Bruce Springsteen gave a moving eulogy for his blood brother – it is reprinted below…

This is a slightly revised version of the eulogy I delivered for Clarence at his memorial. I’d like to thank all our fans and friends who have comforted us over the past difficult weeks.FOR THE BIG MAN

I’ve been sitting here listening to everyone talk about Clarence and staring at that photo of the two of us right there.   It’s a picture of Scooter and The Big Man, people who we were sometimes.  As you can see in this particular photo, Clarence is admiring his muscles and I’m pretending to be nonchalant while leaning upon him.  I leaned on Clarence a lot; I made a career out of it in some ways.

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CLARENCE CLEMONS
January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011

“The saxophone was a conduit for his spirit… and that spirit was a colossus. Far beyond the boardwalks of Asbury Park, those big notes will keep echoing.”

—Tris McCall
The Star-Ledger

“Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and Continue reading →

“The River”, Bruce Springsteen says, “was sort of a gateway to a lot of my future writing. It was a record we made after Darkness On The Edge Of Town. It was a record made during a recession, hard times in the States. The title song is a song I wrote for my brother (in-law) and sister. My brother (in-law) was in the construction industry and lost his job and they had to struggle very hard back in the late ’70s like so many people are doing today. Continue reading →

This eulogy was delivered by Bruce Springsteen at Danny’s funeral on April 21 in Red Bank, New Jersey:

FAREWELL TO DANNY

Let me start with the stories.

Back in the days of miracles, the frontier days when “Mad Dog” Lopez and his temper struck fear into the band, small club owners, innocent civilians and all women, children and small animals.

Back in the days when you could still sign your life away on the hood of a parked car in New York City.

Back shortly after a young red-headed accordionist struck gold on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and he and his mama were sent to Switzerland to show them how it’s really done.

Back before beach bums were featured on the cover of Time magazine.

I’m talking about back when the E Street Band was a communist organization!  My pal, quiet, shy Dan Federici, was a one-man creator of some of the hairiest circumstances of our 40 year career… And that wasn’t easy to do.  He had “Mad Dog” Lopez to compete with… Danny just outlasted him.

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 January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008

Danny Federici, the E Street Band’s organist and keyboard player since its inception, died April 17, 2008 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after a three-year battle with melanoma.

“Danny and I worked together for 40 years–he was the Continue reading →

On June 2, 1978, after 11 prolific months in the recording studio, Bruce Springsteen released Darkness on the Edge of Town. During the sessions, he had struggled with the paradoxes of rock ‘n’ roll – the clash between joy and happiness and the inescapable sense of hardness and loneliness, until finally abandoning any attempt at reconciliation. As eventually released, Darkness portrayed, in Springsteen’s words, a “community under siege” and a battered people holding on to the faith of a promised land. Continue reading →