In a polarized country like the United States, music popular—pop, rock, folk, jazz, country, rap—remains the last common language for Republicans and Democrats. The White House has therefore always been interested in its stars: Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, Taylor Swift and others. Before the election on 5 NovemberIn eight episodes, L’Express tells you the story of the unlikely couple formed by the beasts of the musical scene and the political animals of the President. Very pop’n’pol duets!
EPISODE 1 – Kennedy and Sinatra: an epic bromance, a harrowing breakup
EPISODE 2 – Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon: this crazy interview between “The King” and the President
EPISODE 3 – Jimmy Carter and Bob Dylan, friends for life: “Listening to his records…”
EPISODE 4 – The surprising story of the song that got Bill Clinton into the White House
EPISODE 5 – By wanting to enlist Sting, George W. Bush made a big casting mistake
For as long as the Springsteens can remember, they have voted Democratic. “My mother once told me that it was our party because we were working class, period,” said the singer, who came from one of those workers, truck drivers and union people once happens, we remain true to the ideas of Roosevelt, Kennedy , Clinton, Biden… Even after selling his catalog of songs to Sony Music Entertainment for a record $500 million in 2021, “Boss” — so nicknamed because he paid his E Street Band musicians every weekend like they were factory employees – has never denied his roots.
Keen to remain connected to reality, he still lives in his very unglamorous native New Jersey, considered by Manhattan New Yorkers as a distant redneck suburb. When he meets a fan, he treats them as equals and tries to act like a “normal guy” – an attitude that contributes to his popularity. As for his job – that is, rock’n’roll – he approaches it like an old-fashioned worker, proud of the work done, especially after the marathon concerts that created his legend.
On November 5, Springsteen will no doubt vote for Kamala Harris. He does not have harsh enough words for Donald Trump – a “toxic” personality whose presidency, according to him, was a “damn nightmare“ (a “fucking nightmare”). For a long time, ourguitar hero” has carefully stayed away from politics. Although in his early days he was presented as the “new Bob Dylan”, the singer, soon to be 75 years old, did not fit into the tradition of “protest song“His thing is social chronicle.
Beginning far from politics
After three albums, including the epic Born to Run (1975), or “Born to go”, which tells the fate of magnificent losers who cut the road towards a dreamy New York City, Springsteen finally finds his way by becoming the chronicler of the backward and the downtrodden America. Since then with the darkness Darkness on the edge of the city published in 1978, it constructs a narrative work that goes against the mythology of the American Dream. Calibrated as three-minute films, his cinematic songs talk about unemployment (The river), factory life (Factory), construction workers (Working on the highway), police history (Highway Patrol) or offenders convicted by the violent justice system (Johnny 99). But never about politics.
At the end of 1979, however, Springsteen positioned himself: he participated in No nuclear weaponsa series of concerts organized after the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, nine months earlier. Five years later, politics, realpolitik, caught up with him in full glory – and without his knowledge. Released in June 1984, his seventh album, Born in the USA – whose cover on an American banner background is the work of Annie Leibovitz – is the subject of a huge misunderstanding.
Republican Ronald Reagan, running for re-election in New Jersey, invokes Bruce Springsteen, the native son, who he believes shares his ideas. But far from being a patriotic anthem, the album’s title track decries the plight of Vietnam veterans, abandoned by society and often homeless. Three days later, on stage in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Springsteen felt obliged to publicly distance himself from the candidate whose policies, he says, are deepening inequality. At the same time, he forbids Born in the USA be broadcast at Republican meetings.
From then on, things are clear: Springsteen belongs to the democratic family. At that time he was involved in several collective or individual projects: record against hunger in Africa (We are the World) or apartheid (Sun City), concert against racism in favor of Amnesty International, singing in solidarity with AIDS patients (The streets of Philadelphia). In 2002, the album was released The Rising dedicated to the aftermath of 9/11. He then campaigned against the re-election of George W. Bush. “Simple question of common sense!”, he reasons, laughing. In a manager i New York Timeshe criticizes the involvement of American soldiers in Iraq. And he is on his way to a series of concerts in nine swing modes in favor of Democrat John Kerry. However, Bush was re-elected. Rebelote in 2008 in support of Barack Obama. This time his candidate won: In January 2009, Springsteen was one of those who sang during the inauguration ceremony of the first black president in the history of the United States.
The unlikely bromance with Obama
It’s the beginning of a long-lasting friendship that also relies on wives Patti Scialfa and Michelle Obama. When the schedule permits, the latter couple invite Springsteen to the White House for small group dinners. You have to picture the scene: Bruce at the piano, a glass of whiskey in hand, and Barack singing accompanied by Patti and Michelle, the merry band that also performs songs from Broadway musicals, Motown songs and other classics.
In 2012, Bruce returned to campaign for his friend. He sings notably in Columbus, Ohio, Obama’s home state, with rapper Jay-Z. An unforgettable experience: “You gave me something that I was never able to give to myself: the diversity that was in the audience. I played in front of white faces and black faces”, explains the boss to the ex-president in their book (1 ) of dialogue published three years ago and taken from their original podcast Renegades: Born in the USA streamed on Spotify. At the end of “Barack’s” second term, “Bruce” also gave a historic 15-piece acoustic concert, this time in front of 250 members of the President’s staff. And the friendship doesn’t stop there. After the Democrat’s mandate, the couple Obama and Springsteen traveled together around Polynesia aboard a yacht in the company of actor Tom Hanks and host Oprah Winfrey.
But what is the reason for this unlikely bromance between a white guy from a small town in New Jersey and a mixed black guy born in Hawaii who spent his childhood all over the world? No doubt due to the fact that both consider themselves outsiders whose youth was marked by the absence of their father. Bruce, a worker suffering from schizophrenia, has struggled all his life between odd jobs, unemployment and bouts of depression without forming a real relationship with his son. As he told in My father’s dreams (Presses de la Cité), Obama only saw his father once, at the age of 10, when he took him on a trip to his native Kenya for a month.
Both lonely, both eloquent, these excellent storytellers also have a certain idea of America in common. “What we share is a fundamental belief in the American ideal,” Obama explains in their joint work “Not as a cheap, airbrushed fiction, nor as a nostalgia that ignores the many occasions we have failed to live up to this. ideal, but rather as a compass indicating the work that awaits each of us as citizens, so that this country and the world are fairer, more just, and more free.”
Before leaving the White House, Barack Obama presents his eldest son (Springsteen is twelve years his senior) with the Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian decoration. Clearly, he begins his speech with these words: “I’m the president, of course, but the boss… it’s him!”
(1) Born in the USABarack Obama and Bruce Springsteen (Fayard).
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