“We weren’t trying to knock anybody”: The Bob Dylan song that broke Bruce Springsteen’s heart
For Bruce Springsteen, hearing Bob Dylan for the first time felt like a flicked switch. Like day and night, you might say. Or, the difference between constantly hearing the same sounds over and over, before someone finally comes along and says, “Hey, ready for something real?”
The moment Springsteen first listened to Dylan, truly, properly listened, he could barely believe it. Most people remember how much Dylan changed their perspectives on art, but Springsteen hadn’t really known what he was looking for at the time. Instead, he was merely idly ambling along listening to whatever was on the charts, before Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ coloured his soul something beautiful. Or, as he later put it, “[It] floods your soul, floods your mind.”
Springsteen’s love for Dylan is no secret, but what perhaps most fail to remember is that the singer wasn’t just someone he could refer to, he was also someone he could never be able to imitate, no matter how much he tried to. At the same time, though, it didn’t matter. In fact, Springsteen even enjoyed the challenge. It was the kind that said, “You’ll never be like this, but you’ll have so much fun trying.” With a wink and a knowing smile.
“Bob pointed true north and served as a beacon to assist you in making your way through the new wilderness America had become,” Springsteen wrote in his autobiography. Adding: “He planted a flag, wrote the songs, sang the words that were essential to the times, to the emotional and spiritual survival of so many young Americans at that moment.” Even now, Springsteen remains a figure of defiance, no doubt still channelling those valuable lessons taught by Dylan way back when.
It makes sense, therefore, that when Dylan seemingly hit out at Springsteen for a Traveling Wilburys song, people felt it was a particularly low blow. After all, anyone who has ever appreciated someone else’s art or sought mentorship from another person will likely understand the disappointment and sadness that comes when they fail to reflect the same level of respect and admiration. And, for Springsteen, hearing ‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man’ probably prickled his skin, leaving him wondering why his hero could look at him with such disdain.
The reason why people suspected Dylan was trying to make a mockery of the singer wasn’t anything all that explicit, per se. Rather, the song included several references to Springsteen song titles, which made it seem like Dylan was using some sort of reference point to pick apart artists who thought they had something meaningful to say when it was all just surface-layer pretence. This isn’t such a reach for Dylan, either, considering how cutting he can be when pushed to be honest.
Perhaps that’s why, when Tom Petty decided to speak up, Springsteen could finally slump his shoulders and let out the breath he’d been holding in. “It started with Bob Dylan saying, ‘I want to write a song about a guy named Tweeter. And it needs somebody else,'” he told Rolling Stone, explaining that Dylan floated the idea of using “references to Bruce Springsteen titles” as a means of “praise”. He also clarified that they “weren’t trying to knock anybody, and there’s not much of it in there anyway.” Phew.
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