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Bien que plus fréquentes que par le passé, les occasions d'entendre Bruce Springsteen s'exprimer officiellement sur son travail sont rares. Dans l'émission Storytellers de la chaine du cable américaine VH1, le chanteur explique longuement, ligne à ligne, plusieurs chansons pendant qu'il les chante. Malheureusement pour le public international, l'émission n'a pas proposé de sous-titres (au moins en anglais) afin que chacun puisse comprendre ce que dit Bruce Springsteen. Voici donc ces sous-titres (dont la retranscription est encore incomplète par endroits... mais nous y travaillons), ainsi qu'une traduction en français. Si vous y trouvez des erreurs, n'hésitez pas à m'en faire part en m'écrivant à hugues@tenth-avenue.com.
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Ce soir je vais chanter quelques chansons et essayer e vous donner une idée de là d'où elles viennent. C'est une proposition assez incertaine car parler de musique est comme parler de sexe. Peut-on le décrire , est-on supposé le faire ? Bon, on verra bien, je suppose. Bienvenue à Storytellers. Devils & Dust (Démons et Poussière) suggère la confusion, en quelque sorte. Je crois que je l'ai écrit vers la fin de la dernière tournée, peu après que nous ayons envahi l'Iraq, une histoire qui parle d'être placé dans une situation où vos choix sont insoutenables et le prix de ce conflit se compte en sang et en âme. OK. Bon. Allons-y. je vais vous le faire ligne à ligne. "J'ai mon doigt sur la gachette". J'ai le pouvoir de vie et de mort là [il montre son index]. "Mais je ne sais pas à qui faire confiance". J'ai le pouvoir de vie et de mort là [il montre son index] mais je ne sais pas à qui faire confiance. dabs ces deux premiers vers, c'est là que l'aspect personnel et l'aspect politique de la chanson se rejoignent, d'une certaine façon. Je parle de lui, je parle de nous, beaucoup de ce que vous devez savoir à propos du reste de la chanson figure dans ces deux premiers vers, et s'est déroulé au cours des dernières années, "J'ai mon doigt sur la gachette mais je ne sais pas à qui faire confiance. Quand je te regarde dans les yeux, je ne vois que démons et poussière." Donc je te regarde, je ne sais pas si je te vois, je ne sais pas si je me vois moi-même, je ne sais pas si je vois mes peurs, je ne sais pas si je vois mes plus grands idéaux, pour lesquels j'ai promis de sacrifier ma vie, et je ne sais pas si je vois ma mort qui arrive. Et le problème est qu'il faut que je le sache immédiatement. "Nous sommes très très loin de la maison, Bobby. La maison est très très loin de nous." je suis séparé de toutes les choses qui ont façonné ma vie et lui ont donné du sens jusqu'à maintenant : ma famille, ma maison, mon travail. Des choses fondatrices pour moi et que je reconnais comme étant moi. "Je sens un vent mauvais qui souffle, démons et poussièret". "J'ai Dieu à mes côtés" : qu ne l'a pas ? "J'essaie seulement de survivre. Et si ce que vous faitespour survivre tuait les coses que vous aimez ?" Ce sont encore une question personnelle et une question politique réunies. Que se passe-t-il si ce que vousfaites pour rester en vie détruit une partie de vous ? et si ce que nous faisons détruisait nos idéaux ? Pendnt qu'on est assis ici ce soir, nous subissons une érosion de nos libertés civiquess, et c'est à cela que je pensais lorsque j'ai écrit ce refrain. mais peut-être que votre peau est de la bonne couleur et que ceci n'est pas de nature à vous affecter. Je suppose que Red Bank [NdT : ville où a lieu l'enregistrement de l'émission] est plongée dans un profond sommeil. Mais ce qui est en train de se passer est très dangereux et anti-américain. "La peur est une choe puissante". Oui c'est vrai. "Elle prendra votre âme emplie de Dieu". Oui c'est vrai. "Et l'emplira de démons et de poussière". Alors, combien de tout ça pensais-je quand j'ai écrit la chanson ? Rien du tout. J'ai écrit tout ça hier après midi sur la table de ma cuisine. Mais combien de tout cela ressentais-je quand j'ai écrit la chanson. Absolument tout.[rires]. Laissez-moi vous décrire la scène. je suis assissur mon lit avec un dictionnaire de rimes... dans une main et un cahier dans l'autre. Je suis dans mon appartement qui se trouve au-dessus d'un vieux salon de beauté abandonné à Asbury Park, et voici ce qui s'est passé... "Madman bummer drummer, indians in the summer" : Mad Dog Vincent Lopez, batteur du E Street Band, qui se prenait toujours... "Les Indiens dans l'été", les Indians étaient mon équipe de minimes [NdT : de base-ball] quand j'étais gamin. "Le diplomate adolescent", c'est moi. "In the dumps with the monks" : J'étais malade. "Pumps his way into his hat" : cela s'explique de soi-même. A ce stade, le dictionnaire de rimes est en flammes. Il devient chaud dans mes mans. Il prend feu. Cette chanson est mon seul n°1. Je n'ai jamais eu d'autre chanson n°1et elle n'était pas chantée par moi, elle était interprétée par Manfred Mann, que j'apprécie, mais ils ont changé cette phrase. ma phrase était "cut loose like a deuce" et la leur disait "cut loose like a douche". J'ai le sentiment que c'est la raison pour laquelle la chanson a fusé en tête du hit parade. C'est pour ça, voyez-vous, ce mot!!! Deuce c'était comme pour un petit coupé à deux places, comme on voit dans les courses, douche est un procédé hygiénique féminin. Donc c'est différent, mais que puis-je y faire? Vous savez, le public s'est exprimé, et ils ont eu raison, vous voyez ? Restez assis s'il vous plait. I know my A-A minor masterpiece... I didn't write really well about men and women till 87, so I was 37 at the time, I was doing very well either. Maybe that had something to do with it, but... As Tunnel of Love came on, I finally wrote a real record about ... kind of men and women and what that's about and kind of the cornerstones of the record were issues of identity and love. Who am I and where am I gonna be, where do I belong, where am I gonna end up... So, we all have multiple selves, that's just the way we're built. Let me give it to you for instance. I always liked to go to the strip clubs, back before they were fancy... the fancy ones. Back in the prehistoric days before the lap dancing, but there was two people who would rather me not go. One whose wishes I most respect but the other one was that other than that bastard Bruce Springsteen. No why would he want to deny a simple man his simple pleasures, I will not bore you with that, we had many arguments about it and it kinda combinated that one day I'm sitting on this favorite spot of mine along the highway side. I'm enjoying the show where I've had a few drinks and my mind is momentarily at peace. With that happy thought in my mind, I got up to leave. As I reached the parking lot, a woman and a man spied me and said : "Bruce, you aren't supposed to be here". So, I could see where they were going with the whole thing, so I said "Well, I'm not. I am only simply an errant figment of one of Bruce's many selves. I drift in the ether, over the highways and the byways of the Garden State, often touching down in imaging congruous but fun places. Bruce doesn't even know I'm missing. He is at home right now, making good deeds." So, that usually stupefies and satisfies them. I gotta get through the world some now. I go on a merry way. So, the self is a mysterious thing. So, let me bring out the missing essential ingredient of that equation. C'mon Pat. Let's give it a shot. I guess it sounds like a song of betrayal, you know, who's that person sitting nex to me ? Who am I ? Do I enough about myself to be honest with that person ? But a funny thing happens. Songs shift their meanings when you sing them, they shift their meanings in time, they shift their meanings with who you sing them with, when you sing the song with somebody you love, it turns into something else. I start the song in an ether world. That's some place you've never
been. But it's your world, but it's been transformed into this unknown
and unknowable place. And all I have in this nether world is you who
are in front of me and you who are behind me. That's all I have in our
connection. On my back, I have what I must do. A sixty pound stone.
I have my job. I have what I must do. And I have the tools that I need
to do it. Now the songs moves to gospel and transformation there. Something
is about to happen. And so, what bells ? Are those sirens ? Church bells
? Tolling bells ? There's bells of chaos, bells of transformation. That
is my uniform and my uniform fills me with the power and strength of
my responsibility. It's a part of who I am and what I must do. Spirits above and behind me : you're praying to be guided by those who've gone before you, you're praying for them to guide you and to give you courage, when you're going to need it. It's a prayer and last verse... Mary who ? A wife ? A lover ? Jesus's Mary ? Everybody's been there. I'm surrounded by sacred things. This is what I need. I need your arms, I need your blood. This is what I an going to miss. Your physicality? Your flesh and blood. My own physicalness. That's just life, life, life... up there on the edge of something else. That's transformation. These are the songs that you wait for. Did I think of any of this prior to writing the song. But I felt all of it when I was writing the song. Over thirty years, you internalize your craft and you... the mechanics of storytelling, it becomes like a second language, that you speak without thinking, like a second skin that you feel with. So you pray to the Gods of creativity and aliveness that you remain awake and alert and in command of your senses, so that when the moments arrive, you're ready. That's the rising.
On Devils and dust, I wrote several songs about mothers and sons, this is really one of them, I had second thoughts about the day when I was behind a car that the bumper sticker said "drive carefully, my mummy is in this car" and I was moved to hit the gas and rear end her. as hard as I could. But it's something I haven't written a whole lot before and I was kind of interested in the relationship between parent and child, that's why Mary figures so prominently in the song, I felt if I approached the song from the secular side, the rest of it would come through. Just started with the title. Now of course, Jesus had ... that's why I made it metaphoric, Jesus had elderly brothers and sisters, but not on this very particular day, this day, he was singular. Well that's his proving ground. That's darkness on the edge of town. That's his darkness on the edge of town. Once you're a catholic, there's no getting out. That's about all there is to it. Keeps coming up. As she would be. That is the path of consequence. We all have one of those. Well I wanted an image of parental love and nurturing, and of life, and of promise and of peace before what was to come. Every parents want to keep their children from all harm. It's such a primal thing. I was shocked when I first felt it so deep inside myself. Then I had a conversation with a friend while I was so afraid that my kids were gonna grow up... I said "gee they might not have to struggle like I struggled, maybe that's not such a good thing", and he said "no, no, no, you're a parent, man, you're giving the best, because the world is gonna take care of the rest", and that's true, the world awaits us all. And there's not much the parents can do about it. Well you have to be thinking, Jesus have this little bar in Galilee, pretty nice little place, where there's God down here too. "I could manage this place, Mary Magdalena could attend bar, we couldhave some kids; and the preaching, I could do it on the week ends, you know, we don't have to give it up". You have to be thinking that, that's all there is to it. That verse is the finality of death. Reghardless of what Jesus was going to mean, fr Mary, she just loses her boy, and we lose one another, and people don't get replaced. I had a friend... My wife and I had a friend, a young lady who was living next door who passed away at a very young age, and she used to come to our house every night, and there's a moment when she'd be framed in the front window, just before she was gonna knock on the door, and I would look up and she was this very tall and elegant lady, and I still wait to see her in the window. That's transformation. Children have thier own destiny. Theu have thier own destiny apart from us. And I think my idea was to try and reach into the idea of Jesus as a son, somebody's boy, 'cause I think whatever divinity we can claim to is hidden in the core of our humanity, ad when we let go, when we let our compassion go, we let go of what little claim we have to the divine. So it's spooky out there sometimes. End of sermon. Allright ? What is it about ? It's really an invitation, it's... the opening to Born to run was my big invitation. My big album when they used to fold out. Me and Clarence smiling on it, that was the invitation card, you know, we'd invite you to something. I ain't sure what, yet. So, you know, the music was important. The beginning sounds like an invitation. Something is opening up to you. Something is opening up. And what I hoped it would be when I wrote the song was what I got out of rock'n'roll music, which was a sense of a larger life, a greater experience, hopefully more and better sex, sense of fun, more fun, a sense of your personal exploration and the possibilities that was in it, ideas that were all lining somewhere inside of you, just there on the edge of town. So that was an invitation, the song, it's basically an invitation. Nothing left but the ride. So this was my... it was my big invitation to my audience, to myself, to anybody that was interested, my invitation to a long and eartly, very earthly journey, hopefully in the company of someone you love, people you love, and in the serach of a home you can feel part of. Good luck and good evening. I wanna do this song 'cause it's a good example of just pop songwriting, which I like to do a lot. I do a lot of other things, but I've always enjoyed doing this and even though I tend to throw these songs all out directly in the trash can, Mr. Landau usually steps in here and says : "No ! Not that one !" So I'm only just singing this one and tell you a little how these come about. That's pretty simple. That's what I write these for, you know. I write'em to hear'em come back at me like that. It's fun. Just pure pop songwriting is a lot of fun. It's fun to play with the words in it, in a simple fashion, like... "it's raining, but there ain't no cloud up above, must have been a tear from your eye..." That's right. Now the master of this of course was Smokey Robinson. And when I write these, I tend to kinda... sometimes I think about singing'em in. And it gives me an idea of the phrase like if Smokey was gonna sing it; Wait a minute, I gotta concentrate... "it's raining..." So that's like pure Smokey, you know, my apologies to Smokey Robinson;
But there's not much else t say about these, they speak for themselves,
they're fun to write, Hungry Heart,
Dancing in the dark... And you know,
it's those kind of things you get out on the stage and it happens, and
also they're songs that free my mind from the interminable bulsshit
I put my mind through [................?] It allows me to "it's
raining" - hey, I'm Smokey Robinson... In my dreams, but anyway...
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"Good Luck and... good evening"
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