Street Band play “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out.”

Springsteen: The mighty E Street Band, ladies and gentlemen!

Stern: It’s still so much fun, isn’t it? It’s still fun.

Springsteen: Hell, yeah!

Stern: I feel like I’m sitting in a living room, watching you guys play. This is really good. Are you available for birthday parties and things? It’s just so good. It’s fun, though, at the end of the day?

Springsteen: Hell, yeah!

Stern: It’s the greatest profession ever.

Springsteen: Abso-fuckin’-lutely, man!

Stern: Thank God you picked up the guitar, when you saw Elvis. It’s unreal.

I still don’t understand why The Ramones turned down “Hungry Heart.”

Springsteen: Well, they didn’t, really. I never gave it to them. I saw the band, I had a lot of fun, talked to ’em backstage. And then I said, “I’ll write a song for the Ramones.” I went home, middle of the night, it took about 20 minutes. It was done. Played it for Jon (Landau). Jon said, “Keep it for yourself.” That’s good management for you, damn it.

Stern: Were you insulted … Johnny Ramone or Jon Landau said, “Keep it for yourself”?

Springsteen: Jon Landau.

Stern: Oh, I thought it was Johnny Ramone (who) said, “Bruce, keep it for yourself.”

Springsteen: “Keep the damn thing for yourself.”

Stern: “What the hell is that?” Maybe that’s the secret, for you to start writing quick songs. Write ’em for other people.

Springsteen: I know. This thing was our first actual hit. It was the first time we became an actual date-night band, suddenly, where women started coming to the show.

Springsteen & the E Street Band perform “Hungry Heart”

Stern: Wow. What a great song? What a huge hit, too. Charlie, nice job. That’s Charlie Giordano, over on the organ. Very nice job.

Springsteen: Damn straight!

Stern: And I should also mention … who have I left out of this discussion? Soozie. … Soozie, hi. Soozie, you play violin and guitar, right?

Soozie Tyrell: Yes. And I sing.

Stern: And you sing. God, everybody’s so damn talented in this room. I suck. It’s just really disappointing.

Scialfa: Soozie and Lisa (Lowell) and I, we had a busking (group) in New York when we were in our 20s, on the street.

Stern: You mean you would go out on the street, and open up the guitar case?

Scialfa: Yeah, the three of us. …

Stern: Soozie, were you a child prodigy? … You were, okay. Like, you could play the violin from birth? Bruce, violin is the hardest instrument in the world to play?

Springsteen: Oh, man. O can’t touch it. And I’ve tried a few times. It’s just impossible. That one and the accordion is like rubbing your head and rubbing your belly at the same time.

Stern: And I want to mention Anthony Almonte on percussion … very nice. I love those bongos, man. I’m thinking of taking that up myself. I love it so much. Listen, I know I don’t have much more time, especially with you, Patti …

Springsteen: Howard, I have one song I want to play before we stop.

Stern: Listen, we have at least 50 more songs, guys …

Springsteen: Oh, we do? Sure, fine.

Stern: Okay, what song to you want to play.

Springsteen: … “Long Walk Home.” I want to play this song because …

Stern: Because you love Patti.

Springtsteen: Well, that’s one damn reason. But also, it speaks to the bizarre moment we’re in, and so, I wouldn’t call it topical, but the last verse is one of my best verses I’ve ever written about the state of the country. This is a little prayer for a week from now, because I like a President who wants to uphold the constitution, protect the democracy, believes in the rule of law, the peaceful transfer of power. Let’s hope it ain’t gonna be a long walk home.

Springsteen performs “Long Walk Home” (solo)

Springsteen: Thanks, Howard.

Stern: What a beautiful song. Thank you. And I agree. I think we have something really special in this country. Something worth protecting.

Springsteen: Absolutely.

Stern: And I hope people don’t forget about it.

Springsteen: So do I. God bless. God help us all.

Stern: God help us all is right. I mean that.

This has been such a special morning. I was thinking, how lucky I am, to have this band, to have you guys here, the professionalism and the feeling that you guys bring out, it’s just too much. And I don’t know …you’re just too much, man. You make me feel.

Springsteen: That’s great, man. We had a great time. Thank you.

Stern: No, I really love you for this. The last time you were on the show, my wife begged me to tell this story. I’ve never told this. Bruce said, “Hey, we’re gonna get together.” Bruce and I got together. He came over to my house for dinner. I don’t know what’s going on at my house, but Bruce rang the doorbell. He was standing outside. I walk by and I see Bruce Springsteen’s outside my house. I said, “Bruce, how long you been standing there?” He goes, “I don’t know. Ten, 15 minutes.” I go, “What the fuck is wrong with me?” … I felt so bad. I said, “Well, he’s never coming back again.” It was just crazy. I was like, “What’s going on in my house. The doorbell doesn’t ring. I don’t know, man.”

Springsteen: I thought I was at the wrong house, man. I was just waiting.

Stern: I just wanted to humble you. Patti said to me, “Bring him down a couple of notches,” and so I did.

Springsteen: All right.

Stern: Can we end the morning on “Glory Days”? … I mean, you’ve done 100 songs.

Springsteen: If you wanna go there, we can go there.

Stern: “Glory Days is a beautiful song off of Born in the USA. You wrote in 1984. Anything come to mind when you think of this song?

Springsteen: Yankees-Dodgers, man! That’s what comes to mind. Central Jersey! Yankees and Giants fans. Come on!

Springsteen & the E Street Band perform “Glory Days.”

Stern: Patti gets such a kick out of you. Like, she stares at you … I can’t wait for people to watch this on the app. It’s so great. And that dude, the guy you’re singing about in “Glory Days” … it’s sort of sad, in sense. I mean, the guy’s best years were when he was playing baseball, back in the day.

Springsteen: That’s right.

Stern: Do you think about people like that a lot? People who peaked a little too early in life.

Springsteen: Well, you know, timing has a lot to do with it. I mean, I’m glad I came along when I did. Because I think it would be tough coming up right now, for young bands and stuff. So yeah, timing in your life’s important.

Stern: Oh, yeah, what a horror, to have to come up now, if you were just starting out.

Springsteen: It’s tough. Very tough. I’m glad I’m an old man, where I am.

Stern: Patti, first of all, thank you for being here today. It’s so great to see you guys together. It’s just really exciting. To the band: Because the new documentary celebrates the band … is there a song that causes nightmares for you guys, when Bruce calls out, for a concert, and says, “We’re playing this?” Is there one song where you all go … Max, what is it?

Weinberg: Well, I don’t know if it causes nightmares, but I still have to count to myself in “Rosalita” at certain times. Fifty years later. It used to cause nightmares.

Stern: What is the count? In other words, is it that there are there a lot of 16th notes? Is there a lot of one and-a’s and two and-a’s and that kind of stuff?

Weinberg: There are so many two and-a’s and three and-a’s and four and-a’s and five and-a’s …

Springsteen: And there’s a lot of nonsense going on while we’re playing, also. …

Stern: One of the things in the documentary is, the setlist … your fans are so consumed with what the setlist is, and what the setlist is going to be, and I’m glad you address that in the documentary.

Springsteen: We do.

Stern: Listen: I love you guys for being here.

Springsteen: Hey, we had a great time, man.

Stern: I can’t tell you how special this is. I know my audience is going to be going wild for this.

Springsteen: Great.

Robin Quivers: I’ve been like a fly on the wall this morning.

Springsteen: Hey!

Quivers: Fantastic. So good.

Stern: Would you say this interview, this morning, stands out, even above The Super Bowl? No, but in all seriousness …

Springsteen: The best thing that maybe’s ever happened, Goddamnit!

Stern: Is there a moment in your career that stands out above all? Personal life aside. I’m talking about career, now.

Springsteen: I’m going to go immediately … our concert at Sea.Hear.Now in Asbury Park was huge, for us, and for the town. It was just historical for us, and for the town. It immediately went to my top four or five gigs of all time. So that really stands out for me.

Stern: What did they mean in the documentary when the band is saying, Bruce gives us physical cues onstage. They know how to read your shoulder movements, and …

Springsteen: Everything. Legs, shoulders, arms, hands … they watch it all, man.

Stern: You finally get the attention you crave. This band, they can read your every move.

Springsteen: That’s right. They have to watch me the whole damn show.

Stern: By the way, let’s point out the fact: Paul McCartney, the great Paul McCartney, blames this man, Bruce Springsteen, for the three-hour shows. He says you’ve ruined it for everyone.

Springsteen: We did start that. So I gotta take credit, or not, where it’s deserved. But hell, for the Goddamn money people are paying, they deserve at least three damn hours.

Stern: Well, it’s beautiful. Thank you for being so wonderful. And thanks for the great music. Thank you for being here this morning.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. “Road Diary,” premiering this Friday on Hulu. Hear Bruce and the E Street Band on SiriusXM E Street Radio, channel 20. And just, thank you.

Springsteen: Thanks, Howard. See you again.