The Bruce Springsteen song about his childhood friend
Bruce Springsteen is well-known for spinning deeply personal tales across his roots rock catalogue. Whether it be America at its most fractured or introspective looks at his own relationships, he is consistently hailed as a brilliant lyricist because he can bend his inherently subjective writing to a point it’s entirely relatable to his listeners. He once advised: “You write about what you love, and you write about things you’re trying to make sense of,” and you can hear him grapple with both across every single album.
That versatility reared its head on 1984’s Born in the U.S.A., most famously on its much-misunderstood opening track, but more subtle on ‘Glory Days’, where Springsteen unravelled his own past friendships against a backdrop of bittersweet reminiscing. Much like Bob Dylan, the many characters that populated Springsteen’s songs were inspired by real people.
‘Glory Days’ was lifted from Springsteen’s life, based on an encounter he’d had with an old high school friend, a promising baseball player. Springsteen’s writing about him is evocative and specific: “I had a friend was a big baseball player / Back in high school / He could throw that speedball by you / Make you look like a fool boy / Saw him the other night at this roadside bar,” conjuring up pure Americana with the high school athlete’s aspirations.
‘Glory Days’, as well as being a heartfelt look at unfulfilled dreams and the people we leave behind, was also something of a mystery. Everyone wanted to know who the big baseball pitcher was, and thanks to the magic of Springsteen’s writing, he was tracked down by a curious New York Times reporter. As fans of the song well know, Springsteen had bumped into his old friend in a bar years after they’d drifted apart.
In 1973, they crossed paths outside a bar on the Jersey Shore and waxed lyrical about their time on the team and in class at St. Rose of Lima School. They stayed until close but didn’t see each other again for just over three decades. Joe DePugh inspired the song that came out of that chance meeting, a star Little League pitcher who called Springsteen “Saddie” on the field.
When ‘Glory Days’ was released, DePugh’s friends, remembering his pretty unforgettable anecdote about a night spent with Springsteen, told him about the song. He didn’t believe it but was intrigued enough to call a local radio station and request it. It was when his wife started sobbing that he knew it was about him.
He became something of a legend and was eventually recruited into a baseball league for older men when he was 50 years old. “When I showed up for the first practice that summer,” he recalled, “these guys would come up to me and feel the sleeve of my shirt and say: ‘Oh, you’re real. We thought you were a legend.'” He pitched for an entire season that year and ended up with a 0.00 earned run average.
