Credit: Far Out / Bruce Springsteen

The songwriter Bruce Springsteen crowned as “essential” to America

Mon 18 May 2026 4:00, UK

At the start of his career, and even to this day to some extent, Bruce Springsteen has struggled to escape being compared to Bob Dylan, and there are plenty of good reasons as to why the two seem so inextricably linked in some people’s minds.

Both are natural storytellers, painting vivid landscapes with their lyricism, and often touching upon similar themes in their songs that unfold in the most majestic ways. Of course, they’re not alone at the top when it comes to those who have been able to use the pen as a weapon as much as their instrument, but they’re two of the finest that the US has produced.

In addition to their writing abilities, both are also known for being prominent voices for social change, supporting the little guy in his battle against the evil Goliaths of the world and advocating for something to be done about injustices, whether on home soil or on a global level. Again, they’re not the only two people in the world to have combined socially-conscious political beliefs with their music, but in terms of people who have been able to find the right balance when it comes to employing this, they’re once again up there with the best.

What’s more, both artists like to keep their songs simple so that the message comes across with the utmost clarity, and neither of them are exactly the most proficient vocalists, which adds an extra layer of rawness and charm to their delivery.

Given all of these similarities, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to find that Springsteen is a big fan of Dylan, and modelled himself on the songwriter a significant amount in his early years, using his admiration of the Minnesotan alongside a teenage desire to emulate Elvis Presley as the two most prominent guiding lights of his career.

Although critics of Springsteen who thought that the similarities were too close noted that he eventually developed his own sound after a couple of albums and stopped aping his idol, that infatuation didn’t really stop at any point.

Dylan will always be the most important songwriter in Springsteen’s eyes and ears, and he firmly believes that the rest of America ought to feel the same way about his work, holding it up with a degree of reverence that only the true greats are deserving of.

Shortly after Dylan had become the first musician to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, Springsteen posted an excerpt from his autobiography, Born to Run, to his official website, in order to celebrate the achievement. “Bob pointed true north and served as a beacon to assist you in making your way through the new wilderness America had become,” the quotation read.

“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.”

There’s probably a case to be made for Dylan being the best American songwriter to have ever lived, and while fans of Springsteen might contest this assertion, you know full well that Springsteen would have no qualms about coming behind the man he considers more important than any other.