Although political topics are not his current focus, Springsteen does not reject this content, such as in August 2020, when he agreed to a video of the Democratic National Convention using his Rise as a background music. But he finds recent years "very disturbing."
"Overall, for a person who is born a populist," he said, "I don't trust my neighbors as much as I did four years ago." He was also very unaccustomed to discrimination against black people in the United States, and he was so remarkable for the white musicians of his time.
Past Reading:
What is The 71-year-old Springsteen, who released a new album, is a fairy?
Rock 'n' roll for 50 years without a care: Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Text: Busy sister
Editor: Zuo Chunchun
Disappointing four years
I said there are a lot of people on the left, including Springsteen's friend Tom Morello, who feel that Trump is the appearance of a deeper problem. "I may not be as 'left' as Tom," Springsteen replied, "but you see, if we want the ideal America, we need to be a little more 'left' and seriously rectify our system." ”
Regarding the politicians on the left, he felt: "I like Bernie Sanders very much (senator who is running for election), but I don't know if he is my first choice. I like Elizabeth Warren very much. ”
But for now, he is fully in favor of the centrist Democratic nominee. "The power of American thought has been abandoned," Springsteen said, "and it's a shame." We need someone to revive it... I think if Joe Biden wins the election, he will help us to raise our international standing again. As a democratic country, the Trump administration has long abandoned democracy. We have abandoned our allies, made friends with dictators, and denied climate science. ”
What about his comments on the Republican convention?
"It was horrible. These people are constantly lying and distorting American thinking. Scary and heartbreaking. The first priority now is to kick Trump out of the White House and start from scratch. ”
Springsteen couldn't stand the white privilege
For Springsteen, the black human rights movement gave him a lesson he had never grasped before, even though in 2000 he had become one of the few white rock stars who advocated black-and-white equality, using works like American Skin (41 Shots) to whip police violence against black Americans.
"White supremacy and white privilege have seeped into unimaginable depths," he said, "and I think what I've felt about the last three or four years is that racism, white supremacy, and white privilege are very few, very extreme, as if it's a vein at the end, not a major artery that runs through the whole of America, and I feel like a big artery right now." So it opened my eyes, I was really stupid and naïve before. ”
His 30-year-old son, Ivan, went to the Parade in New York and he was very proud of his son. "Post-racial societies do not exist." Springsteen said.
"There won't be in the future. But I think a world where people can respect each other as full men and women, and respect each other as Americans, is possible. This is a movement full of great hope, and there will be many young people of different races and genders who will come out to march, which is a movement that history needs now. ”
Black and white are equal in the band
Springsteen opened his blue pull-ring notebook and found something he had written about his black saxophonist Clarence and the black human rights movement. He felt that some fans had a great reaction to his and Clarence's antics on stage and overflowing brotherhood, was this the ideal America they wanted to see?
"The idea is to use music to show fans what John Lewis calls a 'loving community,'" he says. The late Congressman and civil rights leader often cites Martin Luther King Jr.'s "loving community," which he understood as "a society based on simple justice that values the dignity and worth of every human being." ”
E Street Saxophone Clarence
Springsteen knew that Clarence's life as a black man was not easy. Clarence only briefly went through the half-black, half-white phase of E Street, when the band recorded the song of the same name, Born to Run. While on tour, the black members all experienced more or less racial discrimination, but race was never an issue in the band.
Drummer Ernest Carter (also black) once told me, The of racism has never been in a band, and the only time I've been discriminated against is not in a band. Carter and David Sancious later left E Street to form a jazz fusion band, and Clarence became the only black man in the white band, with an audience of almost all whites.
David Sancious
and Clarence's socialist brotherhood
"The two of us were too close," Springsteen said, "and we couldn't pretend to be racially. (Clarence once told the writer Peter Ames Carlin that in 1988 he and E Street went to Africa to perform, and the audience was black, which made him happy: "That was the first time I saw more than two black people under the E Street Band, and I thought: 'Wow, trees are purple, people are not white!') This must be heaven on earth! ’”）
In the past, Springsteen would often kiss Clarence's lips mischievously on stage, and sometimes when Clarence reached out, he would slide from one side of the stage to the other to hug Clarence. Over the years, their intimacy has sparked various cultural speculations: homosexuality, racial subversion, and so on.
Kiss
Recently, many young fans have said on social platforms that they are fascinated by the behavior of these two rock stars who seem to be straight men to challenge the acceptance of the audience. When I told Springsteen all this, he was stunned and amused. "Are you kidding me?" He said, "I'll be honest with you, I've never thought about it, I never cared or thought about it. We're just intimate. ”
After a while he added: "That was one of the deepest friendships of my life. I can't 'reduce the dimension' of it, and make it understandable to everyone. I can't condense 45 years of working and falling in love with a dearest friend into a sociological explanation. ”
Will "Letter to You" be the last album on E Street?
In some ways, Letter to You has a disturbing sense of finality. The cover is Springsteen in a seemingly cold winter scene, and Springsteen also acknowledges that the eponymous song is a summary of his artistic career: it is a letter to the world, and he "summons all the truths he has truly discovered."
And he dug up three songs from his '70s work, giving it a sense of completeness, even if Springsteen might deny it.
Will this be the last album on E Street? "I think he might have been the last one until then." Van Zant said, "Facing the death of a person is both honest and realistic, and it can help people who have the idea of consciousness, who may be dying or may be experiencing the pain of the death of their loved one."
By the time the album was released, 200,000 people in the United States might have died of COVID-19. This album can be a place for these people to vent. It can also be interpreted in a literal sense.
At this juncture, if you want to say, say it as soon as possible! Don't procrastinate! Because who knows? I don't think Springsteen meant it literally. Even if this is the last album, we are still very good. If it's not the last one, we'll be back and release a better album. ”
A great musical career is always too short
And in the chorus of "Ghosts," he almost shouts "I'm alive!" "It's still worth paying attention to." Springsteen said: "I plan to go a long way... Some of my recent works are a bit of a summative, but to be honest, for me, they are all summaries of my working life at this stage. I still have a lot to do and I plan to continue to finish them. ”
He has a lot of topics to do, including his archives. He said his archive was full of "missing albums" and other things he had scattered.
(Weinberg has been in his studio over the past three years to record more than 40 old songs, using a variety of different playing styles.) The drummer said: "Any artist will desperately try to get these songs. ”）
Some of these songs will be included in the second volume of Orbit, while others will be released in other forms. "I have a lot of good music," Springsteen said, and there's nothing he can enjoy more than working with his former self.
"You just look back at your work, it's not difficult. If I were to come up with a work from 1980 or 1985 or 1970, you would be able to fit in very easily, which would be great. In fact, these sounds are in my head, and I can tune them out when I want. ”
Alcohol is not intoxicating, and everyone is drunk
It was a long afternoon. Springsteen walked with me to my car, followed by two dogs: a German Shepherd "Little Ash" and a small bull terrier "Toast". We drove to his studio. In the studio, producer Ron Aniello and engineer Rob Lebret, who he's worked with since The Broken Ball, are doing their day's work.
There was a sheet of paper on a sheet of paper with some chords written on it, and the titles written on the paper I hadn't heard. Springsteen pointed to the various instruments everywhere in the studio and said, "This is the House of a Thousand Pianos." He also showed me off the garage next to the studio, which was full of motorcycles and classic cars, including the Corvette on the cover of his autobiography.
He asked Aniello to open a cold bottle of Pat Tequila, and we sat in front of the screen to watch a video of Tom Jimney's recording of "Letter to You." Tom Jimney filmed the whole process of the band recording, right where we were sitting, and the film was made in black and white. ("There were 20 people filming at the time," Weinberg recalls.) ）
Springsteen had planned to watch only 10 minutes of the film, but we sat for an hour and a half to watch the whole film. Springsteen often grabbed the remote control to turn up the volume, almost as big as a concert.
As the film aired, he poured himself a little tequila, laughed at the terriers in the film, and occasionally hummed along. It was an afternoon in New Jersey watching Bruce Springsteen watch how Bruce Springsteen recorded an album with the band E Street.
Before the film begins, Springsteen pours me and Aniello a glass of wine and toasts with us: "To Rock 'n' Roll!" After a pause, he shook his baggage: "To all the rock and roll music that is left!" He laughed, and we dried the tequila in our hands.
Closed
References：
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bruce-springsteen-interview-new-album-touring-e-street-band-1059109/
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