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One night a few weeks ago,
a rock legend, Bruce Springsteen,
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came here to the South Bank
in London to present a film
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about the long
and troubled creation
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of his 1978 album,
Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
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Darkness,
Springsteen's fourth album,
was three long years in the making.
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00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,120
He was struggling with a lawsuit
with his first manager
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and was determined to follow
the success of the celebratory
Born To Run album
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with something quite different,
something significant,
something profound.
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Springsteen wrote over 40 songs
for what would be
the ten-song Darkness album,
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wrestling with lyrics
on his notebook, swapping phrases,
concepts and lines
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00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,640
as he built his big statement.
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00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:53,440
If Born To Run was
a cry for freedom,
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00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:57,400
a sophisticated update
on the adolescent joy of '60s pop,
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Darkness was determined
not to run away,
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but to show that rock'n'roll and
Springsteen himself could grow up.
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He wanted to write about the fallout
of the American Dream,
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about the ties that bind
in disillusioned mid-'70s America,
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not a million miles away
from the "me" America of today,
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which makes this a timely
and strangely prescient film.
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We've made a special edit
of Thom Zimny's film for Imagine
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which takes you
inside the process of creating
this make-or-break album.
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As the extraordinary archive footage
that laces the film shows,
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there were many struggles and
wrong turns on this intense journey
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to find the "darkness
on the edge of town".
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This thing ain't nine to five. This
thing is 24/7. It was a mission.
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We were messianic in our approach.
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It was like, "This movie
is going to save the world."
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The work ethic that surfaced on
Darkness was even more intense than
anything that had gone on before.
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This was our lives.
This was everything to us.
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There were no wives or families or
girlfriends that mattered that much,
so we were there all the time.
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But the obsessive/compulsive part
of my personality
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was such that I would be driving you
crazy just because I could.
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I was a dangerous man to be around.
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Bruce is a man with a vision
and, at the same time, he's a person
in search of a vision.
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More than rich and more than famous
and more than...happy,
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I wanted to be great.
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After Born To Run, I wanted to write
about life in the close confines
of the small towns I grew up in.
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In 1977, I was living on a farm
in Holmdel, New Jersey.
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It was there that I wrote
most of the songs
for Darkness On The Edge Of Town.
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I was 27 and a product
of Top 40 radio.
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00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:05,320
Songs like The Animals' It's My Life
and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place
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were infused with
an early pop class consciousness.
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That, along with my own experience,
the stress and tension
of my father's and mother's life
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00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:22,120
that came with the difficulties
of trying to make ends meet,
influenced my writing.
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I had a reaction
to my own good fortune
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and I asked myself new questions.
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I felt a sense of accountability to
the people I had grown up alongside.
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I began to wonder
how to address that feeling.
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All of this led to the turn
my writing took on Darkness.
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Tonight I'll be on that hill
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Cos I can't stop
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I'll be on that hill
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With everything I got
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Lives on the line
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Where dreams are found and lost
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I'll be there on time
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And I'll pay the cost
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For wanting things
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That can only be found
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00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,240
In the darkness
on the edge of town...
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That was just sort of a big...
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That's a reckoning
with the adult world, you know,
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with a life of limitations
and compromises.
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But also a life of kind of...
of just resilience
and commitment to life.
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You know, to...
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You know... To the breath
in your lungs, you know.
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How do I keep faith
with those things?
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How do I honour those things?
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Darkness was a record
where I set out to try
to understand how to do that.
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Cos tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run...
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You've had Born To Run in 1975.
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That was the biggest hit
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that any of us had any connection to
ever.
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The success we had with Born To Run
immediately made me ask,
"What's that all about?
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00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:31,160
"What is that... You know,
what does that mean for me?"
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00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:35,120
..these velvet rims and strap
your hands across my engines...
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The success brought me an audience.
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It also separated me from all
the things I had been trying to make
my connections to my whole life.
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And it frightened me because
I understood that what I had
of value was at my core
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and that core was rooted
into the place I'd grown up,
the people I'd known,
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the experiences I'd had.
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If I move away from those things
into a sphere of just...
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..freedom as pure licence to go
about your life as you desire,
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without connection...
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That's where a lot of the people
I admired drifted away from -
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the essential things
that made them great.
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Tenth Avenue freeze-out
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Tenth Avenue freeze-out
I'm talkin' about...
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Tenth Avenue freeze-out
Talkin' about that...
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The success at that particular
moment was so dream-like.
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Aaaah!
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Say it, say it, say it...
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All of the rock'n'roll dreams
that I had held as a kid
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have finally come true.
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All of a sudden,
the band was noticed.
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We really started building
a following
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and everything was going good.
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We were so excited
about that type of success
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that we felt we'd made it.
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We were finally in a studio
making records.
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We got it made.
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Then all of a sudden,
things just stopped.
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There were two clouds that hung
over the writing and the recording
of Darkness On The Edge Of Town
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and one was just the success we had.
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Let's face it.
You're one thing one day,
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then all of a sudden,
you're post-Time and Newsweek,
post-Born To Run
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and everyone looks at you entirely
different than what you are.
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You were a struggling artist one day.
Now you're a real success story.
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I enjoyed it plenty along the way,
tried to accept the things
that had happened to me,
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but not let them distort my idea
about who I was
or what I wanted to do.
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I had to disregard my own mutation.
That was the cloud of success.
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The other one was just the lawsuit
that I ended up in with Mike.
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In January of 1976,
events had occurred
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that had led to a fracture
in the relationship between Bruce
and his former manager Mike Appel.
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The main problem we had initially
was we couldn't record.
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I was signed
to Mike's production company
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and that gave Mike the power to
decide basically all the essentials
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about how we recorded,
who we recorded with. I was
kind of his property in that area.
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I couldn't make those decisions
on my own, so therefore,
we couldn't go into the studio.
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With regard to the legal situation,
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the actual initial court order was
that Bruce couldn't go in the studio
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with a producer not approved
by Mike Appel.
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00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,640
In the early stages of that lawsuit
when things didn't go well,
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his only form of protest over this
was just not to go in at all.
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The litigation that was going on,
we weren't really a part of it, but
certainly we were affected by it.
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We were all broke. Nobody had any
money. We were going day to day.
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It wasn't a lawsuit about money.
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It was a lawsuit about control -
who was going to be in control
of my work and my work life.
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Early on,
I decided that was going to be me.
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The bottom line was that it would be
my ass on the line and I was going
to control where it went
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and how things went down.
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That, for me, was what
the lawsuit was about.
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If I don't go in the studio, I don't
go in the studio. But I don't go in
under somebody else's rules.
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It's my life
and I'll do what I want
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It's my mind
and I'll think what I want
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Show me I'm wrong
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Hurt me sometime
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Some day I'll treat you real fine
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Don't push me
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It's my life
and I'll do what I want...
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If I can't make the music
that I want to make,
I won't make the music.
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We played live. We survived playing
the live shows as best as we could,
but things got very, very difficult.
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When it came down to it, you can
lose the rights to your music,
you can lose your ability to record,
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you can lose the ownership
of your songs,
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but you can't lose...
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..that thing,
that thing that's in you.
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Ready?
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Not being able to return
to the studio after the Born To Run
record was just heart-breaking.
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00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:27,560
You hear a lot of talk about bands
being family, teams being family.
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At that time, it really was that
because what we had
truly were our relationships
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00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,320
and the music
that Bruce was writing.
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Now, in the olden days
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When the Mongolian gangs
rode along Route 9
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We go runnin' scared
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And driven way down south
through the pines
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Weekends in the sun
in that cheap motel
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Out by the Dynamo
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We loved each other
till there was nothing left
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And we drove that old car as hard
and fast as she would go...
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During that time, we rehearsed every
day at Bruce's house in New Jersey.
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We could play into all hours
of the night.
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It was far enough and big enough
and away from other houses that we
could make all the noise we wanted.
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00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:45,520
My sense of his reaction
to this road block in his career
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was that determination, that will,
that desire to do it his way
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became even greater.
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Maybe his way of working it all out
was to write songs.
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And I take her round easy
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Looking for a moment
when the world seems right...
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While there was a lot of pain
because I was trying to sort out
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what had happened between Mike and
I in the lawsuit, it was also a time
of re-finding myself and freedom,
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00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:18,240
the freedom I found back
where I felt like I belonged.
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00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,440
And I picked this chick up
hitchin'
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She hung her head out the window
and she screamed
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She was looking
for someplace to go
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To die or be redeemed
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Well, you can ride this road
till dawn
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Without another human being
in sight
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Cos baby,
everybody's gone lookin'
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For something in the night...
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Bruce had been away for a year
since he made Born To Run,
this big record to live up to.
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It was like the clock was ticking.
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The plan was to do Darkness
fairly quick.
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00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:19,080
These days,
two or three years between records,
people don't think about it much,
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00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:24,120
but in those days, I made
two records in the first year
that I had a contract
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and another record shortly after
that. Two or three years in between
records then, you disappeared.
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00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,840
I read many articles, "Whatever
happened to... Flash in the pan."
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00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:36,600
For all I knew,
that might have been true.
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The stakes were even higher
in certain respects.
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What was this guy going to do next?
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The future was pretty cloudy.
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We'd had one success. A lot
of people, that's all they have.
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00:15:55,120 --> 00:16:00,760
If I'd had that one success,
I'd have gone back to Asbury Park
millions of dollars in debt,
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00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:03,280
rather than the other way round.
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00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:08,960
You didn't know if this may be
the last record you'll ever make.
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Everything I'm about and think
about, I've got to get it out now
on this record
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because there is no tomorrow.
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00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:20,280
There's just this moment.
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One, two, three, four!
199
00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,920
Cold rain running
down the front of my shirt
200
00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,720
I'm flat on my back wheels
in the dirt
201
00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,680
Angel makes her face up
out on Baker Street
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00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,560
She's straddling the shifter
in my front seat...
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In June of 1977,
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00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:49,120
Bruce's situation with his former
manager was decided conclusively.
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00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:53,200
He got control of his music
and ultimately his career.
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00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,520
It was probably, in my view, the
defining moment of his young career
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00:16:57,520 --> 00:17:03,960
because he had withstood the rigours
of someone literally trying
to take his future away.
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00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:09,640
These were the things that I would
have fought to the death for
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00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:14,920
because without them, at that time
particularly, I felt I had no life,
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00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:19,200
so whatever it was, I knew I was
going to take it the whole way.
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00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:28,960
Finally, we went back into
the studio to start recording the
Darkness On The Edge Of Town album.
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00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:34,040
It was a sense of "we can finally
start working on this thing
213
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:39,280
"with the proper production team
of Bruce and Jon Landau".
214
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:44,240
When we sort of got together
and started talking about Darkness,
215
00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:49,480
I had vaguely assumed
that we would in some way pick up
from where we left off.
216
00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:54,480
I think even us,
as well as the record companies,
after Born To Run...
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00:17:54,480 --> 00:18:00,040
felt the next record would sort of
follow in the same footsteps,
you know,
218
00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:05,120
and propel us a little further
along. That would seem
like a formula to me.
219
00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:10,160
He wasn't planning to write the next
Jungleland or the next Backstreets.
220
00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:14,040
I think that was one moment.
He was in another moment.
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00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:19,920
I think that a lot of this album
had to do, ultimately,
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00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,720
with Bruce's own personal growth
223
00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:29,680
and trying to come to terms
with his idea of what it meant
224
00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:31,720
to be a man.
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00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:38,960
So I was trying to write music
that both felt angry and rebellious,
226
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,320
yet that also felt adult.
227
00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:46,120
That was a big thing
that shaped that record.
228
00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:52,840
One, two,
229
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,120
three, four!
230
00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:57,920
"The Promised Land"
231
00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,440
On a rattlesnake...
232
00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,880
One, two,
233
00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,120
three, four!
235
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:26,840
It was quite experimental
that we didn't go into that record
236
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:33,240
with an absolutely specific idea
of what we wanted from it
237
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,720
and how we were going to get there.
238
00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:43,200
I remember him telling me he really
wanted to downsize the scale,
239
00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:45,640
that big sound of Born To Run.
240
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,840
Suddenly,
everything got very sparse
241
00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:57,600
where the Born To Run album had
this sort of, you know,
242
00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,280
our take on the "wall of sound".
243
00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,680
Now you had
this vast cinematic landscape.
244
00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,680
The record maintains that kind
245
00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:18,280
of ominous,
potentially hopeful feel throughout.
246
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:20,360
It doesn't break that focus.
247
00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:28,080
You know, one phrase
that we would use to discuss
the sound of the record
248
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,320
as it evolved...
249
00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:34,800
..was "the sound picture".
250
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:42,520
What kind of picture was the sound
of the record suggesting?
251
00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:47,400
We did want a certain feeling
of loneliness,
252
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:53,680
a certain unglamorised,
to mix languages, you know, sound.
253
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:56,960
There was no "sweetening",
254
00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:01,000
you know, a lot of overdubbed,
especially strings and horns.
255
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,240
We didn't want any sweetening.
256
00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,000
We wanted the coffee black.
257
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,520
Well,
I'm riding down Kingsley...
258
00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:20,760
And that was pretty much
what I was after.
259
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:26,560
I was after a leaner sound,
a little bit of an angrier sound.
I wanted to toughen up the songs.
260
00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:30,560
When you're first beginning
and first making records,
261
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:35,080
you so think that you need this
big production and this big sound,
262
00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:40,360
so I think Bruce was
a little futuristic in saying,
"Let's just be simple."
263
00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:48,600
I wanted the record to have
a very relentless...feeling.
264
00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:53,160
Nothing is forgotten or forgiven
265
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:59,120
When it's your last time around
266
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:06,440
I got stuff running round my head
267
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:13,920
That I just can't live down...
268
00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:28,760
You're very preoccupied with parts.
269
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,240
On Born To Run,
Bruce wrote all those parts.
270
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:37,640
The way to get it just the way
he wanted it was to focus
on each individual part.
271
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,040
We had these very, very set
arrangements on Born To Run.
272
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,920
Darkness was
a little bit more freewheeling.
275
00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:08,920
A bit like...
276
00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,600
'We just simply didn't rehearse
any more.
277
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,880
'I would give the guys the chords,'
278
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:20,760
count into the song and before
they could come up with parts,
279
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,040
they'd have to play.
280
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:30,640
So the first two or three takes,
you didn't get people recording,
you got people playing.
281
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:40,080
Very often I didn't have the words.
Like I remember Badlands,
I think I had "Badlands".
282
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,320
"Badlands"
283
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:54,800
Bruce was at that time
a tremendous rewriter
284
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:59,360
of alternate versions, alternate
verses, alternate endings.
285
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:02,640
He always created choices
for himself.
286
00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:07,040
All right.
287
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,520
"Badlands"
288
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,600
I had that riff,
289
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,480
so I would...we'd count it off,
290
00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:19,600
then I would sort of imagine...
imagine a verse.
291
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:26,360
You know, an "A" and a "B" section,
though I wouldn't have
any lyrics yet.
292
00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:31,840
I was just following
whatever worked musically,
whatever felt exciting musically.
293
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,400
That was the first real
E Street Band record.
294
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:44,560
I think in many ways his first
two albums were solo records.
295
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,400
Stop, stop.
296
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,960
How do you capture
that great live thing in the studio?
297
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:00,840
It was still a bit of a mystery.
298
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:06,040
In the '70s, somebody decided
that all ambient sound was bad.
299
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:11,440
Everything was carpeted,
everything was dead.
Nothing was allowed to breathe.
300
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,320
We wanted to capture the sound
of the band live.
301
00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:19,160
But studios created this completely
unnatural environment
302
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:23,160
with not a hint of any reverberant
sound coming off of anything.
303
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:30,280
If you listen to a lot of records
from the '70s, the deadness on them,
I find it makes my skin crawl.
304
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:32,160
You don't like...
305
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,600
Well, you don't like...
306
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:46,240
We didn't know
how to get any sounds.
That was our problem all along.
307
00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,560
'Nothing seemed to be working.
We were just babes in the woods
308
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:06,000
'trying to figure out how to make
a record that sounded like live,'
309
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:13,200
like we hear in our heads, but not
really knowing the technology or
having the wisdom to figure it out.
310
00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:20,920
'The drum sounds on Darkness...'
311
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:22,760
That was quite a fiasco.
312
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,440
We literally spent weeks
just trying to get drum sounds.
313
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:34,960
An incredible amount of discussion
and attention devoted to the subject
of Max's snare sound.
314
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,000
He would be sitting next to me
315
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:55,320
and Max would be out there and he'd
say, "Again." And Max would hit it.
316
00:26:55,320 --> 00:27:03,200
And all Bruce would say,
over and over again, was, "Stick."
He could hear the stick on the drum.
317
00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:09,760
It got to a place where we were
analysing this so carefully
that everything sounded like...
318
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,440
Stick!
It's like hitting it with a stick.
319
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,520
"Stick. Stick." I mean hours!
320
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:23,720
We put the drums every place
you could put them in that building.
We put the drums in the elevator.
321
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:29,000
You would hear the whole reverb
of this whole big stairwell,
which made no sense.
322
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:34,880
I was waiting for a phone call
to come back to the studio
and start work again
323
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:41,960
while they're 10 hours a day hitting
a drum trying to make it sound like
a drum. It was pretty sad, really.
324
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,200
The problem was this:
325
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,640
I fantasised these huge sounds.
326
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,400
And so we went to pursue them,
327
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:54,080
but they were always bigger
in my head!
328
00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:59,880
And so we constantly were chasing
something that...
was somewhat unattainable.
329
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:05,600
The thing that I didn't understand
was the fundamental equation
at the time -
330
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:11,480
if you get big drums, the guitars
sound smaller. Get big guitars,
the drums have to...
331
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:17,360
Something has to give.
There's only so much sonic range.
But we didn't know this.
332
00:28:17,360 --> 00:28:21,360
We just assumed
everything could sound huge.
333
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,040
"Badlands"
334
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:46,280
In those days, our process was
to rehearse a song in the studio,
335
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:48,640
lay it down - record it,
336
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:54,920
and once it became at all coherent
go back into the control room
to listen to it
337
00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:59,240
and start honing it,
individually and collectively.
338
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:04,520
It was about as much
the live performance of the take.
339
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:09,080
When you sat down, it wasn't just by
rote. You went out to create magic.
340
00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:11,480
"Promised Land"
341
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:21,160
You just interpreted the songs
more in your own way
and the sound reflected that.
342
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:25,760
It was much more stark.
There was less saxophone.
344
00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:40,560
'The sax became a bit of an issue
on that record. Take Born To Run.
345
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:44,960
'The basis of the record was
the Brill Building, Phil Spector
346
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,240
'and urban popular music.
347
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:54,880
'When you went to
Darkness On The Edge Of Town, it
was a little more heartland, rural.'
348
00:29:54,880 --> 00:30:02,360
So I then began to say,
"How do I use the sax?" It's a very
urban instrument. How do I integrate
349
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:07,040
what Clarence is doing
into this context?
350
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:11,480
He had definite ideas about
certain solos and certain songs.
353
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:33,800
'He would direct me by telling me
a story, then he'd hum it.'
354
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:38,120
"Like this, Big Man."
355
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,920
"Badlands"
356
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:54,880
I remember we had mastered the
record with no sax solo on Badlands.
It was just a guitar solo.
357
00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,640
At the end of the record, we didn't
think we had enough saxophone.
358
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:06,960
We took the guitar out. It would
have been a terrible mistake.
359
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,480
Its presence is so strong
in the places where it appears,
360
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,280
it feels like the sax is on
much more of the record than it is.
361
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:18,720
O-oh-oh-oh...
362
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,760
Little darlin'...
363
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:24,600
Yeah...
364
00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:29,760
No matter what I do
Girl, you know it's true...
365
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:36,280
We recorded a lot of music.
Reels and reels and reels of tapes
and songs. It went on for days
366
00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:41,400
and days and days. Just recording
songs. He was very prolific,
like he exploded.
367
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:46,680
Born To Run, there were only like
nine songs. Eight made the album.
368
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:51,320
On Darkness, there were like 70
songs. That was a big difference.
369
00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:55,680
If you think about that,
somebody sculpting eight songs
370
00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,560
and then all of a sudden
the next album they write 70 songs.
371
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,800
Basically, the first good 10 songs
you write, that's your record.
372
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,840
This... That process would end.
373
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,720
Forever. And never came back.
374
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,720
He would write five songs to get one.
375
00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,560
There was a lot of multi-versions
of all kinds of things.
376
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:24,120
'We were always pulling things
apart. I had a big junkyard of stuff
as the year went by.'
377
00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:28,800
If something wasn't complete,
I pulled out the parts I liked.
378
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,040
Put them in the other car,
so that car runs!
379
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:37,320
End of the day
factory whistle cries...
381
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:30,520
Bruce, to this day, has notebooks
He's always diddling, always writing,
very aware of things around him.
382
00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:35,200
The magical notebook! An endless
stream of songs coming out of it.
383
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:39,920
What are you looking in this book
for? All it gives is more work!
384
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:59,440
After the sessions, Bruce would say,
"Let's go to the book. I've got more
songs. Let's go through them."
385
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:05,680
So we'd literally sit at the piano
and he'd open up a book
of...ideas, you know.
386
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:10,120
And he'd have...twenty-five ideas
in there.
387
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:14,120
Your mama's yappin'
in the back seat
388
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:18,000
Tell her to push over
and move them big feet
389
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:25,120
Every Monday morning
I got to take her down
to the unemployment agency
390
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:30,560
Tell her this morning
I ain't fighting...
If she don't shut up
391
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,360
Tell her I ain't fighting
Tell her I give up
392
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:40,000
Yeah, baby!
And it's the last time
her ass is gonna be ridin' with me
393
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:42,880
You know that's the truth, baby!
394
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:47,120
We've got a hot sun
beatin' on the blacktop
395
00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:51,200
She keeps talkin'
she'll be walkin' that last block
396
00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:56,520
She can take a taxi
back to the ghetto tonight
397
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:02,760
All right!
Cos I got some beer
and the highway's free
398
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:07,040
And I got you
and, baby, you got me
399
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:09,760
Hey, hey, hey...
400
00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,920
You know, you'd go,
"Hey, what a great song!
401
00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:19,800
"We're gonna use that, right?"
And then he'd go, "No, I don't know
if that's gonna make it."
402
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,720
'Ideas that I was interested
in concentrating on'
403
00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:30,320
would have been diluted
at that moment if I'd made more of
a miscellaneous grab bag of music,
404
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,360
no matter how entertaining it was.
405
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:40,320
"Independence Day"
406
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:53,160
You realised after a while
that the albums were made up of songs
that had an emotional thread.
407
00:35:53,160 --> 00:36:00,160
Not a collection of what the artist
would think was going to play well
on the radio.
408
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:02,120
oh-oh-oh-oh
409
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:05,520
I quit, little darling
410
00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:07,360
Yeah
411
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,040
No matter what I do
You know it's true...
412
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:15,280
Those songs wound up being cut later
on the River album.
413
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:21,760
We went back to those
and pulled some of those out
and some had to wait for Tracks.
414
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,360
It's really hard
to write a good song.
415
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:49,440
For him to write good songs, that
possibly could have been hit songs,
and not put them out, put them aside,
416
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:54,880
it took an enormous amount
of discipline and willpower
to do that.
417
00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:06,600
It's a bit tragic, in a way.
He would have been one of the great
pop song writers of all time.
418
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:12,400
Oh, every night I see a light
shine up in your window
419
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,360
Oh-oh-oh
420
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:19,560
Every night you won't answer
when I come knocking
421
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:21,800
At your door
422
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:26,040
And your daddy won't ever
let me in
423
00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:31,240
And I see from the street
your silhouette sittin' next to him
424
00:37:31,240 --> 00:37:33,320
What must I do
425
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:37,320
What does it take
to get to you
426
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,960
Oh, talk to me
427
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,840
Until it's all over...
428
00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:47,640
'Steve was... He had a great ear
and he still does.
429
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,520
'He loves the...
the classic sort of pop.
430
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:55,800
'A lot of things that ended up
on Tracks, an enormous amount,'
431
00:37:55,800 --> 00:38:00,040
The River outtakes and Darkness
were his favourite things.
432
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,920
And he was a big... It's the
three-minute pop single for Steve.
433
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:08,000
..little girl and talk to me
434
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:11,840
Until it's over...
435
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:13,880
Play the bridge.
436
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:21,400
I think part of what pop promised
and rock promised was
the never-ending now.
437
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:25,920
The always...
"No, no, no, it's about living NOW.
438
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,200
"You need to be alive RIGHT NOW."
439
00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,840
I just don't understand
what you say
440
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,720
What must I do
441
00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:39,480
What does it take
to get to you
442
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:41,760
What's all the fuss
443
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:45,960
Why can't you just, girl,
talk to me?
444
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:50,080
With those three minutes,
it was all on, you know.
445
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:57,520
It was... All of a sudden you were
lifted up into a higher place
of living and experiencing.
446
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:02,920
And there was this beautiful,
ever-present now.
447
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:06,920
Baby,
I've been working hard each day
448
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,360
Well, come on...
449
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:14,040
'He just can do anything.
He can write anything, for anybody.
450
00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:17,640
'And he just very much
took that for granted,'
451
00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:22,000
which is how a lot of our popular
stuff ended up not being released.
452
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:28,360
'I mean, one great example, which
I think would have fit on Darkness is
a song called Because The Night.'
453
00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:34,360
I was recording Patti Smith at the
time, as well as Bruce Springsteen.
I wanted to be a record producer.
454
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:38,280
So I started producing the record
in-between Bruce's stuff.
455
00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:43,280
Got toward the end and we were
at the hotel, me and Bruce,
and he said,
456
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,920
"Hey, man.
How you doing with Patti?"
457
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:52,640
I said, "I don't have the song
that'll make everybody listen
to the album."
458
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:59,120
He said, "You don't have
the single." I said, "That's right."
He said, "What are you gonna do?"
459
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,520
I knew I wasn't going to finish
the song because it was a love song.
460
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:09,760
And I really felt like I didn't know
how to write them at the time.
461
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:14,640
There were so many out there. I
figured I'd do something different.
462
00:40:14,640 --> 00:40:19,000
Also, a real love song like Because
The Night I was reticent to write.
463
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:23,400
I think I was too cowardly
to write it at the time.
464
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,440
But she was...she was very brave.
465
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,000
She had the courage.
466
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,920
I was in my apartment
467
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:37,760
and having a long-distance romance
with Fred "Sonic" Smith
who later became my husband.
468
00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:43,400
He was supposed to call me.
I waited for him to call me
for hours.
469
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,680
I thought,
"I'll listen to that darn song."
470
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:51,280
It was so accessible,
it had such an anthemic tone,
471
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:55,880
it was in my key and I kept
letting it loop and play.
472
00:40:55,880 --> 00:41:00,120
And I still tried to resist it,
but I filled in the blanks
473
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:05,720
and in the blanks it tells the story
of me waiting for Fred to call
and of my love for Fred.
474
00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:09,880
Have I doubt when I'm alone
475
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:13,520
Love is a ring, the telephone
476
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:17,760
Love is an angel
disguised as lust
477
00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:21,920
Here in my bed
until the morning comes...
478
00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:28,440
Fred did call
about three in the morning...
and I wasn't made at him, though,
479
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:36,000
because by the time he called
I had written my share of the lyrics
of my one and only hit song.
480
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,880
Can't touch us now...
481
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:45,120
The two biggest songs that were
written for the Darkness album
and recorded by us -
482
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:48,320
Fire and Because The Night -
483
00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,520
didn't make it onto the album.
484
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:58,320
One thing about Bruce is, I think,
if he thought something
was going to be a hit
485
00:41:58,320 --> 00:42:05,080
and he didn't want
to be represented by that hit,
he'd just leave them off the record.
486
00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:11,160
Bruce was going for something
and, like on Born To Run,
he had something in his head.
487
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:15,720
Until he got that thing
in his head on tape,
488
00:42:15,720 --> 00:42:19,720
he would just keep going
and going and going.
489
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:42,840
Everybody put in their two cents
about the music, the production,
490
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:50,360
maybe where something should be
or shouldn't be and a lot of times
Jon or Bruce or Steven huddled up.
491
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:06,000
There are a lot of people in
the control room - a producer, Jon
Landau, the artist who is a producer,
492
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,800
and Steve Van Zandt,
so I held back.
493
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:16,200
I'm looking at the piano fader
on the console and Steven's looking
at the guitar fader.
494
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:21,840
Everybody wants to lean over
the engineer and push themselves up
a little bit.
495
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:26,400
That made for, at times,
some pretty funny discussions.
496
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,360
Sometimes some pretty tense
discussions.
497
00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:32,680
Probably more tense than funny.
498
00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:09,960
Steve is generally,
"It's my way or it sucks!"
499
00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:14,680
You know? It's like, "Hey, man!
This is a major tragedy!
500
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:19,120
"Stop! We're wrapping
this whole thing up right now!"
501
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:23,200
'A transition was taking place
at that point
502
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:27,040
'and everybody would be finding
what role to play.
503
00:44:27,040 --> 00:44:30,520
'I was just doing
what a friend does.'
504
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,760
I'm just gonna give you my opinion,
you know?
505
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:38,400
And try to discover
what it is you want to do.
506
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:48,960
'The basis for our situation
in the studio was
507
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:51,640
'that Jon is a formalist,'
508
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:55,080
for the most part.
He's kind of a pop formalist.
509
00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:58,800
'It has all roots
in gospel and soul,'
510
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:03,840
but they were also well-performed,
well-sung, well-played records.
511
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:07,160
'Steve likes things
trashier and noisier.'
512
00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:10,840
He's the garage guy, you know.
513
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:17,800
And so I tend to like things
in the middle somewhere.
It was just two varying opinions.
514
00:45:17,800 --> 00:45:20,320
And I enjoyed them both.
515
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:25,760
I didn't want any one person
having too much control
516
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:30,800
over the direction
the music was taking. So...
517
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:35,480
I would yin/yang a little bit.
It was just the way I played it.
518
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:53,320
'A couple of different things came
together at a certain time to form
my approach towards the record.'
519
00:45:53,320 --> 00:45:56,840
The explosion of punk dawning
in '77,
520
00:45:56,840 --> 00:46:03,840
which actually I felt quite a bit
for. I felt some similarity
in spirit somewhere, you know?
521
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:18,560
'I started listening to country
music, which I hadn't really done
before that.
522
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:22,640
'For the first time, I really
connected with Hank Williams.'
523
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:28,760
What I liked about that was
that country music had tackled
the adult concerns.
524
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:35,840
One of the elements that was
so striking between Born To Run
and Darkness,
525
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:39,640
on Born To Run characters said,
"Baby, we were born to run."
526
00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:45,960
In the ensuing three years,
it was made painfully clear
that you can't just run away.
527
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:52,480
He was starting to have
some conversations with Jon Landau
that I think helped a great deal.
528
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:57,400
He kind of was drawn back
to a more solid time,
529
00:46:57,400 --> 00:47:04,680
that John Wayne character
in The Searchers. "I know who I am.
I know right from wrong."
530
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:09,680
That sort of clarity
that I think we all search for.
531
00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:17,640
Darkness On The Edge Of Town,
it's a meditation on where you're
going to stand.
532
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:20,080
With who and where will you stand?
533
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:26,120
Tonight I'll be on that hill
'cause I can't stop
534
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:31,080
I'll be on that hill
with everything that I've got
535
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:36,520
Lives on the line
where dreams are found and lost
536
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:41,840
I'll be there on time
ready to pay the cost
537
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:48,560
For wanting things
that can only be found...
538
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:52,360
That song builds
to that one big moment.
539
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,440
And I'll be on that hill
'Cause I can't stop
540
00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:59,120
I'll be on that hill
with everything I got...
541
00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:04,360
That was the only answer I had
at the time. Not forsaking
542
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,920
your own inner life force.
543
00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:13,360
You know, how do you hold on
to those things? How do you hold on?
How do we keep those things?
544
00:48:13,360 --> 00:48:19,400
How do we do justice and honour
to those things? That was
the question the record asked
545
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,080
over and over and over again.
546
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:26,720
Adam Raised A Cain -
how do we honour our parents?
547
00:48:26,720 --> 00:48:31,840
You know, Promised Land -
how do we honour the community?
548
00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:38,080
Factory - how do we honour
the life that, you know,
our brothers and sisters
549
00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:40,800
and parents live?
550
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:47,440
For some reason, that was something
that really mattered to me...
and it mattered to me a lot.
551
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:58,200
The whistle blows...
552
00:49:37,080 --> 00:49:38,920
Factory...
553
00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:44,160
That was just the paradox
of earning your living
554
00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:51,160
and getting life from a place
that also takes...
takes a lot out of you,
555
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:55,560
which is just something I saw
as a kid. My dad lost his hearing.
556
00:49:55,560 --> 00:50:02,040
As a child, I'd bring him his lunch.
He was working in the plastics
factory at the time.
557
00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:08,120
The machines were whirring and
whirring, huge machines, and he was
cutting big, long pieces of plastic.
558
00:50:08,120 --> 00:50:12,560
These days people would wear those
big headsets, but in those days, no.
559
00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:17,000
He didn't even see me for minutes
because the noise was so great.
560
00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:21,800
His back was to me
and I was saying, "Dad,"
561
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:28,240
but he couldn't hear me
because the machines were so loud.
He stopped and I walked around
562
00:50:28,240 --> 00:50:34,280
and I'd hold the lunch bag
and he'd nod his head and...
we walked out.
563
00:50:59,600 --> 00:51:05,600
I go back to most of my writing
before Greetings and it all appears
simply terrible to me.
564
00:51:05,600 --> 00:51:12,520
You're still writing a lot of bad
words. You know, you're writing
a lot of bad verses.
565
00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:19,320
So you're trying to learn
how to write well,
but your artistic instinct
566
00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:26,520
is all you... It's what you're
going on. Your artistic intelligence
hasn't been developed yet.
567
00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:31,200
'Hopefully, that increases and
develops over a long period of time
568
00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:36,440
'which gives you an ace to play
down the road as you get older.'
569
00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:40,920
At the time, I'm going
on artistic instinct and...
570
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:43,000
that's a wide open game.
571
00:51:43,000 --> 00:51:49,400
So I'm following all kinds of paths
and roads, going, "That doesn't feel
right. That doesn't feel right.
572
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:53,120
"That doesn't feel right."
That's how I'm judging.
573
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:59,600
"Lights out tonight
and you're all alone..."
I didn't save that one!
574
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:04,080
"Baby's on the street,
you're getting pushed around."
575
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:06,640
That was my opener for that one!
576
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:13,960
"Lights out tonight, trouble in the
heartland." There it is. Finally!
I don't know how many pages in.
577
00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:26,480
Racing In The Street, I'm sure
there's a million versions on that.
578
00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:32,240
There was one where there was
no girl. There was no girl in it.
579
00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:43,080
The continuance of the story of the
two guys in the first verse, I asked
two people what they thought.
580
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:46,560
I asked Obie Dziedzic,
one of our earliest fans.
581
00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:50,600
He said, "I love the one
with the girl in it."
582
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:55,520
And I asked Steve and Steve says,
"Oh, the one with the girl in it."
583
00:52:55,520 --> 00:53:00,160
I said, "Really?" I thought he was
going to go for the other one.
584
00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:04,600
He says, "Yeah, that's what happens
in life. Two guys are pals,
585
00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:08,240
"then the girl comes along
and that's it."
586
00:53:13,920 --> 00:53:18,920
When I inserted the relationship
in the last verse,
587
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:23,840
it made sense of the journey
that the guy is taking.
588
00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:31,640
You know, a lot of the songs
deal with my obsession
with the idea of sin
589
00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:37,600
and what is it? What is it in a good
life? Because it plays an important
place in a good life also.
590
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:42,400
How do you deal with it?
You don't get rid of it.
591
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:46,080
How do you carry your sins?
592
00:53:46,080 --> 00:53:49,920
That's what the people in Racing
In The Street are trying to do.
593
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:55,280
Tonight my baby and me
we're gonna ride to the sea
594
00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:59,480
And wash these sins off our hands
595
00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:03,480
Tonight, tonight
596
00:54:03,480 --> 00:54:06,120
The highway's bright
597
00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:10,680
Out of our way, mister,
you'd best keep
598
00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:17,160
The summer's here
and the time is right
599
00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:21,200
For racing in the street...
600
00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:28,120
'Life is no longer wide open.
Adult life is a life
of a lot of compromise.'
601
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:34,200
And...and that's necessary.
There's a lot of things
that you should be compromising on.
602
00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:40,720
And there's some essential things
where you don't want to compromise.
So figuring those things out.
603
00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:50,240
What's the part of life
where you need to compromise
to whatever - to pay your bills,
604
00:54:50,240 --> 00:54:55,960
to get along,
you know, to feed your kids,
to make your way through the world?
605
00:54:55,960 --> 00:55:02,760
What's the part where there's a part
of yourself you can't compromise
with or you lose yourself?
606
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:10,960
Sometimes you wondered if the end
was ever going to actually happen
607
00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:13,600
because you'd record 50 or 60 songs
608
00:55:13,600 --> 00:55:18,040
and I guess then Bruce would
collate all his thoughts
609
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:22,200
and try to decide
what the story was.
610
00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:26,040
When I did my running order
for that album,
611
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:31,480
I don't know if any of the songs that
wound up on the album were my picks.
612
00:55:31,480 --> 00:55:38,640
Nobody knew until the end, really,
how it was going to turn out.
I don't think Bruce or Jon did.
613
00:55:38,640 --> 00:55:44,640
This was the beginning of Bruce
being very meticulous
about the sequencing as well.
614
00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:47,040
He would have sequences made up.
615
00:55:47,040 --> 00:55:51,400
He would have four or five sequences
and he'd listen to them through.
616
00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:58,040
We always were concerned
with our cornerstones - the first
and last cut on both sides.
617
00:55:58,040 --> 00:56:00,960
So that was our narrative device.
618
00:56:00,960 --> 00:56:07,440
After the year of recording,
listening to all the stuff
that we had,
619
00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:12,840
I stripped the record down
to really its barest
and most austere elements.
620
00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:18,200
And I decided I wanted something
that felt like a tone poem.
621
00:56:18,200 --> 00:56:26,120
And I didn't want any distractions
from the narrative and the stories
that I was telling.
622
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:31,200
And also I wanted to have
a sort of apocalyptic grandeur.
623
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:36,600
In the darkness
on the edge of town
624
00:56:37,640 --> 00:56:45,400
In the darkness
on the e-e-edge of town...
625
00:56:48,520 --> 00:56:53,560
I think Born To Run and Darkness,
they're the beginnings of the story.
626
00:56:53,560 --> 00:57:00,520
I'm beginning to tell the story
that I tell for most
of the rest of my work life.
627
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:07,360
When we finally got to perform
on the Darkness On The Edge Of Town
tour after the record was finished,
628
00:57:07,360 --> 00:57:14,440
it was almost like a wave of relief
that we had been able
to withstand the pressure...
629
00:57:15,480 --> 00:57:20,160
..of not recording, of not
being able to do what Bruce wanted.
630
00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:24,240
It's amazing to me how he was able
to withstand it and never crack
631
00:57:24,240 --> 00:57:30,160
and never really show at all
how disturbing the whole thing
must have been.
632
00:57:30,160 --> 00:57:33,200
'I ain't got one regret
about...about...
633
00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:36,360
'you know, one second
of the past three years
634
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:38,640
'because I've learned a lot from it.
635
00:57:38,640 --> 00:57:42,040
'You can hear it on the record,
I hope.'
638
00:58:01,160 --> 00:58:05,840
The Darkness album and the Darkness
tour was such an important part
639
00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:09,080
of the Bruce Springsteen
and E Street Band story
640
00:58:09,080 --> 00:58:13,680
because, in my view, it really
seemed like the first time
641
00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:17,200
that it is possible
to do it your own way
642
00:58:17,200 --> 00:58:19,880
and there was a ferocity in the band
643
00:58:19,880 --> 00:58:25,880
when we finally went out
and started playing again
that perhaps wasn't there earlier.
644
00:58:26,960 --> 00:58:31,160
It was just an absolutely
"take no prisoners" approach.
645
00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:34,840
Mister, I ain't a boy
No, I'm a man
646
00:58:34,840 --> 00:58:38,440
And I believe in a promised land
647
00:58:38,440 --> 00:58:42,360
And I believe in a promised land
648
00:58:42,360 --> 00:58:46,080
And I believe
in a promised land...
649
00:58:46,080 --> 00:58:51,960
Every one of these albums is
a search for that vision of now.
650
00:58:51,960 --> 00:58:54,000
That's what ups the ante.
651
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:56,880
That's what makes
some of these records...
652
00:58:56,880 --> 00:59:00,800
What made them so difficult
was they weren't done
653
00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:04,160
until he had advanced his vision.
654
00:59:28,720 --> 00:59:32,760
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655
00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:35,800
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