PLAY ON, BIG MAN!
"When the change was made uptown
And the Big Man joined the band
From the coastline to the city
All the little pretties raise their hands"
Very sad news today.
The Jersey Shore music scene has lost an icon.
The E Street Band's legendary saxophone player Clarence Clemons died Saturday of complications from a stroke at age 69.
Clemons was, of course, Bruce Springsteen's main onstage foil and the first among equals in the E Street Band.
No other E Streeter got such an explicit mention in any of Springsteen's songs as he did in "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," where everybody knows what happens when the change was made uptown.
And with Born To Run, he was the only one to ever share focus with Springsteen on the cover of an album.
In that photo, Springsteen is leaning on him for support, sure, but he's also implicitly asking for his approval.
He was the person that the Boss wanted to impress.
Springsteen issued a statement on his longtime friend and bandmate's death Saturday night, writing:
"He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band."
He was an amazing musician.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. I am not the biggest Springsteen fan in the world; in fact not much of one at all. However, when Born to Run comes on, I crank that bad-boy!
ReplyDeleteVery sad. Rest in peace, big man.
-Jimmy
I read about this in another post. A great loss, indeed.
ReplyDeleteAlex- he certainly made a home for the sax in rock and roll!
ReplyDeleteJimmy-it's a little sobering to realize that rockers that I grew up on are old enough to die of natural causes. I am sad for his friends and family and it certainly is a loss for the music world, but he certainly had a heckuva run and his last recorded song (on the Lady Gaga album) may be his biggest ever!
Suze-I was a little late hearing this. I'd looked yesterday at mid-day and had read CC was undergoing surgery. Was out last night and did not read the news until this am.
LC