On his way to becoming an American icon himself, Bruce Springsteen studied, then built on what came before him. A student of songwriting, he knows his craft well. Van Morrison’s “Gloria” is an obvious line to Springsteen’s music. Even greater were the social activist songwriters. Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger mapped the path.
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Springsteen routinely praises his heroes. Take a look at five times the Boss has paid tribute to American icons in his music.
1. “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
In 1995, Bruce Springsteen released an album about hopelessness in 1990s America and Mexico. The title track borrows from Woody Guthrie’s “Tom Joad” (1940). Guthrie’s two-part song appeared on his album Dust Bowl Ballads.
John Steinbeck’s realist novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) introduced America to Tom Joad. Set in the Great Depression, Joad and his family are driven from Oklahoma by drought and economic despair. They eventually leave for California to escape the Dust Bowl.
Like a great novelist, Springsteen fills his stories with vivid characters set against the realities of everyman struggles in American life.
Tom said, “Mom, wherever there’s a cop beating a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there’s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me, Mom, I’ll be there
Where there’s somebody fighting for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helping hand
Wherever somebody’s struggling to be free
Look in their eyes, Mom, you’ll see me”
2. “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)”
Soul singer Frank Wilson released “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” in 1965 on Motown’s imprint, Soul. It was Wilson’s only release for the label and has become a collector’s item. This song was part of a collection of American soul music that influenced England’s Northern Soul movement.
The Boss covered “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)” on his 2022 R&B tribute album, Only the Strong Survive. Springsteen’s album, a celebration of classic soul, went to No. 8 on the Billboard 200.
Here I am on bended knees
I lay my heart down at your feet
Do I love you?
All you have to do is ask
I’ll give until there’s nothing left
Do I love you?
[RELATED: Behind the Song: “Because the Night” by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen]
3. “We Shall Overcome”
With We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Springsteen pays tribute to legendary folk singer Pete Seeger. Seeger, a Harvard dropout, was a social activist who found success in the 1950s with his band The Weavers. He returned in the 1960s with his own protest music. Seeger believed songs could change the world.
Seeger helped popularize the gospel song “We Shall Overcome”—an anthem of the civil rights movement in America, and a fitting song for the Boss. It’s a famous symbol of the power of music. Seeger was the social-activist, folk-hero brethren to Springsteen.
We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We shall overcome someday
Well, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday
4. “Rhinestone Cowboy”
During the closing credits of Springsteen’s documentary Western Stars, the Boss sings a heartfelt rendition of Glen Campbell’s timeless song, written by Larry Weiss. It sounds like a lyric he could have written. Springsteen is known for true-to-life characters. In his own songs, Springsteen narrates down-and-out stories of the American working-class experience. “Rhinestone Cowboy” is about the dream. It’s the long hard road to success.
I’ve been walkin’ these streets so long
Singin’ the same old song
I know every crack in the dirty sidewalks of Broadway
Where hustle’s the name of the game
And nice guys get washed away like the snow in the rain
5. “Because the Night”
“Because the Night” could have ended up on Darkness on the Edge of Town, but Springsteen struggled with finishing the song. Jimmy Iovine was producing Patti Smith at the time. She was recording the album Easter at the Record Plant in New York, where the Boss was also recording. Iovine convinced him to give the song to Smith. She finished the lyrics and released it in 1978.
On The Promise, Springsteen revisits the original sessions for Darkness on the Edge of Town. The collection of unreleased Darkness-era songs features his version of “Because the Night.” It’s one of the last recordings to feature E Street’s Clarence Clemons before his death in 2011.
Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand as the sun descends
They can’t touch you now
The can’t touch you now
They can’t touch you now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to lust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival
