2020-05-20 SiriusXM Studio, New York City, NY

Scheduled: 10:00 Local Start Time 10:04 / End Time 11:41

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'From His Home To Yours… Part 4' on Sirius XM's E Street Radio. Bruce pays tribute to the late Little Richard. Funny quote: "When the show is over, I might take a few naked selfies…." Bruce also makes a political statement: ""Now, the protesters that we've seen in our state capitals, pushing to get the country to open up or cut back on some of the mitigation, concerned me, you know? I worry for them, first of all. 'Cause up to this point, that mitigation has been our only defense against this deadly virus. I know folks need to get back to work, they need to get their bills paid, they need to feed their families, but the country should be opened in a cautious, safe, and responsible manner. Not carelessly, in a gesture that will cost tens of thousands of lives, prodded on by a president going against his own government mandate, and advising citizens to liberate Michigan, liberate Virginia. Frankly, that is the wrong language, right now, and it pissed me off. It's just weak and irresponsible. It's the gesture of a man willing to roll the dice, put the lives of those who put him into office, and their children, and their elderly/friends and families at risk, for perhaps nothing more than an election year ploy. It's cowardly!" Bruce also hinted towards the future: "I'm counting my days and my friends. I have things to do that involve me and you. Well I am ready and I hope you are too."

E Street Radio

Bruce Springsteen

Part 4

Hello E Street Nation and all friends, fans and listeners, from coast to coast. This is Bruce Springsteen, coming from my home to yours, with music for trouble times. Let's start the day by allowing me to introduce to you Little Richard.

That is the purest rock 'n' roll voice of all time, and it belongs to the Georgia Peach, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Little Richard, who we lost in early May. He was one of the founding fathers of rock 'n' roll and its preeminent vocal genius. And there he profoundly explained, in my opinion, why and how he does what he does. Now Richard came out of Macon, Ga., to take the nation, the world and your body and soul by storm. His art was filled with absurdity, dead seriousness, great humor, and sex, sex, sex. He is one of a handful of men who changed the face of world culture. He crossed racial boundaries. He challenged gender norms, and he had the time of his life. Here once again is the High Priest of Rock 'n' Roll. A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, a-lop-bam-boom! Rest in peace, Richard.

Little Richard, and 'Get Down With It.' If you've got on a wig, take it off! Listen to the man. All right. This is Stevie. He's gonna take us out of the darkness.

Times like these are testing. They reveal character. They can bring out your generousness or your selfishness, you kindness or your cruelty, your love or your fear. Just take a look at our man at the top. Hard times do that.

So I take a daily drive, because driving has always relaxed me, and it gets me out of Patti's hair for a while. I drive all my old routes, through all my old towns, day after day. I see old shops shuttered, what folks there are on the street, in masks. My favorite hangouts closed. Take-out only, God bless 'em. And I drive out to Manasquan Inlet, my old man's stomping grounds, to sit and watch the boats for a while. But they've closed all the parking places, and the boardwalk's closed, so I find a side street. And I sit, roll down the window and feel the ocean breeze and read the newspaper for a while.

Thirty million workers joined the jobless ranks over the last two months. That is frightening and heartbreaking. A day doesn't go by when I don't thank my lucky stars, when I don't know how profoundly fortunate I am.

So after an hour, I fold my newspaper, I start the car and I head home. And on my way on 79, I pass the ShopRite that I opened with The Castiles during its Midnight Madness opening in 1965. We played out in front of the supermarket. And it was the only time during this day that I saw a parking lot filled with cars, and it almost brought me to tears.

I've been thinking. Dating: how's that going, all you singles out there? How is love in the time of corona? I am old and I simply can't imagine it. I mean, it's got to be happening. But how? I mean, is testing going on? I guess there's virtual dating. Why wouldn't there be? I don't know how satisfying that can be. No physical contact. Yikes! There's no sex, I would imagine. I guess there's also sexting and naked selfies. They say naked selfies is the new seduction. I read an article that said this is the golden age of naked selfies. Hell, I may take a few myself when this show is over. Why not? Desperate times call for desperate measures.

That was 'Kiss Me Only With Your Eyes,' followed by the ultra-fantastic masterpiece 'Andrew in Drag,' by Stephin Merritt. Stephen Merritt is an American singer-songwriter and the driving force behind Magnetic Fields and Future Bible Heroes. If you do not have in your record collection 69 Love Songs, I suggest you purchase it pronto, and get ready for one of the most enjoyable evenings of your live. 'Andrew in Drag' is from an album called Love at the Bottom of the Sea, and is certainly alone worth the price of admission. Stephin is one of our best American composers and songwriters, and if you haven't gotten into his music, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

This is Australian Courtney Barnett, with 'Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go to the Party,' featuring the timeless line, 'I wanna go out but I wanna stay home.' Perfect for the times, and my individual life story.

That is Tom Waits with a perfect theme song for our times, featuring its immortal line, 'I have no use for the truth.' What else need be said?

All right. Coming up, the Aqua Velvets, terrific surf band out of San Francisco, with a song about a town on the northern coast of Maui.

Well, here's a good one. I saw the 'The Blue Angel,' the great German film from 1930. It's starring Marlene Dietrich, and it's directed by Josef von Sternberg. Well, this is Marlene, singing 'Das Lied Ist Aus.'

That was Bob Dylan, with a beautiful version of 'Some Enchanted Evening.' I don't know how many followed Bob in his deep journey into the Great American Songbook, but not only is his choice of material wonderful and enlightening, but he showed himself to be a superlative interpretive singer. It's a trip well, well worth taking, and that cut was from an album called Shadows in the Night.

This is Craig Finn, with the beautiful 'Tangletown.' He is best known as frontman for The Hold Steady, who are coming up shortly. But first, this lovely character study.

When this is over, and I do have faith that it's gonna be over, I want to do the simple things again … get an ice cream cone at the Jersey Freeze. Be able to walk inside, step up to the counter and say, 'soft vanilla, dipped in chocolate, please.' I wanna get a pizza with my pal, the ex-mayor of Freehold, and all my old friends, down at Federici's. I wanna take in the boardwalk on a quiet weekday night in Point Pleasant, lose all my money at the wheels of chance. Hang at the beach till around 5:30 or 6, when the evening cool just begins to drift in, and that sun is low and warm on your skin. That is my favorite time of the day. Then I may head into Red Bank and stop at Jack's record store — stay strong, Jack, we're lucky to have a record store in Red Bank, that's for sure — and maybe find a place to sit outside and have a drink, just surrounded by folks without a worry, just going about their business. Never has the mundane seemed so … attractive. Yep, when this is over, I just want to take a walk downtown.

That was the premier Texas songwriter and rocker Joe Ely, a good friend of mine. I had one memorable evening, a dinner with Joe and Shane MacGowan of The Pogues, in Dublin, that was unforgettable. Now Shane's voice is nearly undecipherable in a loud restaurant, but I was such an admirer, and I love him, and I happy just to sit across from him. And all I know is with the exception of Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry — I'm not sure about the rest of us — but I know we'll be singing Shane MacGowan songs 100 years from now.

Man, that's beautiful. That'll always be timeless.

Now, the toughest thing about lockdown is the feeling of not knowing what the future holds, the feeling of your whole life being placed on hold. Time seeming to move quickly but slowly. Now empty and unused time, I don't care for, especially at 70. I'm counting my days and, my friends, I've got things to do that involve me and you. My son's 25 and he worried about the time it's taking out of his life. But I feel like Muhammad Ali, who was at his prime — I'm in my late prime — but who was at his prime, and the years that he could have spent boxing were taken away from him. So I try to heed my deceased Aunt Eda's advice. She always said, 'Just live every day live as if you're gonna live forever.' I like that: 'Live every day as if you're gonna live forever.' I think she meant, 'Greet each day on its own terms, as an opportunity for life's possibilities. Breathe it in, let the world open up before you, and prepare yourself to accept it in its entirety, on its own terms, with a vengeance.' Well, I'm ready, and I hope you are, too. But right now, the waiting is the hardest part.

All right. You feel stuck between stations? I do.

Coming up is a beautiful devotional, written by Dion. It's called 'Hymn to Him.' Patti and I were lucky enough to work on it with him, and it's a lovely prayer.

In song, film and poetry, the train has become the symbol of a mystical vessel, ferrying us through the earthly and spiritual realm of American, from one station to another.

Now the protesters that we've seen in some of our state capitols, pushing to get the country to open up and cut back on some of the mitigation, concern me. I worry for them, first of all. Because up to this point, that mitigation's been our only defense against the deadly virus. I know folks need to get back to work, they need to get their bills paid, they need to feed their families. But the country should reopen in a cautious, safe and responsible manner, not carelessly, in a gesture that will cost tens of thousands of lives, prodded on by a president who went against his own government mandate in advising citizens to 'liberate Michigan' and 'liberate Virginia.' And frankly, that is the wrong language right now, and it pissed me off. It's just weak and irresponsible. It was the gesture of a man willing to roll the dice with the lives of those who put him into office, and their children, and their elderly friends and families at risk, for perhaps nothing more than an election-year ploy. It's cowardly.

So I will leave you, now, with a prayer for the deceased, and for their loved ones, and for you. This is 'Ave verum corpus,' by Mozart, followed by Antony and the Johnson's glorious "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." Until we meet again, God bless, stay strong, stay safe, and peace be with you.

^{By Bruce Springsteen via E Street Radio.}

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