Talk About a Dream: The Essential Interviews of Bruce Springsteen

by Christopher Phillips (Editor), Louis P. Masur (Editor)

Bruce Springsteen loves to talk. His peformances include stage banter and stories, and his lyric sheets are packed with words. He always has something to say, about his work, his politics, and his version of what America means. And much has been written about the Boss. Fans can hope that some day Bruce will put his story into a memoir, but for now, the best of Springsteen's own words are collected here in Talk About a Dream.
Collecting nearly thirty interviews, from the very beginnings of his career in 1973 to his induction in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, this volume captures Springsteen's remarkable talent for taking interviews as seriously as he takes his music. These conversations chart his development as a musician and a public figure, and shed light on everything from the meanings of his lyrics to his 40 year career as a rock dynamo. Masterfully introduced and curated by Springsteen experts Phillips and Masur, this book will be the definitive collection of interviews with the Boss for decades to come.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this! Having read a lot of these interviews it was so good to read them one after the other in chronological order. Truly gave a great perspective of what Bruce was feeling and going through as his journey unfolded. One comment stuck with me, I think it was in the early 80's, that the days of 3 1/2 - 4 hour shows will soon come to an end as Bruce is getting older. Really??? :-)

[Allan Heron · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable series of interviews across Bruce's career which demonstrates his consistency of approach to his work and helps you appreciate why his output has retained such a high level of quality over what is now close to 50 years.

[jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

the thing is - in life you've gotta keep yourself bare, you've gotta keep yourself trimmed down. can't start collecting a lot of junk.

compiling 40 years of conversations from 1973-2013, talk about a dream is a revealing glimpse of springsteen both personally and professionally. the thirty-one interviews in talk about a dream, ordered chronologically, trace the genesis, maturation, and near-incomparable success of one of america's finest songwriters. some of the more well-known interviewers included in the collection are neil strauss, bob costas, nick hornby, and elvis costello.

throughout the interviews (from early on to the present), it is evident that springsteen is humble, overwhelmingly dedicated to craft, and remarkably grounded (for any human being, let alone a rock star). he often speaks candidly - reflecting on nearly every aspect of his life and the world around him. obviously, talk about a dream will appeal most of all to the springsteen devotee. it is, nonetheless, a fascinating look into the life, times, and creative process of a man who continues to inspire awe in millions around the world.

oh, yeah. i mean, i got really down. really bad off for a while. and what happened was, all my rock & roll answers had fizzled out. i realized that my central idea - which, at a young age, was attacking music with a religious type of intensity - was okay to a point. but there was a point where it turns in on itself. and you start to go down that dark path, and there is a distortion of even the best of things. and i reached a point where i felt my life was distorted. i love my music, and i wanted to just take it for what it was. i didn't want to try to distort it into being my entire life. because that's a lie. it's not true. it's not your entire life. it never can be.

and i realized my real life is waiting to be lived. all the love and the hope and the sorrow and sadness - that's all over there, waiting to be lived. and i could ignore it and push it aside or i could say yes to it. but to say yes to part of it is to say yes to all of it. that's why people say no to all of it. whether it's drugs or whatever. that's why people say no: i'll skip the happiness as long as i don't have to feel the pain.

[Ted Haussman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great character study of an obsessed and driven man who is determined to ask searching questions through his music and connect with his audience. As you may know, I have my own Bruce-a-holism, having seen him 93 times across the United States and Europe and this was the first book devoted to Bruce that I read. It's not a book about him as it is a portrait of the man's thoughts, drive, desire and motivations, told over 30 years worth of interviews. It was a fun and enlightening read.

[Jessica Biggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

The interview book for any over the top Bruce fan!
This book is a conundrum in a sense, as it only appeals to the steadfast Bruce fans, but at the same time we've already read and heard most of what he had to say in this book. I'm not sure who the fan base is supposed to be!
I found myself skimming through a lot of it, as some of the questions I wasn't interested in, or the interviewers have really asked a lot of the same questions of him over the past 30 years. I enjoyed reading about his inspirations from other musicians and books, however even that I feel has been asked of him so many times. The most interesting part of this book was Bruce's evolution from kind of a punk 20-something who gave one word answers, to a prolific and thoughtful man willing to talk about his thoughts, dreams, and history. Another interesting takeaway is his political evolution. Bruce's music has always had a progressive political appeal, ever since Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ with Lost in the Flood about the Vietnam war. However, fairweather fans seem to take him as a machoismo American symbol of libertarianism. He didn't say much about his political views in the 70s, more in the 80s as his disdain for Bush and Reagan was well known, but then in the 00's he became a political figure for John Kerry and Obama. It seems that his confidence grew in what he knew and believed as he aged. The one interview from The Advocate was especially intriguing. After he wrote Streets of Philadelphia for the movie Philadelphia he seemed to be reaching out to a whole new group of fans, as his 80s persona gave the impression that he wouldn't be friendly to LGBTQ rights. It was obvious by some of his answers that he was uncomfortable or unsure how to respond, but I have to give it to him that he seems to always be thinking of the type of person he wants to be in order to include all in his stories.
The one thing this book solidified for me, that I've known all along, is that there is no one else on Earth like Springsteen. His ability to craft stories out of songs is unlike any other musician.

[Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something really honest about chronological interviews laid out in a book. For an autobiography the writer has time to look back and potentially rewrite history a bit, but this collection gives you stuff in real time as Springsteen was experiencing it, not yet knowing who he'd become (regardless of what he might say now).

From a 1992 interview...
"I want to sing about who I am right now. I want to get up onstage and sing with all of the 42 years that are in me. When I was young, I always said I didn't want to end up being 45 or 50 and pretending I was 15 or 16 or 20. That just didn't interest me. I'm a lifetime musician; I'm going to be playing music forever. I don't foresee a time when I would not be onstage somewhere, playing guitar and playing it loud, with power and passion. I look forward to being 60 or 65 and doing that."

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love Bruce Springsteen and you would listen to him talk about anything this is the book for you. There are parts that are incredibly repetitive, especially the earlier interviews where everyone is trying to figure him out. The interview with Elvis Costello is very good. I also enjoyed the interview with Judy Wieder from The Advocate after Bruce’s wins for Streets of Philadelphia. Loved that he said I’ve always been a weirdo so of course I’m cool with gay people, great position to have.
Also, to the idiots that think Bruce only just got political because he criticized your dear leader I beg you to realize he’s been political his whole career. Even when he was young and didn’t want to be labelled that way. Bruce has always stood with the disenfranchised, he’s been anti-war, none of this is new.

[Érsek Máté · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of interviews spanning almost the whole career of Springsteen. It is interesting to see the arc of self-development across the years: some changes, some never does. It very much seems so that Springsteen has a strict moral code and a very authentic personality. Recommended reading for all interested in creating and performing rock music.

[alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have never tabbed so many pages of a book before

[Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Springsteen's autobiography, "Born to Run", earlier this month, I knew that this book would pale in comparison. "Talk About A Dream" is at its best when Bruce recounts stories or facts about his music. But, as I anticipated, what brings the book down is when he espouses his theories about the meaning of his own music for pages and pages. Not that I disagree with him or that I don't find it interesting. The problem is that he meanders down that rabbit hole many, many times in this book and after a while there is nothing more to be learned from it.

What does come across is that Springsteen may be the musician most devoted to his craft in the history of rock and roll. While others live the high life and get themselves in trouble along the way, Springsteen is a music-making machine with an uncanny ability to crank out songs that resonate with fans and, in fact, even shape their lives. Between the two books, it is obvious that Springsteen's craft comes from his relationship with his father, his own depression, and his fervent desire to show the people of his small hometown (Freehold, NJ) that they grossly underestimated his abilities as a shy, long haired teenage freak.

If you have never read any books about Springsteen, you will probably enjoy this a little more than I did. In fact, I almost gave it 4 stars. But, I was very familiar with many of the stories, which are rock and roll folklore.

[Angelique Jurd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of Springsteen's interviews over the years, edited by Christopher Phillips, for the Springsteen fan and/or scholar, as well as for anybody interested in American pop culture and more specifically that music that is easily recognised as American in cultural significance.

An interesting and often humorous snapshot of one of the world's greatest living songwriters and arguably the greatest living performer, Talk About A Dream traces his career from the early days in New Jersey when he was hailed as the new Dylan to today as a respected and much loved rock icon.

The arc from often monosyllabic, somewhat cocky young musician interested only playing his guitar to a family man who sings for and about the disenfranchised provides a fascinating look into one of rock's most enduring names.

DISCLAIMER: I am a huge Springsteen fan - so I may be a teensy bit biased....

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of interviews is an outstanding, exceptional overview of Bruce's thoughts and feelings over the course of his career to date. It spans over 40 years, from 1973 to 2013. Much insight into Bruce's life experience and the feelings and motivation that went into both his song writing and his performance over the years are contained in this wonderful collection of interviews - and it is all in HIS OWN WORDS! This is an undeniable MUST-READ for any Springsteen fan. I found myself captivated through the entire book, reading the stories and circumstances behind many dozens (hundreds) of songs that have literally been the soundtrack of my life for nearly 40 years. This is an excellent collection. Fantastic. I loved it. I met the author at The Regulator Bookshop a few years ago when this collection was published.

[Dylan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The clear thing that emerges from reading a whole volume of a man's career interviews, is that he has been consistent from the beginning with his own vision. He was as inspired by his own heroes as much as he has become an inspiration for others. He was honest about his struggle with huge success, a great deal of indifference to money it seems, and would honestly still be playing around the bars of Jersey in his mid 60s if he had never made it big. It was always always the music that mattered most, and It always will be. There's nothing particularly revealing here that any major fan won't know, but it does present a compelling portrait of a hard working, and mostly brilliant musician and writer.

[Du · Rating 3 out of 5]

It isn't often that a compilation of interviews is worth reading. This time I am glad that I did read it because it is fascinating to review those interviews from the period of 1986 to 1999. Springsteen is an interesting character because he admits he is flawed and makes mistakes and learns from those as experiences. I think he brings a lot of value to the table with that character. The editor here has done a good job of giving some overview to the various interviews and putting them into context. I enjoyed these elements, and while I didn't hang on every word of the interviews, I did enjoy reading the introduction to each one.

[Julia Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it's compiled of interviews that span over 40 years. These interviews are not boring, nor are they in the interviewers point of view. It is narrated by Bruce Springsteen himself. Throughout this book, and the interviews you learn a great deal about him and his struggles early on in life. Such as his dad being absent in his life. In this book you also see his music evolve and change, as well as the contents of his thoughts. Love! Love! Love! If you're a Bruce Springsteen lover, you'll love him even more. Or if you're one who doesn't know much about him, such as myself, you'll learn a lot, and still enjoy this wonderful, thoughtful book!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Interesting interviews. Highly recommended. Learned about the context of albums and concerts and I enjoyed every page.