After weeks of negotiations, Rock Town Hall has obtained exclusive rights to run excerpts from E-Street Band legend Clarence Clemons‘ forthcoming autobiography, No Small Parts for The Big Man. In our first installment Clarence recounts the day The Boss presented him with a new assignment.
By The River Danny was already getting half of my “touches” with that rinky-dink Farfisa organ. Some folks couldn’t leave that wheezy thing back in the garage. The garage rock contingency in the E-Street Band was always trying to make itself heard above he more complex, subtle members of the band, like Roy and Max. God bless ’em! I always saw myself as the bridge among the musicians, and it goes without saying that all roads led to The Boss himself. Now I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I was all-state footballer long before anyone outside Norfolk County, Virginia had heard me blow my horn. The Big Man was a lineman, so “touches,” that is, opportunities to carry and catch the football, were not in my repertoire. I was in the trenches, making the quarterback and all the other pretty boys look good. These may not have been my glory days, but The Big Man could play. Attended Maryland State College (now the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore) on an football athletic scholarship. Thought I was headed for the show, the National Football League.
As it was, the Man with the Plan had another show in mind. My parents gave me the gift of my first saxophone, but the Lord gave me the breath to blow down any walls set in my way. With the spiritual guidance of our Maker and as many King Curtis records as I could lay my hands on, I was prepared for that first time The Boss called for “Big Man!” to step forward and take it home with a solo.
Bruce called us together for the first rehearsals toward an album he said would take us in a new direction. “My Daddy said to me the other morning at breakfast, ‘Bruce, when you gonna grow up and play some real music?’ I said, ‘Pops, whaddaya talkin’ about? I been playin’ real music…” Well, you know how Bruce can get on a roll about his breakfast chats with his dad. Long story short, according to him the old man sold him on the idea of streamlining his sound and putting out an album that would once and for all move beyond his comfort zone of middle class kids from the Northeast corridor. Sounded good to me.
Bruce began by walking us through a new song called “Born in the USA”. Continue reading »
