If you’re in the business of writing great rock songs, it doesn’t hurt to be

‘pissed off about something’. That’s according to Bruce Springsteen whose

new album Wrecking Ball illustrates the point. Taking its’ name from the few

tonnes of mongrel metal that brought down New Jerseys’ Giants Stadium,

Wrecking Ball ruminates on much that has gone sour with the American, and

more broadly, the Western, dream, in recent years.

What stoked the fire in Springsteen’s belly was the fall out of 2008’s

financial crisis; in particular the effect it had on individuals, the loss

of jobs and dignity, failure of the system to take responsibility for that

collapse and the formation of the Occupy movement.

“You tend to do your best work when there’s something you can really push

against,” explains Springsteen mid-afternoon in Paris. “People lost their

homes and nobody went to jail. There was really no accountability for years.

A basic theft had occurred that struck at what the American idea was about.”

Wrecking Ball sees Springsteen articulate on social and economic concerns

through a series of well-written vignettes, but the sonic backdrop is one

Springsteen fans haven’t heard before.

With new producer Ron Aniello at the helm, Springsteen uses a melting pot of

styles that frame his distinct voice amid everything from drum loops and

gospel singing to a female rap. He even dipped into the Alan Lomax folk

archives in search of sounds that would invoke previous depressions.

“I’ve used voices from history,” he admits, “and from other sides of the

grave I use folk music, civil war music, gospel music and even thirties’

horns on a song called ‘Jack of all Trades’: the idea was that the music was

going to contextualise historically that this has happened before in the

1930’s, the 1800’s, it’s cyclical, it’s happened over and over and over

again.”

The first single from the album, ‘We Take Care Of Our Own’, with its’ clear

nod to the New Orleans’ poor who were left stranded during Hurricane Katrina

meditates on failed governance but has faith in the power of the people.

Like his anthem Born In The USA, the political right has already

misinterpreted it,

“The song asks the question that the rest of the record tries to answer

which is, ‘Do we take care of our own?’ – and we often don’t,” the singer

explains. “I write carefully and precisely and, I believe, clearly. If

you’re missing it you’re not quite thinking hard enough. There is a

patriotism underneath all my music, but it’s a very critical, questioning,

often angry patriotism.”

Springsteen believes his work has “always been about judging the distance

between America reality and the American dream”. Before the pot shots are

fired, Springsteen admits he lives in a big house: but his working class

roots can’t be questioned and he’s a man that’s known to lend a hard.

Springsteen’s view of what America needs is shaped by his own early home

life:  in the past, as it does now, his relationship with his father informs

much of his work.

“I think politics come out of psychology. Psychology comes out of your

formative years. My experience growing up, from when I was born to 18: I was

in a house where my mother was the primary breadwinner and worked very hard

at it. My father struggled to find work – I saw that was deeply painful and

created a crisis of masculinity that was unrepairable at the end of the day.

Those conditions are present in the United States right now where you have a

service economy overtaking a manufacturing economy. A lot of guys who worked

in a manufacturing: their jobs are disappearing and they might not have the

skills to work in service economy. It’s a very different world – so you have

quite a few homes where the man is not the primary breadwinner and the loss

of work creates a loss of self.”

“Work creates an enormous self of self and I saw that in my mother: she was

an enormous, towering, figure to me into he best possible way. I picked up a

lot of things from her in the way that I work, she was my working example:

steadfast [and] relentless. I also picked up a lot of the failings of when

your father doesn’t have those things and that results in a house that turns

into a minefield and it’s abusive in different ways, there’s emotional

turmoil.”

“I sort of lost him and I think a lot of the anger in my music surfaces out

of that particular scene and, as I got older, I looked not at just the

psychological reasons in our house, but the social forces that played upon

our home that made life more difficult and that led me into a lot of the

writing I’ve done. I’m motivated circumstantially by the events of the day:

“that’s unfair, that’s theft, that’s against what we believe in that’s not

what America stands for”. The reasons to ask those questions comes out of

the house I grew up in. The country should strive for full employment; it

brings a sense of self and self-esteem and belonging.”

Chatting backstage at the Theatre Marigny Springsteen explained that opening

Wrecking Ball with ‘We Take Care Of Our Own’ was crucial to the writer’s

unique dialogue with his fans.

“If you look at my records, say The River, for example, it starts out with

‘The Ties That Bind’ and the rest of the record deals with that idea. If you

listen to Darkness On The Edge of Town the album starts with ‘Badlands’ and

the rest of the record deals with philosophical questions that come up in

‘Badlands’. Born to Run starts with ‘Thunder Road’ which is two people off

on a journey of some sort and the rest of the record tries to figure out

where they’re going. I do it very often in many of my records. Even Tunnel

Of Love starts out with that funny ‘Ain’t Got You’, but that’s the point.

The guy’s got this, he’s got that, but he ain’t got the girl. So I set the

record up with a big song that holds the record within it. And then I start

to piece, piece and piece [it together].”

The new songs are immediate: getting it right, however, wasn’t easy,

Springsteen called time on almost two, now-unreleased, solo albums before

striking a chord with Aniello who had been working with Bruce’s wife Patti

Scialfa. Also back on the production team is manager Jon Landau whose resume

includes Springsteen’s seminal 70’s and 80’s output right back to the MC5

and Jackson Browne.

“It’s not hard if it’s not right,” says Springsteen of the work that was

jettisoned in the wake of Wrecking Ball. “If it’s right, you don’t have to

say it. But, if you play it and you think ‘if I put it out it’s going to

confuse the conversation I’m having with my fans’: then I don’t put it out.

I don’t mind if it’s good and fully realised and it’s slightly confusing…

that’s all right, but if it’s not fully realised and confusing, it’s simply

not done. And if it’s not done you don’t wanna put it out.”

Unlike in days gone by, Springsteen likes to work at a clip and his best new

work carries a sense of something that feels direct and immediate.

“I’m not obsessive anymore – it’s lessened over the years. You wanna get the

music down. I want to get the essence of what I do and let it roll. The

record has to build and expand emotionally and people still have to have a

good time listening to it.

A highlight on the album is ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’, which features the

last saxophone solo from Springsteen’s faithful friend and on-stage foil,

the late Clarence Clemons. Springsteen met Clemons when he was ‘a kid of

22’.

“When he comes up on ‘Land Of Hope and Dreams’ it’s a lovely moment for me.

My relationship with him fired my imagination and my own dreams. It made me

want to write for those sax sounds. Losing him is like losing rain or air –

it’s elemental. When we go on tour we’ll taking a horn section that includes

Jake [Clemon’s nephew]. It’ll take a village of men to replace the Big Man!”

Springsteen has a soft spot for Australia. He loves the feel of the

countryside and the people. He still scratches his head that a cricket match

can last five days [‘That’s a wild one, man’]. But, with long legs already

planned for the E-Street band to tour the UK, Europe and America, he has no

immediate plans to tour.

“It’s such a damn long way away. We do get down there from time to time. I

hope to get down there again: the last time all the power went out

[referring to multiple failures in Sydney]. I hope there are generators down

there [next time]. I hope the electricity is right! [laughs]. I’d love to

come back.”

Bruce Springsteen’s new album Wrecking Ball is out on March 09 2012 through Sony.

Sean Sennett