DJ 2020-04-08 SiriusXM Studio, New York City, NY

Part 1

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Hello, E Street Nation, this is Bruce Springsteen coming from my house to yours with Music for troubled times. Over the next hour or so I will be your DJ and I will try to brighten your day just a little bit.

Opening up was Lynn Taitt & the Baba Brooks Band doing their version of Duane Eddie's '40 Miles of Bad Road'.

To start our show we will have to turn in, tune in, drop Out with me by Cracker.

I think the hardest thing about what we are going through right now is not being able to see, hug, kiss your loved ones. My children are all off in their own homes, and claim they don't want to come and visit, in order not to kill us. So … it's hard to argue against. But this is a song about being away from the people that you love, and living through it.

The only thing that I'm really sure of is that after all this is over, the world isn't going to be quite the same. I think we're all going to be suffering some post-traumatic stress, and people are going to take a while before they trust one other again, before they can come close, before they can gather at events that have been so wonderful parts of the celebration of being human and being together.

This is one of my alltime favorites Don Henly 'End Of The Innocence'.

Well all I can say is it's lonely down here on the farm. I got my baby with me and we're doing great. Patti and I have a new rhythm to our day. But it's tough not seeing the people you care about. So this one goes out to all the folks we love: Evan, Jess, Sam, Mom. I miss you.

Title of this song says its all … 'it's bad you know' R.L. Burnside.

These days, sometimes you can feel like you're looking out over the edge of the apocalypse. So here's my good friend, Bob Dylan, singing 'Beyond Here Lies Nothin.'

I think the strangest thing is how the world suddenly feels so unsafe. A walk. Going to the grocery store. A drive and then a walk along the beach, which is now closed. All you know is, that feeling of safety that you once had has been stripped away. So I'm gonna take the opportunity to play one of mine … 'Cover Me'.

Alright I'm gonna do one of a neigbour of mine now for a little inspiration, he's back back down here in Jersey for a while, and I'm gonna let Jon bon Jovi help us 'Livin' on a Prayer'.

I think everybody's wakin' up these days with that feeling that it's Groundhog Day. Every day is like the other day. And that's like the other day. And that's like the other day. I get up. I exercise. I exercise some more. I go downstairs. I eat breakfast. I eat breakfast again. Then I sit in front of the fire and I read a little bit. If we're lucky, we get outside, get around the farm a little bit, Patti and I. And then we get to have dinner. And then we have some more dinner. And then we watch the news. It's all bad. And we go to bed. And then we get up and we do it again. Looking for a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Well here's a song called 'Everyday is like Sunday', it's by Morrissey

Of the folks who are suffering the worst are the folks who have no safety net, nothing to soften the blow of the incredible unemployment that's sweeping the nation out there, folks who live week to week, and just one week out of work, simply is enough to change and kick the bottom out of your life.

I wanna play you something by the great gospelsinger Marion Williams called 'Trouble So Hard,' followed by 'Letter to the Free' from Common.

I think one of the strange side effects of what we're going through is that there is an element of the spiritual that you have to call on to make it through these days, whether it's prayer, or whether it's just praying together. I'm not sure, but I know that when these days end, and they will end, there will be a religious celebration, a spiritual celebration.

So this is by Sarah Jarosz a great version of Bob Dylan's 'Ring Them Bells'.

There is that cliché that says women like to talk, and men don't like to talk. But all I can say is that in our house, we're talkin'. We're doin' some talkin'! And this a beautiful song, by my lovely wife Patti Scialfa, called 'Talk to Me Like the Rain'.

Well this song's title says it all, it's by Huey "Piano" Smith: 'Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu.'

This is a song by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. It's called 'Better Times Are Coming,' and I believe that deeply down in my soul. I believe that some of the love that has grown, the togetherness that has grown when you see people come out on their balconies and applaud all of the health workers who are putting themselves on the line day after day after day. Their courage and their bravery is truly something I have never seen before. So, I'm gonna send this one out to them. It's called 'Better Times are Coming.'

This is a song that's been sung whenever people are going through hard times for a long long time. I believe its origin was in the union movement, and then of course it became an icon of the civil rights movement in the '60s. Pete Seeger had a hand in popularizing it and writing it, and we've taken our shot at it, too. So this The Sessions Band with 'We Shall Overcome'.

Are you alright? Are you alright out there? Are you social distancing? Are you washing your hands? are you staying in your home with your loved ones. I think that's the question of the year: 'Are you alright?' This is Lucinda Williams.

And if your not at home with your loved ones, if you're there by yourself, that ain't so bad! I spent 35 years by myself in a room … and I liked it! My son's doing that now. Both of them. And they sound pretty happy. They're not in any rush to come home, you know … What do you miss? Everybody misses something. What do you really miss? I miss going to Max's and the Windmill and getting a hot dog. I miss walking along the promenades, the beach and boardwalk in Asbury Park. I miss sitting at the bar, having some beers and drinking with some friends. And I miss baseball. Baseball. I'm not much of a sports sports fanatic at all, but I do like baseball. And this is for all the things we miss. All the things that make us, us. And all I know is, when this is all over, I'm going to take Patti to a baseball game. This is called '3rd Base, Dodger Stadium.'

That was Ry Cooder. Over here on E Street, we're devastated by the death of John Prine. Not only was he one of our country's greatest songwriters, a real national treasure, but he was a sweet and a lovely man, and I was proud to count him as my friend. He wrote music of towering compassion, with an almost unheard of precision and creativity when it came to observing the fine details of ordinary lives. He was a writer of great humor … funny with a wry sensitivity that … it just marked him as a complete original. And his death just makes me angry. He was simply one of the best we had, and we will miss him. This is 'Angel from Montgomery.'

So I wanna thank you for spending this time with me. I hope I've helped lighten your day and your burden, just a little bit. But of course we can't go without thinking of all of the deceased, and the loved ones that they've left behind in such pain. This is a song that I believe speaks to that pain. It's one of the loveliest gospel songs I've every heard. So let me say, until next time. This is 'Last Mile of the Way,' by Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers.

By Bruce Springsteen via E Street Radio.
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