Today is the Boss’ birthday. And by ‘the boss’ I mean the ultimate boss, well – for some of us at least, Mr. Bruce Springsteen.
His music’s been a consistent motif throughout my life – I can’t let a week go by without hearing that gravelly voice and those powerful lyrics.
Like most millennial fans of his, I was brought up listening to Bruce but I soon took on the worship of my own accord - not just because my ears want to lap-up album after album but because, as he himself puts it, the best music gives you something to face the world with.
Never has this been more pronounced than when, 18 months ago, I was putting together my birthing playlist. There was no question it had to be Bruce for this major moment – a dose of life affirming Springsteen was just what the midwife ordered.
And so it was, the second the epidural was in, on he came! Over 4-hours of Bruce; kicking off with the soothing ‘Dream Baby, Dream’, concluding with - and accompanying my daughter’s earthside arrival - ‘10th Avenue Freeze Out.’ (The 20-minute live version, I needed every minute I could get!)
Bruce is worthy of both a well-curated birthing playlist and, I think, a Pause for Thought because this master storyteller sings and shouts human hopes and fears, troubles and triumphs like no other. While most artists write about Saturday night highs, Bruce takes on our Monday to Friday grind. But when he walks out on stage, he considers it his job, he says, to manifest a sense of transcendence for him and his audience.
Raised a Catholic, many of the Boss’ songs brim with Christian imagery, themes and language. Perhaps the most beautiful, and to return to that birth narrative of mine, are some lines from his song, ‘Living Proof’. Gazing at his tiny first-born son he tells of the sudden and redeeming realisation that at the heart of human existence lies meaning and purpose. “Like the missing words to some prayer that I could never make,” he writes, “In a world so hard and dirty so fouled and confused, Searching for a little bit of God's mercy, I found living proof.”
So happy 70th birthday to you Bruce! Thank you for starting that fire with a spark, for learning how to make your guitar talk and for leading me as I dance in the dark.