Bruce Springsteen "Badlands"

I heard about Clarence Clemons' passing on Saturday, and thought, instead of posting on Sunday, I'd take a day and think about what I really wanted to say about him.

It was pretty amazing to check my newsfeed on Facebook and see the various friends and mvyradio listeners who felt the need to post the sad news. There were friends who I know are big Springsteen fans, but there were also lots of folks who's love of the E Street Band was previously unknown to me. It was impressive to see the musical lives that The Big Man had touched.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I got around to watching "The Promise," a documentary about the making of Springsteen's 1978 record "Darkness On The Edge Of Town." Springsteen kept talking about how he wanted to make the record more "stripped down" and "leaner and meaner." And that meant fewer instruments, fewer solos. Less Clarence.

But here's the funny thing, and Springsteen is the one to point this out.

With "Badlands" as (lyrically) the clearest statement of purpose in that record, the saxophone solo that Clemons nailed is so strong, is so present, is so important to the album, that when you've listened to "Darkness" from beginning to end, it feels like Clemons is all over the record, even though he's not.

It reminds me of the movie "A Few Good Men." You think of that as a movie starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, but in reality, Nicholson is only in the movie for 4 scenes. Yet his performance is so powerful, and so integral to the film, that he won an Academy Award.

Clemons didn't play on every Springsteen song. He didn't need to. You hear his instrument, his voice, in your head when you think of "Bruce Springsteen."

They called him The Big Man, and this is why.


A live version

See the video on Youtube.

The album version

See the video on Youtube.