Bruce Springsteen announced today that he’s writing his autobiography titled — what else — Born to Run. It will be released in September. It’s a big year for Boss fans — his “The River” tour comes to BB+ T Center in Sunrise on Tuesday.
Springsteen has a lot of connections to Palm Beach County — will they end up in his memoir?
Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons play Miami’s Orange Bowl in 1985 (Miami News)
No one would have believed that Jersey boy Springsteen would one day own a horse farm in Wellington, or tool around Lake O on his chopper. Or that his iconic Big Man, Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011, would have a luxury condo on Singer Island or that drummer Max Weinberg would buy a house on Palm Beach’s north end.
Through the years, The Post has written a number of stories about Springsteen’s and Clemons’ presence in Palm Beach County.
Here are some:
A “Thunder Road” trip – Bruce Springsteen, a bar and the big lake.”
Clarence Clemons: Remembering the “Big Man” at home on Singer Island.
Clarence Clemons in a 2009 Palm Beach Post photo.
In 2005, Clemons talked to former Post reporter Anne Rodgers about his memories of “Born to Run.”
Here’s an excerpt from that interview:
Question: Why has Born to Run held up so well?
Clarence Clemons: Because of the purity and the energy and the life that went into it. You can’t destroy energy. You can’t take it away. When you do something earnestly and truthfully, it lasts.
Q: What do you remember about that cover pose?
CC: I set the pose up. I stood up and struck a pose and Bruce leaned in on me. And it was perfect. When we’re together it just happens that way. We don’t hang out all the time, but when we get together, we see something in each other and it’s magic. The spontaneity jumps all over the place. From the first time I met him, I had that feeling.
Q: When did you know the album was huge?CC: When Time and Newsweek put Bruce on the cover the same week.
Q: How did you feel about the fame?
CC: We hated it! It was too much exposure too soon. We wondered how we were supposed to act. Were we supposed to be different? What should I wear? We were just a bunch of guys from Jersey.
Q: How do you feel about the cover shot today? (It splits the image, with Springsteen on the front and Clemons on the back.)
CC: It’s kind of been a nemesis. My face was on the back. Why not on the front? What’s up with that? My mom was apprehensive about me going into rock and roll. I had a strict religious background and here I was leaving my job and family to follow this dream. She always said, ‘Keep your day job.’ So finally Born to Run comes out and it’s huge and I showed it to my mom and she said, ‘Your behind’s on the cover!’
The promotions all had the whole picture, it was a big thing showing brotherhood between black and white . . . a big statement in rock and roll. But on the album, my face is on the back. I think Bruce really envisioned it would be the whole cover, but somewhere along the line it got changed. I was disappointed, but it was OK. What was inside was better than what was on the outside. We moved on. It didn’t faze me and didn’t affect my contribution to Bruce and the music.
