Springsteen Cops To ‘A Bit Of Fraud’

Springsteen’s life story, appropriately titled “Born To Run,” doesn’t arrive until next month.  However, The Boss has given fans a taste of what to expect, not only by posting the foreword on his website but also something he calls the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Survival Kit.”

First up is the foreword:

I come from a boardwalk town where almost everything is tinged with a bit of fraud. So am I. By twenty, no race-car-driving rebel, I was a guitar player on the streets of Asbury Park and already a member in good standing amongst those who “lie” in service of the truth … artists, with a small “a.” But I held four clean aces. I had youth, almost a decade of hard-core bar band experience, a good group of homegrown musicians who were attuned to my performance style and a story to tell.

This book is both a continuation of that story and a search into its origins. I’ve taken as my parameters the events in my life I believe shaped that story and my performance work. One of the questions I’m asked over and over again by fans on the street is “How do you do it?” In the following pages I will try to shed a little light on how and, more important, why.

Springsteen digs a little deeper with the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Survival Kit.”

DNA, natural ability, study of craft, development of and devotion to an aesthetic philosophy, naked desire for  … fame? … love? … admiration? … attention? … women? … sex?  … and oh, yeah … a buck. Then  … if you want to take it all the way out to the end of the night, a furious fire in the hole that just … don’t … quit … burning.

These are some of the elements that will come in handy should you come face-to-face with eighty thousand (or eighty) screaming rock ‘n’ roll fans who are waiting for you to do your magic trick. Waiting for you to pull something out of your hat, out of thin air, out of this world, something that before the faithful were gathered here today was just a song-fueled rumor.

I am here to provide proof of life to that ever elusive, never completely believable “us.” That is my magic trick. And like all good magic tricks, it begins with a setup. So …

The next destination for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band is a two-night stand in his New Jersey stomping grounds slated for Aug. 23 & 25 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

“Born To Run” lands in bookstores Sept. 27.  Click here to pre-order the book and here to pre-order the companion album, Chapter & Verse.