Springsteen talks to CBS Sunday Morning
Bruce Springsteen is entertaining jammed venues around the world on his current tour with the E Street Band. Yet he tells Jim Axelrod that one of his life-changing performances happened four decades ago, when he was creating the album Nebraska. Springsteen talks about his search for meaning in his life in the recording of the album in an interview to be broadcast Sunday, April 30th at 9 am ET on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+.
“If I had to pick out one album and say, ‘This is going to represent you 50 years from now,’” Springsteen tells Axelrod, “I’d pick Nebraska.”
Springsteen recorded Nebraska alone 41 years ago in a farmhouse in Colts Neck, NJ. He found himself there in search of meaning for his life at a time when he had reached the rock star status he had dreamed of earlier.
“I think in your 20s, a lot of things work for you,” Springsteen says. “But in your 30s, your 30s is where you be – where you start to become an adult. And suddenly I looked around and said, ‘Where is everything? Where is my home? Where is my partner? Where are the sons and daughters that I thought I might have someday?’ … I realized none of those things are there, none of them. … So I said, ‘OK, the first thing I’ve gotta do as soon as I get home is remind myself of who I am and where I came from … and what I want to do … And where I’m going.’”
The making of Nebraska is the subject of Deliver Me from Nowhere, a new book from author Warren Zanes. Springsteen returned to the Colts Neck farmhouse with Axelrod to revisit the album and what was going on in his life at the time. The owners of the home have left the room where Springsteen recorded Nebraska largely untouched. Springsteen and Zanes talk about the origins of the songs and what the album meant at that pivotal point in the artist’s life.
“Things are going so well here, you know, that you just assumed, like, ‘Oh yeah, well the rest of your life is going to fall into place.’ No, that’s not how it works,” Springsteen says.
“And you can’t succeed your way out of pain,” Axelrod responds.
“No, you cannot. That’s a very good way of putting it. You cannot succeed your way outta that pain,” Springsteen says.
CBS Sunday Morning has been the No. 1 Sunday morning news program for 22 consecutive broadcast seasons. It is broadcast Sundays on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.
Bruce Springsteen tells Jim Axelrod that one of his life-changing performances was creating the album “Nebraska” four decades ago. Springsteen talks about his search for meaning in his life in the recording of the album this 'Sunday Morning.' pic.twitter.com/jrckYXm5ab
— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) April 28, 2023
