Bruce Springsteen made his debut appearance on The Howard Stern Show on Monday, where he sat down for a lengthy two-and-a-half-hour career-spanning conversation about his life and music. Springsteen also performed solo acoustic renditions of several songs, including “Rosalita,” “Blinded By the Light,” and “Tougher Than the Rest,” as well as a cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
At one point in the interview, Springsteen revealed that he played guitar in the hospital for Clarence Clemons as his longtime friend and bandmate passed away in June 2011. “I had a feeling he could hear me because he could squeeze your hand,” Springsteen recalled. “I took the hunch and brought the guitar and strummed ‘Land of Hope and Dreams.’”
Despite turning 73 years old last month, Springsteen told Stern that he has no plans to retire. “I can’t imagine it,” he said. “If I got to the point where I was incapacitated, or something. But up until then — look at Johnny Cash and Pete Seeger. I played with Pete Seeger in Washington at Obama’s inauguration. Pete was 91 or 92, and he came out and sang ‘This Land is Your Land.’ I look at those guys, I don’t know if I’ll be playing three hours shows. The Broadway show, I could do the rest of my life in one form or another, if I wanted to. I can’t imagine retiring, no.”
Throughout the conversation, Springsteen also touched on his musical upbringing, his fraught relationship with his father, his writing process, and more. Among the many other fascinating anecdotes: Springsteen no longer writes music everyday, but waits until songs come along. “Years will go by without nothing,” he noted. He no longer remembers how to play “Jungleland” on piano. He employs a full-time recording engineer.
Asked to form his own version of Traveling Wilburys, Springsteen selected John Fogerty, Tom Morello, and Neil Young.
You can listen to Springsteen’s full interview with Stern on SiriusXM.
On November 11th, Springsteen will release Only the Strong Survive, his new collection of R&B and soul covers. Next year, he’ll reunite with the E Street Band for a lengthy world tour (tickets are available here).