This video is one of the happiest things I’ve ever seen. It feels spontaneous … I am seeing life itself – not an imitation of it, not a fabrication – but the real thing. I could not keep the smile off my face as I watched it.
(Thanks Round Headed Boy for linking to it)
There are moments when TV transcends itself … when a moment of sheer greatness, perfection, and spontanaiety is allowed to exist. It doesn’t happen often. TV is the most skittish of mediums. But sometimes … sometimes … a true moment just happens and they become engrained on our concsiousness with indelible ink. Bette Midler singing “One for the Road” to Johnny Carson on his last show – I’ve seen it a million times, and I still don’t get over how moving it is, how … how perfect. Springsteen on Letterman, actually – jumping up on top of Paul Schaefer;s piano. How often does something exhilarated and unexpected happen on television? The entire first season of Saturday Night Live. Now that was new. That was thrilling.
But WATCH that video of Springsteen and his band – playing with the Conan O’Brien band – and obviously letting everyone who was also on the show that night participate. I keep thinking it’s gonna end – but then it goes to yet another level of joy. There are SO MANY people on that stage. Look at them all moving together. Look at Conan playing the guitar with Bruce! And keep an eye out for Jimmy Fallon in the background, playing spoons as though his life depended on it.
I LOVE PEOPLE.
I can’t believe it. I just watched it twice all the way through.
UPDATE: Check out the response to this video on Bloggledygook. I love his insights about Springsteen, and music, in general. (And thanks for the kind kind words.)
Eeeeeek!!!! Thank you for linking to this!!!!! What an amazing way to start my day!!!! Wow, what was the best part of that? The brass guys ruled. Jimmy Fallon not mocking the proceedings or trying to be the center of attention, but just doing his little part was, you’re right, awesome. Conan in his suit playing. Aghhhh!!!! Yes, sheer joy!! I’m sitting here just grinning from ear to ear. Bruce is … there’s just no one else like him. He’s like a force of nature or something. Sidenote: aren’t you so happy for Patty Scialfa? You know she was in love with him the whole time he was married to that other woman. She had to have been.
I’m emailing that video to everyone I know right now. And I’m ordering his Pete Seeger CD. Thank YOU!!!
Sheila – isn’t it so great! I love when Springsteen summons Jimmy Fallon with one word: “Spoons!” And up he comes. hahahahaha
The whole thing is just so joyful! How he’s yelling out instructions – everyone’s bouncing up and down – It’s just AWESOME!
THANK YOU RED! That’s terrfiic — did you see Bruce et al. when they were on Leno a couple of weeks ago — the power of the vocal ensemble was huge – and a rather new thing for Bruce – having that many voices — awesome stuff! The song they did was How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live — not on the Seeger sessions CD — my spidey senses feel another live album/dvd coming!
OMG
okay have got into the BS clipp. It IS great.
but have also spent last hour trying to figure out how to put my 2 cents worth in here.
so yeh its all good
love the two fiddle players btw!
they are ssssmooookin.
The Boss Having Some Fun.
Take eight-and-a-half minutes and watch this video of Bruce Springsteen and friends singing Pay Me My Money Down (from his Pete Seeger CD) on Conan O’Brien. You’ll be very glad you did. I am very happy to see this effort
by which I meant
HI!
long time reader.
first time poster.
am sure all will like me
we have much in common
:)
is that Letterman clip you mentioned before on that link? I can’t seem to find it – unless it is because I am all a-flutter with excitement — BRUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCE!
dave – Hmmm. He was only on Letterman once – Letterman had been trying to get him on the show for years – since he first began, actually – and on his last show at the network (didn’t he move networks?) Springsteen said he would be on the show.
And he sent Letterman off with a BANG.
Maybe Google it? It’s gotta be online somewhere.
Vh1 has included it before in its Best Moments on Television series.
It’s goosebump time.
do you mean ‘BRUCE’ was only on letterman once.
wow.
wow twice.
pheww
(btw – dave? are you the dave who’s last name is ‘Kenny’ cause thats my last too.
sheariela – Thanks for de-lurking! Welcome!
But … er … please don’t ask for other people’s last names. :)
And yes! Bruce Springsteen was only on Letterman once – well, he might have been on SINCE that first time – but it took years and years of coaxing to get him to appear that first time. It was a huge deal to Letterman. He’s a huge Springsteen fan.
Thanks–for BS and TLRHB.
Sa-weet.
Watching this reminds me of when American music was actually at the forefront of our culture.
It’s interesting to wonder why the best folk/country music is coming from the Boss.
I think of the Coen Brothers (the soundtrack to “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” won the 2002 Grammy) and their comments on “modern country music.”
This is fun to watch and the CD is so fun to listen to.
Thanks.
no, i’m not even dave, i’m “dave” (trying to add an air of intrigue….)
Daniel – yeah, it really has this improvised let’s-all-do-it-together feel to it – which is so infectious. It’s beautiful!
Oh, that’s right. Pardon me. “dave”. Not dave.
so sorry about the last name gaff! again sorry.
and yes thats right its called lurking. so now I am officially de-lurked.
We get lettermem here, usually 2a.m.
I saw Bruce Springsteen in ’85 in Sydney.
Born in the USA.
nothing like seeing a stadium of aussies punch the air singing that one but any way
sheariela – I love that image of aussies screaming “Born in the USA” – hahahahaha that’s so awesome!
Sadly, I have never seen Bruce live!
sorry
d-aaaa-aaa-vvv-veee—-e
I’ve seen Bruce six times, and each time has been a monumental experience — okay – I will try to edit myself from going on and on – but there is really something spiritual about it — no exaggeration – the energy, the direction, the subject matter, the recognition of coming together as a community to celebrate so many parts of life; love, growing up, relationships, hopes, dreams, believing in a sense of something larger than yourself, the feeling that music recognizes the parts inside you that you believe and that are destined for something better, it is always so uplifting — part poltical rally, part tent show revival, part rock concert – one heart stopping, earth quaking, air conditioner shaking mix!
dave!
intriguing
:)
“dave”:
Whoo-hoo!!!
Seriously – everyone I know who has seen Springsteen has the same reaction. I even know some converts. People who pooh-poohed Springsteen and then saw him live and realized suddenly: Ohhhhhhhh. THAT’S why everyone loves him!
Oh and dave – I love your excitement about Springsteen. Go on and on as much as you like. :)
Okay everybody – let’s take the day off and just talk about Bruce…. we’ll rent a red VW microbus and drive around the Garden State looking for ethereal impressions of his expressions….
I need a life…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This is so great – the fiddlers, the brass section in their little jazzman hats, the accordion player.
This reminds me of good theater, when everyone nails their performance – but like you said – spontaneous. Bruce holding it all together.
Geez, seems like everybody’s got a hungry heart or something.
Daniel, that may be true, but I can only speak for myself when I say that I want to know if love is wild, you know? I want to know if love is real.
just had a rather serious argument with my son. He wants to go home. (is only 1 am in morning!) but worse he says he has no idea who Bruce Springsteen is, and – HE DOESNT CARE!!!
Sheila, yeah I hear ya. I understand that a good man is so hard to find (by the way, it’s cloudy out in Pittsburgh).
Ooh, ooh!
when it comes to getting the dirty job done
I’ll take a red headed woman…
Daniel, I’m just tired and bored with myself. I check my look in the mirror – and I basically wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face.
It’s cloudy in New York too!
But red, there’s no place left to hide.
The first time I saw Bruce was in 1984 I think. It was just as Born In The U.S.A. came out. The show was in Toronto at the Exhibition Stadium, a football stadium. I bought the tickets the old fashioned way, at a record store, about three days before the show. Seating was for half of the stadium, about 30,000 people. He was doing one show in Toronto on that leg of the tour. This is important because by the time next summer rolled around, the album was huge beyond belief. That second summer, he did three sold out shows to the whole of the stadium, at least 60,000 people for each show. Getting tickets for one of those shows was a lot more complicated. We had to camp outside of the record for two days before they went on sale. Here in London, Ontario, two hours from Toronto, a whole downtown city block had to be shut down because of the all the people wanting tickets.
One of his encores of the second saw, Bruce came out by himself; strumming the guitar and chatting. I can still remember the patter because I tired to adopt it as my own as a way of schmoozing girls in bars he was talking about Elvis:
There was one night after a show I did a number of years back in Memphis. And sometimes when I am done a show, I just go out walking through the city. So I started to make my way over to Graceland. And I stood there at those gates looking at the guitars on them and thought back to the first time I saw Elvis and how that made me want to be a rock star. And I looked up and saw a light on — so I went over the wall and climbed over it (everybody applauds) no, no, no, cause I really hate it when people do that at my house. So anyway, I start walking up the driveway when a security guard comes out of the woods and stops me and asks, Can I help you?
So I say, Yeah, is Elvis home?
No, Im afraid he isnt. Im going to have to ask you to leave
Oh yeah, but you see, Im a singer and I have band
Well, so do a lot of people
Yeah, but I had my picture on the cover of Time and Newsweek .
Well it didnt go very well and you can imagine that I got kicked out of there.
But it wasnt too long after that I got a phone call from a friend of mine asking me if I heard. Heard what? That Elvis had died.
And I thought of all that music and all that he started it was like he came along and whispered a dream in all of our ears and then we dreamed it
Wise men say, only fools rush in
He started playing Cant Help Falling In Love . what a moment it still gives me chills 22 years later.
Aside of the emotion and connection of that moment I think, and I could be way over analyzing here, but I think Bruce sees himself and what he does in context of a much larger picture. I have no illusions that he is so altruistic that he isnt after money. There is the re-packing of material, dvds, merchandising. But I dont think it is to the extent of say Rolling Stones, or Brittney Spears. The music isnt sold for commercials to have ketchup poured over. There isnt the full exploitation possible.
I think the context he sees himself in is following a series of influences that reach past and beyond just Elvis or Roy Orbison. Some of the songs ten years ago, particularly the Nebraska album, were narratives about the people on the fringe of society that had fallen below our radar screen, the poor the criminals. And then again with Tom Joad, reaching into the dust bowl of John Steinbeck. And now with the Seeger Sessions — some of those songs are over one hundred years old. They have a history that is a connection to the soundtrack to Americas history far more impacting than the soundtrack to American Graffiti.
He monitors and reports on the developing American experiment of democracy and the social responsibility of understanding the under privileged. I heard him refer to himself as a runaway Catholic that as much as he wanted to say see you suckers! to the church, the questions of personal validity and redemption and how grace places us in certain situations, sometimes beyond our imaginings, linger long and hard at us in the dark of the soul.
Okay back to work .
bloggedygook is dead on when he says it’s time for some toe tapping. After The Rising, an album that could easily be a person soundtrack to a greiving process, personal beyond 9-11, it is like he is shedding the weight of greif and saying okay – time to celebrate!
In the fall of 1980, my college roommate and I were blessed to see for the first time, within a week of each other, Talking Heads and Bruce Springsteen. The Heads show was awesome; they had just begun touring with their “large band” (although it wasn’t until the next tour that David Byrne introduced “the big suit”) and it remains one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Leaving the auditorium that night, I remember saying, “man, that’s going to be hard to top.”
A week later, we saw Bruce; “The River” had come out, and that night he sang 17 of the 20 songs on the album. I had been a fan before, but it was only after that night that I became obsessive. It was the kind of thing to send chills down your spine. And I remember walking out afterwards, my roommate saying, “well, Talking Heads were great. But that was just a show. This was life.” And for me, that’s what separates Bruce from nearly all of the rest of the great ones. If you can’t learn something about yourself by listening to a Springsteen album, you’re not trying hard enough.
These stories are so amazing. I am getting goosebumps just reading them.
Thank you thank you!!!
The first whole album I ever bought was Born in the U.S.A. It was a cassette tape that is now so worn it’s not even listenable. Yet I refuse to throw it away.
And the Seeger sessions album is brilliant, but it came in one of those cardboard cases where the CD slips out of a pouch, so it’s nearly impossible to get the thing out without actually having to handle the sensitive parts. I want to kill whoever came up with the idea of packaging CDs this way.
That is my complete contribution to the Sentiments of Bruce thread.
Here in Pittsburgh, we used to have a great, stinky venue called The Decade, were a bunch of us used to hang out, drink Rolling Rock and listen to garage bands, great blues legends and drving rockers. One of the staples there was Joe Grushecky (“Rock’s best kept secret”). One night, when Springsteen was in town, Grushecky was playing at The Decade. After a set or two, Grushecky announced he had a friend who wanted to play. It was Springsteen. Probably the most famous night in Pittsburgh music history since Stephen Foster died.
Emily, at least you weren’t like:
“Meh. Springsteen? I can take him or leave him.”
grrrrrr You know how we love it when that is all someone has to contribute to a post!!
Anyone who starts any comment starting with “Meh” is annoying in my book. I don’t mind “Eh” or even something like “Ew!” or “Yuk!”
But “Meh” is so dismissive and obnoxious. Go away, Meh-ers.
Daniel – holy crap. the place must have just flipped OUT!
Sorry, but…
Reading these comments and suddenly all I can think of is Cheech and Chong’s “It’s me, Dave” routine.
heh, heh, heh
Really, love it all.
Meh. It wasn’t so hot.
(Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)
hahahaha I was asking for that one!
Daniel,
What a great story! What year was that?
Emily,
Early eighties, which for me was a lost decade.
Oh, and Sheila? Did I mention how much I detest Springsteen’s politics?
Comment policy reminder.
So no, you didn’t mention it, and you better not.
Already read it. Long time ago. Just trying to liven up the place a bit.
I’m so glad I created an actual policy so I can just link to it as opposed to having the same tired-ass arguments with conservatives over and over and over and over …..
Yawn.
Meh.
It’s plenty lively, I think!
Oh my God, this is so exciting! I found the clip of Springsteen on Letterman – Hang on, let me link to it.
Here’s the video!
It was Letterman’s last night on NBC – I was right. Just watch the showman. He didn’t tell Paul Schaefer he was gonna jump up there – but watch how exhilarating it is. You can just FEEL it in the molecules.
See, now you’ve hurt my feelings. Do I have to get out my ACLU card to prove that that was a joke?
I’ll just slip out sideways now.
Well, I certainly wasn’t talking about YOU, Daniel in that comment – it was about why I created the policy whenever it was. So sorry if I hurt your feelings!- I don’t think you’ve ever commented on my blog before Bloomsday. It was for the OTHERS. The others who always ruined my fun here on my own blog. I couldn’t say “I loved Yentl” without someone going off. You know.
OOOOOOOOOOO WAIT. A. MINUTE.
Did you just say Yentl?
(Springsteen’s got nuthin’ on Mandy Patinkin.)
hahahahahahahaha
“Papa can you hear me???”
No, seriously – I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Peace?
Did you watch the Bruce on Letterman video clip?
I’m not easily offended. Offensive, maybe, but… Having a good time.
Saw the show when he was on. It looked like he was having a lot of fun. I just hope that I can move like him when *I’m* eighty, too.
I know, right? How on earth did he get up there so quickly? Without any heave-ho. Amazing!
Yeah, but did you catch the pocket-pull at the end? Seems as if some contents shifted during takeoff and landing.
hahahahahaha
Incidently, I’ve always likened Richard Thompson to a British Springsteen. He’s a fine tunesmith, a neat lyricist, and an absolutely killer guitarist. I like to put the two of them on the iPod and shuffle. The songs, I mean.
that was great sheila, thanks for linking to that…have you read the sports guy top 20 videos he loves on youtube? it’s really great. the last two are people IN THE STANDS with video cameras as papi hits those two amazing hits in the ALCS in 2004. pretty amazing. i’ve watched them like 20 times and get teary eyed and goosebumped each time.
don’t want to hijack the thread – and far be it from me to change subjects when we’re talking about The Boss, but Daniel – did you hear the brewery in Latrobe just closed a couple weeks ago — very sad
-33-
Richard Thompson is unbelievable. Those lyrics, man … My brother introduced me to him. I think next to Paul Westerberg Thompson might be my brother’s favorite musician.
siobhan – hahahaha No, I haven’t seen those!! hahaha I love sports guy. I have to go look for that piece in his archives.
Hey – how about Pedro coming back to Fenway? David might be there tomorrow night!
Sheila, your brother is a very wise man.
“dave,” yeah, man, I’m bummin’
it’s his latest article–won’t be hard to find! he also links to the ‘do they know it’s christmas time?” video on youtube. i’ve already heard his comments on the, as he calls it, “head-scratching” bono line–“thank god tonight it’s them instead of you!” but it still made me laugh.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that is so so funny, siobhan …
“Hey, Ethiopia, wassup? Better you than me! Merry Christmas!!”
Wow, that just gave me chills. Just goes to show how he’s the best live act around. What about Thomas Hayden Church snapping in the background? Ha!
Oh my god…that line always bugged me in that song. Like…um, what? I mean, okay, literally, thank god it’s Ethiopians starving and not say, my DAD or something, but still. And that one line “nothing ever grows/no rain or rivers flow…” Hey, guys? There’s this river in Africa, you might have heard of it? It’s called the F@#$CKING NILE?
Sorry. Thread hijack. But Siobhan started it.
hahahahahahaha Oh my god, I love this. A deconstructive analysis of the “Do they know it’s Christmastime” song. Genius!
I was always like: “Uhm … well … they DO know it’s Christmas, actually, it’s just that a lot of them are Muslim. Mkay?”
I did like that song, though – way better than We are the World (uhm – tone down the hubris a bit there, chappy)! At least Geldof’s song was actually about the PROBLEM – not about the people solving the problem congratulating themselves.
I hadn’t heard ahead of time that Bruce was going to be on Conan, but luckily I was flipping channels and tuned in a few minutes before he was going on.
I first saw Bruce in the Cotton Bowl on the Born In The USA tour. I love the E-Street Band. I wasn’t very happy with him when he broke up the band and have not been a big fan of solo Bruce over the years (with the exception of Nebraska). I was especially unimpressed with the pretentiousness of the recent Devils & Dust phase.
However, I think that with this Seeger Sessions thing Bruce has finally hit upon a solo scenario that really works. What I saw on Conan absolutely suggested the sort of joyous abandon that I associate with an E-street Band show. It was a beautiful thing to see, and to hear. I guess I should have known that Sheila would see and hear it too. :-)
Red,
Hahaha. I know. Do they know it’s Christmas time at all? Probably. Do they give a crap? No. The irony of the culture centrism while declaring your deep concern for another part of the world…not to mention the pathetic line “there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime…” Well, there won’t be snow in Los Angeles this Christmastime, either. Hey Bono, send me money.
It’s so funny to see that video now – because so many of those people were basically one-hit wonders, and they were HUGE at the time – but now I can’t even name some of them.
Also Simon LeBon can’t harmonize. Or … he shouldn’t be allowed to.
There. I’ve said it.
Wow. You’ve been carrying that burden now for over 20 years. How does it feel to finally be free?
Really scary.
I actually remember thinking DURING Duran Duran’s heyday: “Wow. He’s not good at harmony” – and I felt SO guilty about it.
I was always a John Taylor girl, though. Simon LeBon seemed a wee bit too puffy with dehydration for me to be interested in him.
I was all about Simon. I love how Duranies always fit into camps. Nick lovers, John lovers, etc. It was like the first question you asked someone when you found out they were a fellow fan and you immediately judged them based on their answer. Like, nobody was an Andy lover and if someone said they were, you knew they were the kind of person who was always attracted to the underdog.
That is so true that nobody was an Andy lover.
Poor Andy. He’s a really funny guy, though. I remember him being on KROQ one night back in the late 80’s with Steve Jones. They were getting drunk, if I recall, and tried to crank call Simon LeBon at what would have been an ungodly hour in Britain. He didn’t answer his phone. Bastard totally ruined the joke.
And Nick writes unbelievably pretentious and specific style and culture articles for Interview magazine – but … I can’t help it. I always read them.
“There’s a band based out of Duseldorf that you really need to discover. They are cross-dressing wrestling champs, they play electronica, and they’re on the cutting edge of music. And you absolute MUST wear chartreuse this season – but only above the knee.”
I mean, they are horrid columns, but I love them. And I follow NONE of his advice.
Oh my god…do you read their “birthday messages” on the official website (I can believe I’m admitting I have)? John is even worse. He writes “I wouldn’t want anybody’s birthday but my own. I’ve always wished I had his car or his girlfriend or a flat stomach like Lindsey Lohan, but I’ve always loved my birthday. Did that sound shallow?”
Emily – hahaha No, I’ve never read their birthday messages. But now I need to!!
Do it. It’s definitely time well spent.
hahahahahahahahaha
I freakin’ love Duran Duran. I ain’t ashamed of it.
“WILD BOYS
nevah- looose iiiiiiit
WILD BOYS
nevah chose this wayy
WILD BOYS
nevah close your eyes
Wild boys alwayyyys shiiine…”
I mean, come on. Goosebump time.
But I must ask: what the fuck do those lyrics MEAN?
They never chose this way? Yet they always shine? Do the two have to be incompatible?
Hahahaha
You’ve got sirens for a welcome
There’s bloodstains for your pain
And your telephone been ringing while you’re dancing in the rain.
??????
Seriously — someone’s having Lana Turner day. We should have a “Duran Duran Lyrics: WTF?” day.
Yeah, really … I hear sirens, yet I dance? Why? If I have bloodstains? Do I dance in the rain to get rid of the blood? WTF???
There was a song on Rio which was not a hit but I loved called The Chauffeur – do you remember it? It reads like bad poetry by a 13 year old girl. (Well – is there any other kind but bad?)
One of the verses – and yes, this is from memory:
//And watching lovers part, I feel you smiling
What glass splinters lie so deep in your mind
To tear out from your eyes
With a word to stiffen brooding lies
But I’ll only watch you leave me further behind//
Uhm – what?
And then – there’s no chorus – but in between each verse, Simon LeBon wails the following words:
“SING BLUE SILVER …”
Who is blue silver? Why? Why would blue silver sing when there are glass spinters in her mind? WTF?
OMG, I LOVE that song. I remember there being some controversy over the video having nudity or something.
And the sun slips down bedding heavy behind
The front of your dress all shadowy lined
And the droning engine throbs in time with your beating heart
What? No, really. WHAT?!?!?
hahahahahaha i love that you know that song! i am howling!!!
Yeah, I have a question, guys:
Is the bedding heavy? Or is it my behind that’s heavy? Because I’m not clear … and I’m pretty pissed off if it’s the second one …
Don’t know. Turn around.
And then of course there is the complete incomprehensibility of Union of the Snake.
And Emily – weren’t their videos always “controversial”? I mean, I see them now and they are just so cheesy – but at the time they were totally edgy!
Hungry like the wolf! The scratches on his body, the jungle fever, John Taylor in his open shirt, the moaning women, the fedora, Simon LeBon on the run …
I am so OVER music videos now – but I still remember watching that one, thinking: “Damn. This is so. cool.”
Yeah, all of their videos were cool. Remember the one for “A View To A Kill,” at the end when Simon gives his name as “Bon. Simon LeBon.” I thought that was the funniest thing I’d ever heard at the time.
How about “New Moon on Monday”? I stayed the cold day with a lonely satellite. WTF is a “lonely satellite” and why would you spend a day with it?
Also, this might be splitting hairs … but if you spend the day with the satellite – then how is the satellite still lonely?
Or is that the whole point???
Sometimes, you just have to let art flow over you.
This has got to be the only place on the internet where the subject can go from a Bruce Springsteen appearance to a deep and focused analysis of Duran Duran lyrics in a single thread and actually progressively make sense. We scare me.
I might have missed the boat … but I just want to say … about Bruce Springsteen …
Just look at the way he moves … it’s like there’s nothing holding him back and everything about his body, when he plays music, is free and right and good.
And when he goes out to the audience to get them to stand, it’s like, an act of generosity, so that they don’t miss out the fun, so that they stand up and let themseles go, so that they’ll feel as happy as he feels.
It’s beautiful.
Oh, Maria. :) What a beautiful comment and observation. I so agree.
Okay Emily – I’m trying to track it back (without checking) to see where Duran Duran came into it??? I think it came up with the Do they know it’s Christmastime discussion 800 comments back.
Sheila,
Who cares? I’m in love with Maria’s comment.