Bruce Springsteen on making podcast with Barack Obama
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
A feature length documentary on the charismatic US musician, entitled ‘Bruce Springsteen: A Secret History’, will be broadcast on BBC Two tonight at 9pm. The musician, who is affectionately dubbed ‘The Boss’, talks about his life and career from his New Jersey home in the BBC programme. The documentary sandwiches the conversation between a handful of Top of the Pops performances and an acoustic version of Born in the USA, which is recorded in a bar in Asbury, New Jersey.
Despite being 72-years-old, Mr Springsteen remains one of rock’s most energetic performers, while he has also released 20 studio albums across his career.
However in an unearthed interview, the Thunder Road singer once revealed he had battled depression throughout his career.
Speaking on BBC 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2016, Mr Springsteen told Kirsty Young that at times depression had taken him to the brink of despair.
He said: “It is something that has been a part of my life.
Read More:The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee concert ballot opens: How to get tickets
“It’s usually okay, but like Churchill’s ‘black dog’, it still jumps up and bites you in the a*** sometimes.”
The musician, who has won 20 Grammy awards across his career added that acknowledging or “naming” the feelings of depression had served as a useful coping mechanism.
He added that by acknowledging that he was experiencing a temporary “chemical imbalance” he was able to avoid blaming those around him.
Two years after the Desert Island Discs interview Mr Springsteen opened up to Esquire magazine about his first mental breakdown at the age of 32 in 1982.
Though the star couldn’t place exactly what triggered the breakdown he admitted that ageing and his childhood may have contributed.
Mr Springsteen said: “All I do know is as we age, the weight of our unsorted baggage becomes heaving, much heavier.
“Long ago, the defences I built to withstand the stress of my childhood, to save what I had of myself, outlived their usefulness and I’ve become an abuser of their once lifesaving powers.
“I relied on them wrongly to isolate myself, seal my alienation, cut me off from life, control others and contain my emotions to a damaging degree.
Don’t Miss:
Bruce Springsteen admitted he ‘failed’ first wife Julianne Phillips[OPINION]
Judi Dench lamented ‘weight’ of royal life amid Harry struggle[ANALYSIS]
Great Escape star James Garner ‘couldn’t talk’ to women: ‘I just me…[INSIGHT]
“Now the bill collector [was] knocking, and his payment [will] be in tears.”
Mr Springsteen was born in New Jersey in 1949 to Douglas and Adele Ann Springsteen.
His father Douglas reportedly suffered from mental health problems throughout his life, which worsened in his later years.
Nevertheless, the singer claimed that his father perceived emotion to be “a weakness”.
Mr Springsteen continued: “My mother was kind and compassionate and very considerate of others’ feelings.
“She trod through the world with purpose, but softly, lightly. All those things that aligned with my own spirit.
“That was who I was. They came naturally to me.
“My father looked at all those things as weakness. He was very dismissive of primarily who I was.
“And that sends you off on a lifelong quest to sort through that.”
Watch ‘Bruce Springsteen: A Secret History’ on BBC Two tonight at 9pm.
Source: Read Full Article