Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Bruce Springsteen

Episode Date: October 26, 2020

Rock icon Bruce Springsteen feels ecstatic about being Conan O’Brien’s friend. Bruce sits down with Conan to talk about his new album and documentary Letter to You, the death cult of rock ’n roll, the best go-to cover song, and his favorite American rock bands. Plus, Conan responds to a voicemail praising him for his allyship. Got a question for Conan? Call our voicemail: [phone].For Conan videos, tour dates and more visit TeamCoco.com.

Hi, my name is Bruce Brinkstein, and I feel ecstatic about being Conan O'Brien's friend. Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brandy shoes, walking blues, climb the fence, books and pens, I can tell that we are gonna be friends. So I can tell that we are gonna be friends. Hey there, and welcome to Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. I'm gonna say this is a big one. Usually during this beginning chat, I don't often discuss the guest, but there's no way I ran it today. It's Bruce Brinkstein. It's such a, just a joy to get to talk to him. I've had the pleasure of speaking to him a bunch of times over the years when he made appearances on my show

and bumping into him in different situations, but man, I just, I love that he's on the podcast and that we're gonna have this deep dive conversation. I'm really looking forward to it. Sona, I know that you are relatively new to America. Does Bruce Brinkstein mean a lot to you? Not new to America. I was born here, but my parents were not. And I remember I was going through their records recently and they were all Armenian music and this and this and one American album record that they had and it was born in the USA. And it was the first American record they bought when they came to the States. Didn't your father try to use that album cover as proof that he was born in the USA to get past the border guards?

You think my dad just... Did he hold it up and go, I am a citizen. Look, born in USA and they're like, sir, that is an album by Bruce Brinkstein. It's an iconic album. That was my dad. That was the impression you just did. Was that my dad? It's not real. I've just been informed by Springsteen's people that he's canceled the interview. Don't blame him. I didn't appreciate that comment. Listen, you used to do an impression of my dad where you take a dinner napkin and put it under your nose and pretend it was his mustache. Prove I've done that. Prove it.

I have a photo of you doing that. Damn it. Why do I always let you take photos of me when I'm doing inappropriate things? You posed for it. So anyway, one of my point is, and let's get back to the important thing, not that I would put, as you say, a dinner napkin under my nose, rolled up in a specific way to make it look like an oversized mustache to look like your father's crazy mustache.

Jealous. Great mustache. He has a good mustache. A real man's mustache. I could not grow that mustache. You could not. No. I know. I grow a nice beard, but my mustache is lacking.

Would your father agree to go to a hospital and do a stash transplant where they take some of his mustache hairs and implant them into me? It's just so much work. I've done so much for you that I think your dad owes me a stash implant. Anyway, I think we've drifted. You would look like such a perv with a mustache. Or a well-to-do pornographer. What I would like to say, Sona, to keep us back on track,

this is a star of a caliber that even your parents know who he is. Yes. And knew who he was when they were in Armenia. No, they weren't in Armenia. They were in Turkey. They are Armenian, but they were in Turkey. People listening don't care. What are you talking about? They just are like, go with the flow.

Don't be like, well, no, you see, they are Armenian, but they were living in Turkey. But then Greece for a while. And of course, Istanbul. Yeah, I've just been informed by Springsteen that he's filing a lawsuit. That's okay. I love that his people, all of his Springsteen people are so professional that they're listening and giving us updates

on what Bruce is doing. And they're texting you, Matt? Bruce loves Turkey. Both the country and the deli meat. And he is very offended now. So he's launched a suit. Matt, I know that you prefer polka and stuff like that, but Bruce Springsteen, this is a big deal for you.

Yeah, never liked polka. Yeah, he is a big deal. This is the boss. From day to day, I know you as the boss, but now the boss is here. Well, I think of myself, I know, I seem to be fair to our listeners. I am the boss.

No, you're a girl boss. You're a boss. No, no, no. He is a boss of some East Street banders. He is the boss. You are a boss of some people. He is the boss of everything. I actually don't think I'm the boss of you, Sona. And I'm not the boss of gorely. In fact, I'm hard pressed to find anybody who works technically for me

who thinks of me as a boss. Right? I don't have that boss thing where people are like, uh-oh, here comes the boss. Yeah, people aren't going like, here comes the boss because that's superseded by uh-oh, here comes Conan the man. We don't know what you're going to do

and we know we're in for something harrowing. That's not true. I think I'm a swell fella. Any regular listener of this podcast is going to be gentle as a lamb. You know in the devil wears Prada when she's walking in and everyone like changes their shoes and they change their posture. I mean when Meryl Streep walks in.

When Meryl Streep walks in and everyone's getting really nervous. If I'm watching TV and I'm leaning back in my chair and you're walking in, I do not do anything different. I just stay exactly where I am. And I love you started that with when I'm at work and I'm watching TV and leaning back in my chair. Meaning you're really not working.

You happen to be at work but you're binge watching something from Netflix, yes? Well, yes. That's what I mean. I'm not terrified enough to be like, oh, I have to make sure he doesn't see me watching Rick and Morty. Not terrified enough or not terrified at all and in fact quite dismissive of my presence.

That might be best accurate. Yes, there you go. Anyway, to keep things on track, I am just absolutely delighted that Bruce Springsteen is on the podcast today. And I don't want us to waste time. I always say that, but then of course I do waste time,

but we can't today because this is an opportunity that comes but once in a lifetime. Yes, that's true. You've always had a connection with him because of Max Weinberg as well. Max Weinberg, my drummer and band leader for 16 years in late nights. 17 years, I think actually.

And Bruce always so kind and always checking in with me and saying, I hope it's okay that I'm bringing Max back on tour and just like a call he didn't have to make, but a lovely artist, great guy. So let's do it. I say we do it. Let's do it.

But first, a story that goes nowhere. My guest today, of course, a rock icon who has won 20 Grammy Awards and sold over 135 million albums worldwide, making him one of music's bestselling artists of all time.

His 20th studio album, Letter to You, which I've listened to many times now and it is beautiful. It is now out and the documentary film of the same name capturing the making of the album is available to stream on Apple TV Plus.

To say I'm thrilled he's with us today is a pathetically inadequate understatement. Ladies and gentlemen, Bruce Springsteen. Bruce, welcome. I am speaking sincerely, first and foremost being how generous you were with Max Weinberg

and allowing us to have his services while he was employed by you. I've always appreciated that. Okay, let's get something straight. I've tried to explain this to you before because you've been very kind to couch it this way.

I borrowed your drummer, okay? I would not know who Max Weinberg was. Had it not been for the fact that he was the great drummer for the greatest rock band in the world and occasionally you'd call me up and you'd say, Conan, we're about to head out on the road.

Might I please? What are you talking about? He's yours. He's your guy. You lent him to me for 16 years. For 16 years you let me have the great Mighty Max Weinberg. That's mind boggling.

You know what my plan was is to start borrowing your guys one by one. I'm moving them over to the late night show and so get Steve, get Nils, slowly incorporate them until I had the entire E Street band and then tell you,

Bruce, they're mine now. That was my plan. Didn't quite work out. It was a long con. It was going to take me about eight years to one by one get every single guy. Either way, for 16 years it worked out well. It worked out better than well

and who knew? We also found his comedic streak. It took us a while. It didn't happen overnight. But we found out that when you cut to Max for no reason when he's not paying attention during a sketch, people thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

I'm just saying you're not maybe using him to his full extent. I don't think we are. Max is funny. I will tell you this, Bruce, the two guys in my opinion who work really work the hardest in that band I'm going to say it's you first and I'm going to say it's Max second

in terms of caloric expenditure during a concert because you burn about, I'm going to say conservatively 8000 calories and that could be on an acoustic set where you're sitting on a if you were sitting on a stool

and you were just singing old folk songs at a funeral you would burn 8000 calories but Max would have to soak I would see you perform with the Eastry band and get the chance to say hi afterwards and you were always so gracious. Max would be soaking his hands in ice

because people don't realize how difficult it is to continue drumming at that caliber as you get older. Particularly 50 years in. I may have to just switch that. I would say that Max most likely burns

a few more calories than I do he has to move his hands his arms, his legs his feet all at once without ever stopping for three to four hours I can step back and a short breather

as the guys take a solo or something not Max Weinberg and then on the other side I've noticed Steve Fanzant, sometimes I see him, he's making chords but I think he can sometimes burn about two calories

occasionally he has to lean his head into a microphone but other than that he'll take 15 minute breaks to adjust head scarfs try on a calf tan or something I have to say I have so much to be

grateful for I pride myself on never getting jaded one is I'm talking to you which I've had the opportunity to do several times in my career and it is the highest honor and the other thing

I'm very grateful for is I really do love this record letter to you I would say the word I would use when I heard it is urgency because I know you guys recorded it in five days your people were kind enough to let me get a sneak peek

at the documentary film that goes with it this is really a throwback to you guys saying we're going to get this done in a short period of time as possible because because we're old and we may die soon so we have got to hustle this baby

into production right now okay did you ever think of calling the album we don't have much time listen to this shit we don't have much time left yo it is and I'll give you one of my there's so many tracks

I love on this record but my ultimate test and I didn't even realize it is I've listened to this many times and today on my way to this interview I'm on the 405 freeway and I'm listening to burning train and I look down and I realize I'm going about 110

and that is my test I didn't mean to go that fast but burning train and there's so many tracks like that and there's so many different flavors and contours on this album but burning train is you in the e-street band kick out the jams

full throttle joyous madness is fantastic all I can say is mission accomplished yes you're not looking at chart position you're looking at speeding tickets that's right I understand it's just about right

I swear to god that when that song kicks in and the way it builds and it's so anthemic and obviously you've done so much work like that but you man that's your wheelhouse I think you have about 15 wheelhouses but that is one of them which is pure octane that's all it is

you know I was thinking about this is a thought I've had about you over the years you are a particular case and I mean this in the best way but I wonder what fuels this man I don't understand there is a nuclear rod located in the center

of your chest that is singular to you I have a theory I don't know if it's too early in the day for therapy but I have a theory let's hear it man yeah hell yeah no

actually legal drugs man legal drugs talking about Advil here's my theory my theory is that to be a truly great artist you need some components anxiety

especially in your youth an obsessive nature obsessive compulsive obsessive compulsive nature plus a complicated relationship with a parent unbelievable low self-esteem also helps

well okay so I've got one and you've got four I've got the low self-esteem no but you is there something to and I think great celebrity autobiographies are extremely rare

and yours I thought was a beautiful piece of writing and also I learned so much about your relationship with your father and contrasting that with your mother and your grandmother and thinking and people probably don't want to hear this but maybe that has to be part of the equation

well I believe that the most successful obsessive artists and I think the guys that we think of who have something very special eating at them and that's what makes them interesting

to us there is an improbable problem at their center that they're constantly sorting trying to sort out it's not completely sort out able but you can find elements of clues

that bring you closer to the source as life and this is how people are using their craft this is why you can't take your eyes off them or your ears and those people have had someone in their life who has told them they are

the second coming of Christ and at the same time someone in their life who has told them they are absolutely worthless and they believe them both and so consequently you're in the process of trying to

retrieve the unconditional love that you experienced by the parent who told you you were holier than thou you prove to your other parent how deeply wrong they were so

this I believe is a psychological makeup of most of the most interesting artists I would say like a Sinatra De Niro, Brando Dylan, Hank Williams all of those people I believe

have some piece of this in their creative equation so yeah I think it's essential myself I think that kind of historical conflict in your family is very very critical then add into it

eight years of Catholic education the furnace is starting to burn there are many people that would think oh to watch Bruce and the E Street Band record or to watch Bruce work would be just to watch these guys having a ball that is not true you said it is both the most important thing in your life

and it's only rock and roll and you've got to inhabit both what is essential as you become an adult is you have to refine the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your mind

at the same time without it driving you crazy that is the mark of adulthood so there's a lot of things in life you know it's like when I when we go out on stage and I we're out for murder

we are out there to burn it down until you go home smiling and hurting you know but at the end of the day it's rock and roll music when I cure cancer so that's the best we can do you know and so we do it

you know but keeping those two ideas in your head simultaneously allows you to reach as far into the heavens as your spirit soul

hopes and fears will allow while at the same time staying sane and some relatively balanced here on earth it's a next to impossible combination I've heard Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was described that way as they said what a mark

of his intelligence was that he could hold two completely contrasting ideas in his head at the same time yeah I think that it's connected to his greatness and I think that is yeah that's adulthood I love my kids and occasionally they make me want to jump out a window

I'm able to contain both of those ideas if you can acknowledge them it will bring you some peace it will quiet your mind which is something that most artists don't possess you know it's not the nature

of artists to possess a quiet mind but getting some small things like that straight I found it did it did bring some peace into my daily life do you think you've mellowed at all or do you think because you would

guess you might say yeah I've mellowed with age and not just age but the accomplishments that boggle the mind but maybe at the same time I don't believe that you've mellowed nearly as much as other people would have mellowed experience your kind of success

well it sort of all depends how you're using the term I think if you asked my wife she would say that I have mellowed in some ways that were I think the destructive parts

of my character hold less sway over me than they did 25 years ago so that's a good thing my raw intensity at approaching my work

and my job I haven't mellowed at all and that's the way I like to keep that you know and that's an area where hey not mellowing is a good thing there's other areas you know it doesn't work the same way across the boards

there's other areas where you want life you better mellow out my friend you know and so you're not going to have it if you don't but so the problem is when you see people make errors or ruin their lives is they take one thing

like you know I've got to burn and then they paint their entire life experience with it and yeah you will burn you will burn my friend you will burn yourself right to the ground you know and you may have made some great music while you're doing it

but what's that mean to you once you're six foot down you know it's just not going to mean a whole lot so you've got to be able to realize I am going to burn here my brightest here I'm going to do

a different type of living in order to live my fullest and to be a solid citizen and partner and parent to get those things straight there's the romance some of us had in our

20s for the rock icons who died at 27 and as I've grown older I've thought well that was just stupid it would be just beautiful if Jimi Hendrix had lived a full life oh yeah just to name I mean you keep going on and on and Janice Joplin

and you know what would these people have done there's no romance at all to me about it anymore it's just waste it's a huge waste the nature of rock and roll it's always contained a death cult and that may be because of its

its genesis in youth culture and when you're young death and life can feel smushed up against each other you're young and you're taking some more physical risks I mean I remember taking some physical risks I took when I was young that I would not do now

you know and I mean there's a whole host of teenage songs about the car crash dying on the railroad tracks he had my ring in her finger in her hand I ran back you know I mean there's just a host of that sort of became a part of

rock culture and was heavily romanticized and of course the listener can afford to be romantic about it while the actual you know hey if it's your life it's not much fun for you you know like you know making a

mistake and choking on your own vomit no there's not that much romantic about that you just talked me out of it Bruce it's my pleasure I wanted to get some street cred I've been thinking about it you know when you're talking about

mellowing too I was talking to a doctor once and he said one of the things that helps men mellow over time is their testosterone levels drop and I thought well then I think I'm good I think I'm safe I think I've been safe since about 1981

but that's something too I think there's something to guys that we just there's a juice running through our bodies that is amazing in some ways and but gives us stupid ideas like I'll ride that motorcycle

without a helmet because who cares nothing can happen to me yeah well you know you still carry a little bit of that with you like Patty said to me do you want to go skiing I said why why why would we ski we're 70

I think I'll fall down and break my ass break my leg why would I go up the mountain just to come down again it just didn't make sense to me suddenly you know I want to ask you about the Castilles because they're an important part of

this album you looking back especially the song Last Man Standing when you're growing up in New Jersey you belonged in freehold to this group the Castilles and this was your band and when you look at it

to be that young this band lasted through the prime years of the 60s yeah there was a long time for a bunch of teenagers to stay together it's very rare and it was quite a long time and I learned an enormous amount of my craft

while in that band and deep feelings for it and for that time in my life you know but it was rare to stay together that long were you guys was it a cover band primarily it was primarily a cover band and we had a few originals do you remember what was your go-to song

like this is the song we do that's maybe our best go-to cover song do you have a memory of what that might have been to blow the roof off the house we did a elacist version of them's Van Morrison Mystic Eyes

oh my god that's fantastic that's not a very well known song but I used to front and play the harmonica and move about like a madman on Mystic Eyes you credit your time in the Castilles put you out in front

of live audiences in union halls in VFW you name it potluck dinner halls it puts you out there everything you guys played everything and you learned to play live which is something

maybe that isn't happening as much today for young artists well you know there are still people who play great live shows there's great live performers out there at every level in the clubs and theaters and stadiums and arenas

you know but is it a vanishing skill I don't think it will ever vanish but it's certainly been you know it has a lot of competition from the internet and social media and a variety of other things

but at the end of the day that act of getting people in a room and a band on stage which is an act that will never be simulated is a powerful powerful experience and to feel we don't have them yet

we gotta get them or they're starting to come around let's really lay it on now that's the kind of muscle that you learned when you were in high school with the steels that I think you've just kept honing and honing and honing to the point where you were doing

I think you set the record I think four hours and six minutes for a concert when you think about the Beatles in their live performing days they were huge rockmen I think they would do 25 minute shows yeah, that wasn't so bad I was gonna say

we screwed the whole thing up by playing too fucking long now I have to do it well what happens now is that if you do three hours and fifty minutes and then leave, people want their money back I got fucked Bruce just walked off after three hours

and fifty minutes, we got a babysitter for nine hours walked my money back exactly very hard it's hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube no you can't I saw you perform

with the E Street Band I don't remember exactly which year it was it might have been around 2005 I saw you guys perform as a great show and this is something that I've said to many many people who have asked me what they think it takes and I've cited you many times Bruce Springsteen and he's got nothing left to prove

but he's gave this amazing show and at one point during the show you did a song where you used I'd never seen you do this before, you used a falsetto it was quite powerful and very good and so afterwards because of my max connection, max brought me back and his hands

he went to sew his hands back on and they had fallen off but you chatted with me in your dressing room for a second and I said I really love that falsetto and I'd just seen you completely blow the roof off the place for several hours and you said, yeah

I'm really, I'm working on that I've been working on that for a bunch of years and I thought I would start trying it on this tour and I keep trying to work on it I don't think I've quite got it right and I walked out of that room and I thought he's still trying to get to some place if you're not trying to get to some place

then you're just a careerist and that's fine but it just doesn't interest me that much I want to be a frontiersman I want to be out on the edges of my own

psychological, emotional, spiritual frontier I want to be working there and I want to work there till the day I die to me that's a fulfilled life pushing forward, always searching always looking for that next thing that's going to add

that small piece to the puzzle that's going to then allow you to go further than that because as we move forward our life blossoms and the benefits of that search fall into the laps of our loved ones

and our people we work with and into our own lives it's a rewarding process and one that I would wish on everyone and I know people who don't do this

at all and I could name our most prominent exponent at the moment but why belabor the topic alright so yeah one of your Joe Biden attacks we know Bruce

we know that you're not a fan of democracy you know you got that word out a long time ago I remember I played behind Roy Orbison in 1988 Roy was singing like his life depended on it you know he was singing like

he'd never heard those songs ever before and that he was having all of these realizations for the very first time yeah that's what I'm talking about even with material that he probably sung many many times before

he was approaching it as if he was out on the frontier of it as if tonight if I sing these songs beautifully and well I will learn something or gain something that I have not learned or gained from the previous

nights when I've done this that seemed to be a way to avoid just nostalgia which Roy did by being so purely present it was just a good lesson and I took it to heart

and I said yeah that's that's how I want to approach my work you know and it doesn't seem highfalutin to me it seems if anything it seems grounded to me it seems like a very grounded approach

to take to life on earth you know and how we may make the most out of it I know you've talked about it and it's one of the things I've wondered about in my life because I'm a

huge rock nerd is Chuck Berry and his one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and maybe one of the most influential musicians who kind of seem to have almost a contempt towards his own music which I didn't understand

I know you played behind him when he used you as a pickup end but the guy would barely tune up a lot of people have that whatever you want to call it that characteristic you can find the certain inner nihilism that does drive us

you know I mean it's in everyone and it's in the car with you it's not good when you put that part of you behind the wheel it's always going to be in the car don't let it drive too much you know there may be a

creative moment in a safe circumstance or something where you can let it loose and interesting questions arise but I don't want that guy driving my car all the time but some people you know Chuck was funny you know

hundreds of years from now hundreds of years from now when people want the purest distillation of rock music they will play Chuck Barry music you know it's simply a fact he may be the purest distillation of us all

you know he's it's magnificently blessed, transcendent music of great American genius and the fact that he personally did not value it that highly

that's his tragedy I know that you obviously in your early career very influenced by Dylan very influenced by Chuck Barry one of my favorite songs of yours you ever of all of them and I love so many of them but open all night

on Nebraska is one of my absolute I put that song on all the time trying to play along with it I think it's got some of the best writing and imagery just you know having fried chicken popping our fingers on the Texaco road

map I think that is some of the best writing and rock and roll I think it's up there with Chuck Barry and I just it's absolutely gorgeous evocative imagery well and the song is totally Chuck Barry inspired

you know and because he was the master of everyday imagery you know Nadine, honey is that you you know every time I catch up with you you know hearing this I turn the corner double back

I saw her getting in a coffee colored Cadillac man I love that song so much I painted my Cadillac coffee I have a 1967 white leather interior coffee colored Cadillac Did you go and yell at the body shop guys

like Chuck said listen to the song assholes like what Chuck said strictly because of Chuck Barry so he's a patron saint regardless of how he felt about himself Chuck came up at a moment

when rock music was considered worthless it was considered at best a novelty at worst dangerous and dangerous trash to expose your children to and no one believed it had any

transcendent value whatsoever the idea that it might address the spirit in some way it was laughable now I grew up at a time when the business went from the single to the album when rock was suddenly considered to be this great art

right and that did have the ability to contain all those qualities and so that may have affected the perceptions we have you know the moment that you

I mean people ridiculed Elvis it's amazing that these guys carried on and were simply so good at what they did because the encouragement was either it was purely financial you know it's selling okay I'm gonna keep going

or people performed like we performed just because they had to it was the talent they had they were good at it and it brought them rewards in the world and but those were very different generations and I think people then made people approach their music

with very different attitudes perhaps though there's plenty of people who I think Elvis had regard for his music in his own way

obviously certainly Roy and there's many many many others you know Buddy Holly I think had regard for his music of course but I think we talk about Chuck because Chuck being the greatest genius of rock and roll songwriting

and seeming to be the most conflicted about its own worth is as I say it's a bit of I would have wished him the peace that would have

come with realizing just how beautifully he did his job you know how beautifully he did his job and but you know but we live different lives you know like I say our minds are not quiet and we do not

you know we're all at the end of the day conflicted souls doing our best to get through the world and I think a lot of people forget that in the 1950s rock was seen as something to do quickly and then get out of it with some money to move on to the next thing

for Elvis that was movies but everyone saw it as a fad get your money and get out as fast as you can you of course coming along in the late 60s rock and pop starts to become legitimized in the 70s is this renaissance of beautiful

serious writing about rock music in the late 60s you had the birth of the rock critic John Landau my manager was one of the pioneers of rock criticism and they brought a whole different viewpoint

towards what popular music was capable of doing and what it was capable of addressing I always look at we were born right in the golden age right sort of at a time when in the 70s you had the birth of the album and

then into the 80s where the business itself exploded and suddenly you could play to 20,000 people and the technology was there to allow you to do that the sound systems had gained which really wasn't there in the 70s or the 60s

but in the 80s technology allowed performers to reach a bigger audience live and there was a golden age of really live playing that is still there but we've passed out of quite a bit so it's an interesting time

of course the whole thing can lead to overblown interpretations of what's essentially entertainment I always look at it like yeah I put my music out and I want people to vacuum the floor to it I want them to do their laundry to it I want them to

go out chase their kids around the park to it and dance to it and and then I try to put something else in there so there's a little more if you want to dig deeper that's sort of my approach

but I think I was affected so fully by popular music that I just said I want to do that and I want to do all of that what Benny King achieves in this magic moment to me transcends

just a popular single that was 98 cents down at JJ Newberry's that you brought home and slow dance to your good there was something more in it I've always been interested in that something more

what's with you I think limits we think that they're our enemy but they're our friend and there's the limit of I think what you call it the pop song or the rock song life in 180 seconds is something that I've heard you say

that this is and the limits of getting your band together and saying we're going to make this record in five days we're going to limit ourselves we are going to put restrictions on ourselves which will make us even at this stage of our career

push harder does that resonate with you give me that again Conan okay I think you were on the record I don't know what you were looking at I don't know what you were looking at are you buying stuff right now

are you buying stuff online are you Bruce Friesen is online shopping while I'm trying to fucking talk about the essence of rock and roll in a hundred and you you lost me in there

oh yeah well that's my fault I mean I'm bad at what I do hey let me quickly ask you about guitars guitars because one of the things I love that I saw you using this documentary as you go back and you play your old Sears

I think it's like Sears Kent which is a goofy guitar that has a speaker built into it oh that's a silver tone oh that's a silver tone okay the Kent had the speaker built into the

piece I think right the silver tone had both a guitar with a speaker built into the guitar and a Dan Electro Silver Silver Tone also had a guitar with a speaker built into the case that was a very very popular item

and I still see guys play them to this day you know they're not great but they're different and they were relatively sturdy pieces and they got you in the game for a relative small amount of money well you lost me I wasn't paying attention

I'm sorry you can do it to me I can do it to you I'm watching a 1988 basketball game you know can I ask you a fan you talk about you wrote this album on a guitar that a

fan gave you and let me say why that intrigues me I love to give you a guitar just as a token but that's like bringing Coles to Newcastle I cannot think of a guitar I could give you that would mean anything to you

because you have apparently every guitar in the world and the means to get any guitar you want what did this fan give you that just grabs your imagination first of all every guitar is individual there are no two guitars

and so I occasionally am gifted a guitar and I'm usually fascinated by it and fascinated by what it might do that another one might not do this guitar was handed to me as I came out

of my play on Broadway the kid was just on the street holding a guitar I thought he wanted me to sign it or something and then he said no no Bruce Bruce and he said I want to give this to you

so I went over are you sure? we had it made just for you okay so I took the guitar it wasn't in a case or anything I just took it in my hand and I jumped in the car with it and I didn't look at it really very much until I got it home

but when I got it home I realized this was a beautifully made guitar there was all different types of wood the wood was gorgeous it was made as good as any guitar that I own and sounded as good as any guitar that I own it's just one of the nicest guitars

that I have and I left it in my living room just because I'd pick it up and play it and when it came time when I could feel the song starting to just stayed a little bit I picked it up

and over the next six or seven days most of the songs on letter to you came out of it you know so it was a really sort of lucky little do you know who this kid was? I believe his name is Carrato Gambi wow we got to make this guy famous

this guy made the guitar that stole Bruce Springsteen's art Carrato Gambi I think that's his name that's what somebody tracked down all right Carrato I also play Carrato I play and I could always use another guitar

so I'm sure I'll see him again well I have my last question for you and this is a quick one and it stumps me but you talk about great bands and people start naming them

and many of the great rock bands are British when you say okay but you're limited to America I think E Street Band and then I start to have a hard time and I don't know do you have an E Street Band aside do you have a band, an American band

in mind that just inspires you that you think is and I'm talking about a real band not an assembly of session guys just an American band do you see what I'm saying like in Britain you've got there's the Beatles, there's the Stones

I mean it just goes on and on the who, there's Led Zeppelin it doesn't stop in America it's very hard I mean if you go back into history of course you're going to have the Beach Boys and the Burns I mean you know that's

if we go back into history there's quite a few but if you're asking like today Arcade Fire is a great band the killers have one of the best live shows I've seen if you want to go have fun

the killers have a great live show so what's happening out there yeah there's all kinds of excellent musicians who fighters play great live Pearl Jam there's lots of good American young American bands out there today

I'm trying to I will put East Street Band at the top as I think you will alright I'll go there and I'm going to wrap this up I want to say one of the great honors to talk to you and I

will leave you with this I have one show business photo that hangs in my house up in my room in my study and it's you and me playing together you let me play with you on my show I think in maybe

2008 I was impressed I have to say you know my happiest moment of my life was we were done and I turned and Nils looked at me and he said you were in the pocket the whole time and I spot and I

it's pretty good and I it's the happiest I've been in show business and you've made me delightfully happy and I think you've made people around the world probably three quarters of the world's population ecstatically happy at one time or another and

I can't think of anyone else who can say that I think it's it's a joy to get to talk to you it really is and give my best to the guys and to Patty and to everybody and thank you for making a letter to you because you didn't have to you've got

nothing to prove and it's absolutely beautiful it really is thank you Colin I appreciate I appreciate your support all these years you've been a great guy and you know I know we joke about it but Max had a great run

on your show and it meant a lot to all of us meant a lot to me and you know we got a lot of love for you so God bless you thank you I think we I think I made the difference for you in your career okay Bruce take care and thank you so much

alright bye bye we haven't done any voice mails in a while do you want to check in with the people the listeners I'll be honest there's some fear involved when I listen every time there always is you know what I'm in a bubble I live

like many celebrities in a bubble that nothing can penetrate where all I hear is you're the best man you're the best okay which by the way couldn't be further further from the truth I've created a bubble where I'm filled with people who say

you suck I hate you I don't know why I made that I don't know either you had a choice and you you chose that I know I chose very I chose the wrong way to go but anyway it's what I chose and it sort of suits me yes I'm in a bubble

where I get nothing but negative criticism so maybe maybe we'll hear something nice I don't know I think we will I collected these a while ago so it's going to be just as much a surprise to me this will be exciting do you edit out the ones that are like I'll kill you man I hate you I hate you I'll kill you you edit those

out I do well so you just admitted they exist Matt oh great job Matt this is the bubble you created Conan oh my god well I hope you're forwarding them on to the correct you know authorities there we go okay I'm gonna play one for you I'm just gonna choose these

randomly this will be exciting hi Conan my name is Kate and I and I'm a college student so as a gay woman I'd like you to know that the lesbian community stands with you by the lesbian community I mostly mean myself to be honest I'm not sure

all lesbians like you that much but I do so I think that matters so anyways I'd like you to know that you're my personal lesbian icon and would love it if you could say gay rights on the podcast also hello Matt and Sona I love you too so much thank you

for sacrificing your emotional well-being to be on the podcast bye bye oh my god Kate that is fantastic and yes gay pride yep totally down with gay pride and I clearly Kate if you are my

only lesbian fan I am honored I am truly honored I have friends who are lesbians who love you oh okay you have more than one and I think it's because and this is what I got from Kate does she she thinks I am a lesbian no you're a lesbian icon yeah yeah that's

I think part of my secret is that I think there are probably many lesbians out there who think that I am a lesbian well can you be a lesbian icon without being a lesbian no she made it I think Kate made it very clear okay that I am

a thought of is a great lesbian okay which I'll take yeah I think I have somewhat gender confusing appearance sometimes oh yes what what are you talking about yes you do well let's talk

about that you can sometimes be a little bit more I can't there's like there's features in certain angles that are more feminine

female I am very pretty very attractive face very pretty you think you're pretty I'm dancing around this so hard yeah I think of you as gender scrambling that actually makes better sense gender scrambling okay

you know how you like jam a radio transmission well the important thing is Kate I think has brought up a very good point which is I like to be all things to all people yes so I really do and if

and if Kate believes that I am an important part of the lesbian community I'm down with that yep you're the wonder bread of sexuality you mean I have no nutrients I definitely have no nutritional value but you taste good

no I taste good for a second and then you feel horrible a little later on when your body realizes it just ate nine pounds of chemicals that have been whipped up into a white bread by the way apropos of nothing one of my clearest memories

as a child is we went on a field trip when I was at the Baldwin school at one of the it's an elementary public elementary school in Brookline Massachusetts and they said we're going on a field trip today and they put us on a bus and we were so excited and they took us to the wonder bread factory

oh no and we watched giant machines shit out bread fake bread you know you'd think you'd go to a museum yeah or I mean we're near right near Boston but we could have gone into Boston and seen the site of the Boston massacre we could have seen

you know the we could have seen the USS Constitution we could have seen Fanuel Hall we could have seen the Old North Church no they took us out to some industrial part of Massachusetts and they showed us the wonder bread factory

and then they said we have a surprise for you at the end we each got a paper hat that said wonder bread on it and I swear to God in my mind they dissolved instantly when we went outside it was made out of wonder bread it was made out of

and to this day I'm like how is that educational I think it was teaching us about disappointment oh come on it's an American institution wonder bread it is if I didn't care about my health

I would eat it all the time I think we just lost them as a sponsor alright so I got on a little digression there about wonder bread but I do want to say Kate yes gay pride yes thank you for listening and you're wrong I think I am not toxic for my co-workers here

what? she said that you're sacrificing your emotional well being by being with me yeah that's right not true that's true so yes Kate to wrap up I'm very proud to have you as a fan you seem like a very cool funny person

and um you know talk me up on campus tell your friends hey Conan he's the bee's knees God Conan O'Brien needs a friend with Sonam of Sessian and Conan O'Brien as himself produced by me

Matt Gorley executive produced by Adam Sacks Joanna Salatarov and Jeff Ross at Team Coco and Colin Anderson and Chris Bannon at Earwolf theme song by the white strands incidental music by Jimmy Vivino our supervising producer is Aaron Blair and our associate talent producer

is Jennifer Samples the show is engineered by Will Beckton you can rate and review this show on Apple podcasts and you might find your review featured on a future episode got a question for Conan? call the team Coco hotline at 323-451-2821 and leave a message

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