“One of the best”: The “national treasure” Bruce Springsteen views as an all-time great
f they handed out Master’s degrees for songwriting accomplishments, then Bruce Springsteen would be one of the first in line to be honoured.
It’s a subject that few are more equipped to make judgments on than him, which he’s also helped redefine over the last 50 years. While the times have changed since he shared ‘Born to Run’ in 1975, he’s continued to be a reassuring presence through hell or high water.
No matter the weather, Springsteen has relentlessly worn his heart on his sleeve, challenged authority, creating a catalogue of songs that will comfortably outlive both you and me.
While he’s sadly no longer with us, all of those words in the paragraphs above are also applicable to the great John Prine. Although he was musically different from Springsteen, heart and soul were the ingredients that made both greats.
Similarly, like any other singer-songwriter attempting to establish themselves in the 1970s, they were tarred with the brush of being compared to Bob Dylan. It’s an impossible mantle to live up to, as Dylan remains a one-off and a breed that we’ll never see again. Similarly, Springsteen and Prine can also never be imitated.
Tragically, Prine was an early victim of Covid-19 in 2020, which took his life aged 73. He’s rightly remembered as a voice of heartland America, a creative who offered up a distinctive perspective on issues ranging from big issue topics like geopolitical events to day-to-day life and the relationships that define us all. While he may not have acquired the commercial success of Springsteen or Dylan, Prine was a true songwriter’s songwriter, whose peers consider him to be one of the best ever to do it.
Prine’s passing profoundly impacted Springsteen, as well as the wider musical community. Upon hearing the heartbreaking news, ‘The Boss’ took to social media to share his condolences, mournfully writing: “John and I were ‘New Dylans’ together in the early 70s, and he was never anything but the loveliest guy in the world. A true national treasure and a songwriter for the ages.”
A few days later, Springsteen dedicated a portion of his radio programme on Sirius XM to speaking about the painful loss of his friend. “John Prine was a sweet and lovely man, and I was proud to count him as my friend,” the New Jersey native started the tribute by stating.
Springsteen continued: “He wrote music of towering compassion with an almost unheard of precision and creativity when it came to observing the fine details of ordinary lives. He was a writer of great humour, funny, with wry sensitivity. It has marked him as a complete original.”
Due to the sudden nature of Prine’s death, Springsteen didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to his friend, which fuelled the pain in his voice during the devastating broadcast. “His death just makes me angry. He was simply one of the best we had, and we will miss him,” Springsteen told listeners before playing Prine’s classic track ‘Angel From Montgomery’.
While they were close associates who shared a similar view on not just the music industry but life as a whole, they only collaborated on two occasions.
The first instance occurred in 1988 when Springsteen joined Prine on stage in Tarrytown, New York, to share vocal duties on ‘Paradise’. The duo then headed to the recording studio three years later to create ‘Take A Look At My Heart’ with Springsteen providing backing vocals on the track.
More than half a decade on from Prine’s passing, it does unjustly feel like his work still doesn’t get the respect that it duly deserves. However, one person who never lost sleep about the opinions of others was Prine, who prioritised artistic purity over commercial success, which he viewed as a bonus rather than a goal.
