The singer Bruce Springsteen was desperate to sound like
Bruce Springsteen has found himself under the spotlight recently as his comments at a run of concerts in Manchester have led to Donald Trump, the President of the United States, calling him out. Springsteen commented about how little he respects the current president and believes his country is being ruled by someone deeply corrupt.
“In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, and has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years,” he said, “Is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”
Donald Trump hit back on his Truth Social platform. “I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” he wrote, “Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country.”
To the casual observer, this is the first time that Springsteen has had any kind of run-in with a politician; however, anyone remotely familiar with Springsteen’s work will know that politics has run throughout his work ever since he picked up a six-string. He initially wanted to make rock ‘n’ roll because of bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but it was Bob Dylan who inspired the kind of songs he wanted to write.
When you listen to tracks such as ‘Born In The USA’ and ‘Long Walk Home’, the passion that Bruce Springsteen has for his home country rings through clear as day. This is partly because of his powerful words, where Springsteen manages to make his message clear but equally poetic. The words are beautiful and poignant, delivering a stance that is also recognisable as a piece of art. Springsteen has always called Bob Dylan a huge inspiration when it came to helping him perfect his lyric-writing craft.
It’s not just Springsteen’s lyrics that help to deliver his message, though; it’s also his strong vocal ability. There is grit, passion and power in every single word that he delivers. The pain he feels in these songs resonates, and it means the message in the tracks lands with the listener even more so. Bruce Springsteen had a number of artists influence him when it came to his vocal tone, but there is one artist he was always aspiring to sound like: Roy Orbison.
When Bruce Springsteen gave a speech while inducting Orbison into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Springsteen made it clear that Orbison was the singer he was constantly aspiring to be. “In 1975, we went into the studio to make Born to Run,” he said, “I wanted to have words like Bob Dylan and sounded like Phil Spector, but most of all, I wanted to sing like Roy Orbison. And everybody knows, no one can sing like Roy Orbison.”
Bruce Springsteen is an individual thinker, writer and musician. However, even he would admit that each aspect of his sound was hugely influenced by some of the other artists that he grew up listening to.
