♪ Announcer: Funding for "Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song" is provided by PBS and viewers like you.

Thank you.

[Playing "Born in the U.S.A."]

Geoff Bennett: The story of America can be told through its music... ♪ ...and few artists have told it better than Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen: ♪ ...wheels roll... ♪ Bennett: As the nation marks its 250th anniversary-- a conversation about music, memory, and the American experience.

♪ Oh, meet me... ♪ Bennett: I’m Geoff Bennett, and this is "Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song."

Springsteen: ♪ ...in dreams ♪ Flavor Flav: Sing it, y’all!

♪ Oh, I don’t mind if we stay all night long ♪ ♪ I don’t wanna go home... ♪ Bennett: For two nights in early June, Bruce Springsteen took the stage for a one-of-a-kind musical celebration.

♪ To reach up and touch the sky ♪ Bennett: Joined by more than a dozen collaborators spanning genres and generations, the performances trace the story of American popular music through the songs, artists, and traditions that helped shape it.

♪ Oh, when the saints ♪ ♪ Go marching in ♪ Bennett: The concerts mark the opening of the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music on the campus of New Jersey’s Monmouth University.

The Center houses memorabilia from Springsteen’s six-decade career, but its mission reaches far beyond one artist, exploring the broader history of American music and the cultural forces that inspired it.

This building houses your archives, but it’s also dedicated to the broader story of American music.

Why was that important to you?

I always looked at myself as... a small link in a very big chain, you know?

I was a guy who kind of came along, you pick the flag up for a while, you run with it for a little while, they hand it to the next guy.

So, we wanted to make the place very inclusive.

Bennett: The top floor houses Springsteen’s archives, which grew out of a fan-curated collection of memorabilia that eventually outgrew its home at the Asbury Park Public Library.

The bottom floor includes a gallery of artifacts from across the history of American music.

This is where we tell the story of American music in a condensed form... Bennett: Bob Santelli is the Center’s executive director and an American music historian.

This is one of my favorite cases here, because of the power of the artifacts.

That’s Louis Armstrong’s trumpet.

That’s Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet.

John Coltrane’s saxophone.

And Ella Fitzgerald’s concert dress.

When you tell the story of American music, where do you start?

[Laughs] Good question.

First of all, just to try and tell the story of American music in one place is almost impossible.

So, basically, what we did was we had to figure out how to encompass the story of American music in a rather small space and yet make sure it was relevant, it was accurate, and reflective of what Bruce’s music is all about.

These things are all borrowed, you know?

We don’t have an American music collection yet.

We will.

The intention is to build a very vibrant one.

So, this is thanks to the good graces of other institutions, collectors, and family members.

Sarah Vaughan’s signed music contract.

That’s-- Yeah, Sarah Vaughan, who is a Jersey girl.

-Bennett: Yeah.

-She’s from Newark.

And it allows us to tell a story or to inspire future investigation of, "Why-- Who was she?

Why is she in here?"

Bennett: Also $2,500 back in 1969 is a lot of money.

Yeah, Sarah was doing quite well at that time, absolutely.

This Center could have been a shrine to one man, but, instead, it encompasses so many different aspects of American music.

-That was intentional.

-Totally intentional.

When I went to Bruce, he said, you know, "I’m humbled, I’m honored that you would want to do this, but it’s really not what I would like."

He said, "If you would be interested in telling a greater story about American music, of which I am a chapter, then I would be interested."

So, literally at that point was hatched the idea that this would be something more broad than just a Bruce Springsteen center, that we would tell the story of American music with Bruce Springsteen more or less as its narrator.

Where does Bruce Springsteen’s contribution fit in that overall narrative?

His contributions are increasingly significant.

And I’ve watched him where he was-- early on, when I was a student here at Monmouth, he was kind of like the William Faulkner of New Jersey, you know, and, gradually, his vision grew more and more broad.

So, by the time of "The River" and certainly "Nebraska," he is writing about America.

♪ Well, they declared me ♪ ♪ Unfit to live ♪ He starts doing that and starts bringing in ideas from Woody Guthrie and others, some of these great American music stalwarts.

His place is right up there with all the greats, including Bob Dylan.

And so, what we’re trying to do here is, it’s not a tribute to him.

Most importantly, what we do is we try to uncover the creative process.

Bennett: In addition to memorabilia, the center offers an intimate look at Springsteen’s creative process, through interactive exhibits, handwritten lyrics, and other rare materials from across his career.

He writes on $1.50 spiral-bound notebooks that you can get in any drugstore.

And handwritten lyrics to "Born in the U.S.A."

That’s incredible.

Yeah, and, of course, fans see that as kind of holy grail stuff, you know?

Yeah.

And there’s only one word that’s crossed out.

It’s almost as if this was, like, downloaded, and he just wrote it-- [Laughs] wrote it all out at once.

Where do you see yourself fitting in that longer narrative, that longer arc of American music?

You know, I’m just a guy that came along at this particular moment, you know, and was interested in writing about the times that I lived through, grew up in, my family’s life, how that connected to America in the second half of the 20th century, during the post-industrialization of the country.

I was interested in writing about those things just to sort-- to try to figure them out myself.

You know, I had my heroes, of course.

You know, Bob Dylan I always called the father of my country, because he was the first guy that sort of showed me America with the veil pulled back, you know, and that I-- to where I really recognized the place I was living in.

And I wanted to be an artist who encompassed their times, the times that they live in, and wrote about those things.

♪ It chilled my body, but not my soul ♪ ♪ God’s gonna trouble the water... ♪ Bennett: Grammy-nominated blues singer Shemekia Copeland opened the concerts with a rendition of the spiritual "Wade in the Water."

♪ God’s gonna trouble the water ♪ "Wade in the Water" is a metaphor in the Bible for resilience and times of struggle, right?

And we’re in those times, and it’s a perfect song for now.

♪ So, hush, little baby ♪ ♪ Don’t... ♪ Bennett: The concerts come as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary at a moment when debates over how America tells its story have grown increasingly contentious.

We will always need these songs to help us get through whatever we need to be getting through at the time.

As the country approaches its 250th birthday, there’s a lot of debate about how America tells the story about itself.

What role does music play in that?

Well, this year, it doesn’t seem like it would be too much, except what we’ve done, quite honestly, is we have picked up the mantle and said, "If no one is going to tell in accurate fashion the importance of American music in our national story, well, we’re the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music-- then we’ll do it."

♪ Some of us are illegal ♪ ♪ And some are not wanted ♪ ♪ Our work contract’s out ♪ ♪ And we have to move on ♪ ♪ Six hundred miles to that Mexican border ♪ ♪ They chase us like outlaws ♪ ♪ Like rustlers, like thieves... ♪ Those artists who influenced you-- Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke-- is that the through-line?

Is that what they have in common, that they were always intentional about having their finger on the pulse?

Yeah, and they encompass their times.

You know, if you think of Frank Sinatra, you think of the ’40s.

Or, you know, if you think of Bob, you think of the ’60s.

You think of Sam & Dave or Sam Cooke-- you know, you think of the incredible-- the Soul movement in America in the late ’60s, with Stax, Motown.

These are all artists who are so connected to their times culturally that that was what I wanted to be, and that’s what I strove to create.

♪ The story’s always the same... ♪ Bennett: For Springsteen, being connected to his times has often meant examining the tension between America’s ideals and its realities... ♪ Once I made you rich enough ♪ ♪ Rich enough to forget my name ♪ ♪ In Youngstown... ♪ Bennett: ...from songs like "Youngstown," a lament for the hollowing out of industrial America, to "American Skin (41 Shots)," his meditation on the 1999 police killing of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant in New York City.

♪ You can get killed just for living ♪ ♪ In your American skin ♪ On November fifth... Bennett: He’s also been one of the country’s most politically-engaged musicians, lending his voice to Democratic candidates for decades, performing at campaign rallies and Get Out the Vote events.

You said before that loving your country means telling the truth about it.

Sure.

How has that guided your work?

Well, I believe in critical patriotism.

I believe that’s the definition of a patriot, you know, that you love your country so much that you are willing to look at it clearly, recognize its faults, encourage it to be a better place, and believe that you carry in your heart the country that is waiting.

[Crowd cheering] Bennett: In recent years, the politics that long informed Springsteen’s work has become more explicit.

In January, after federal immigration authorities in Minnesota killed two U.S.

citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, Springsteen responded with a song.

Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their names will not be forgotten.

[Crowd cheering] This is "Streets of Minneapolis."

I was very angry.

And, usually, I write songs that have a lot of political implications but very often are not directly political.

♪ King Trump’s private army from the DHS... ♪ So, in this case, I wrote a protest song.

I thought, "Gee, maybe this is a little broad," you know?

But then I had my buddy Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine, and he says, "No, no, no," he says, "Bruce, nuance is great, but, sometimes, you gotta kick ’em in the teeth."

And so, that was a moment when you had to kick ’em in the teeth.

♪ Who remember the names of those who died ♪ ♪ On the streets of Minneapolis ♪ ♪ It was a song written for a moment.

I wrote it, recorded it, released it in three days.

It’s a song of its times.

Our relationship came into existence around creativity.

Bennett: John Landau is Bruce Springsteen’s longtime manager.

When I saw Bruce for the first time, I said to myself, "If I had the ability, if I had the artistry, if I had the talent, that’s what I would like to have been able to do, what I’m watching right now."

And it was that deep a chord.

Bennett: When Landau first encountered Springsteen in the ’70s, he was a music critic who famously wrote, "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen."

Today, the two are still collaborators, their creative and professional partnership among the longest running in modern music.

Where do you place Bruce Springsteen and his work in the broader American musical tradition?

Bruce is a synthesizer.

Bruce takes everything he hears, everything he reads, everything he sees, films, and he’s got some internal blender, and he creates out of found material original work.

So, let’s take a song like "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

One night, Bruce and me are having dinner, and he says, "Listen, I was watching this film on late-night television.

It was incredible.

I’d never seen anything like it.

And they never said what it was."

You know, "I couldn’t figure out what it was.

I came in in the middle."

So, he tells me a few things.

I say, "That’s John Ford’s ’Grapes of Wrath.’" Wherever there’s a cop beating up a guy, I’ll be there.

He said, "Really?"

So, right from there began his lifelong interest in John Steinbeck.

And, ultimately, 20 years later, he writes "The Ghost of Tom Joad."

♪ "Mom, wherever there’s a cop beating a guy"... ♪ So, that’s Bruce, like, he uses it all.

He uses a hundred percent of his creative potential.

Nothing goes to waste.

You’ve spent 50 years helping tell Bruce Springsteen’s story.

When all is said and done, what do you think that story is really all about?

My own view is that the underpinnings of Bruce’s work-- now, we’re talking about his creative work-- are spiritual.

And the most recent tour, when he concludes the body of the set with his magnificent song, "Land of Hope and Dreams"... ♪ Faith will be rewarded on this train... ♪ Landau: ...he’s reaching for a higher plane.

There is a spiritual dimension that comes through on the records, in the songs, and maybe most of all in the show, that is about elevation.

It’s about reaching higher ground.

That’s what I feel as partner and his fan.

♪ ♪ I’m a sailor peg, and I lost my leg ♪ Anytime you get to share the stage with Bruce, if you get asked, you’d better be there.

Let’s get a rhythm!

Bennett: Ken Casey is the frontman for Dropkick Murphys, which performed at the concert.

He sees Springsteen as part of a long tradition of artists who have used music to engage with the world around them.

People oftentimes say Woody Guthrie was the original punk, you know, just taking it to the people with an acoustic guitar.

And that’s the kind of music that always, like, hit me.

And even if-- you know, no matter what form it’s being delivered in musically, like, if the message is there, and you’re willing to put skin in the game and have it really matter that much.

♪ And we’ll make our home in the American land ♪ Bennett: The band later joined Springsteen for "American Land," his celebration of the immigrant experience and the generations of newcomers seeking opportunity in America.

♪ ...are growing on the trees ♪ ♪ Gold comes rushing out the river ♪ ♪ Straight into your hands ♪ ♪ If you make your home in the American land ♪ Casey: I’d love to see just music in general take a bigger leap into the fray.

Because you think about during the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War protests, like, how-- what a big role music played in those.

And is music meeting the challenge now?

I’m not 100% sure it is, or I’d like to see music do more.

Bennett: The Center’s first temporary exhibit explores the role of music as an agent for social change, selected shortly after Springsteen released "Streets of Minneapolis."

Do protest songs-- do they serve a different purpose today?

Do they carry the same power, the same weight?

I don’t know.

I’m in the "hearts and minds" business.

You know, you change people kind of one at a time, and... I believe that culture has impact.

You know, I believe that culture shapes the nation.

Culture shapes our politics.

So, I have to-- whether they do or not-- I have to act as they do.

You know, that’s my job.

Do artists have a responsibility to engage in that way, or do you think it’s a personal choice?

It’s a personal choice.

You know, there’s fabulous artists who never outwardly, you know, necessarily sang a political song or political note, you know.

Music inspires and excites us in a wide variety of ways, enters the culture in a wide variety of ways.

So, you know, it’s just something that I was interested in when I was very young, in my twenties, because of probably my own background.

You know, it was a little town, very provincial young guy, and my parents were really blue collar and working-class, and I watched them struggle my whole life, and it was my way of sorting through the issues that I lived with as a young-- as a child, and as a young man.

And so, as time passed and I continued to write about the country and its struggles, at some point, you feel you-- "Well gee, maybe I had b--" After 50 years of doing that, you feel you have a cultural obligation to speak when you can, and if you can do it well, you know, so... Songs about the left-behind, the looked-down-upon, the marginalized, do they resonate differently now, do you think?

They always resonate the same, because they’re always there, you know?

That’s, I think, why a lot of the songs I’ve written 40, 45 years ago, 25 years ago, still resonate today.

It was "Youngstown," "American Skin," or "Born in the U.S.A."

♪ Ten years burnin’ down the road ♪ ♪ Nowhere to run ♪ ♪ Ain’t got nowhere to go now ♪ ♪ Born in the U.S.A., I was... ♪ They retain their currency because we have not yet become the country that we would want to be.

What’s fundamentally different, in your view, about this current moment, as we are about to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday?

Yeah, bad timing.

[Laughs] You know.

I think we’re in a very dangerous moment, you know?

Obviously, our democracy is threatened.

The Constitution is threatened.

We have an administration that, in my humble opinion, is a ship of fools, you know.

It’s a very, very, very dangerous time for America.

There have been other dangerous times.

I was old enough to live through the ’60s, and I remember the assassinations of John Kennedy and Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and Bobby Kennedy.

You know, so it’s not like these are the first difficult times America’s been through.

We had the Civil War.

You know, America has 250 years of being grounded in democracy, and I don’t think that’s gonna change.

I think we’re going through a very, very difficult period, but I tend to remain realistically optimistic that the country will pull out of it and something new will be born from it that is good.

You play for audiences across the political spectrum.

People who love your music might not share your politics.

-Right.

-How does that strike you?

-That’s what I like.

[Laughs] -[Laughs] That’s fine.

I like a big tent.

If I’m playing up at the stadium here in Jersey, you know, and there’s 50,000 people, I don’t think they’re all Democrats or they’re all progressives, you know, so, I like-- you know, I like playing to a big tent.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

Bennett: For Bob Santelli, music remains a rare common language in an increasingly-divided culture, a tradition the new Center is dedicated to preserving and exploring.

At its best, what can American music tell us about what it means to be an American?

Popular music is our most expressive cultural form.

If there’s any one particular cultural form that reflects the American experience, in my view, it is undoubtedly popular music.

It takes a daily temperature of America, and it allows us to see where we are, to see how people are feeling.

You may not agree with what songwriters are writing, but that’s okay, because, again, if it makes you think critically, if it makes you think more deeply about things, then that music has done its part.

As you mentioned, you had a front-row seat to Bruce Springsteen long before he was a cultural phenomenon.

What surprises you the most about his evolution, about his journey?

There’s not too much that surprises me, quite honestly.

When I first saw him in a band called Steel Mill, I couldn’t believe how good they were.

And, at that point, you know, nobody from here that we knew had come up through the ranks and became major stars.

Count Basie was from Red Bank.

He left very early.

Frank Sinatra, from Hoboken.

He left very early.

And, of course, Bruce stays, demands that Columbia Records call his first record "Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey."

That really impressed us.

♪ Further on up the road ♪ ♪ When you’re alone and blue ♪ What does performing onstage give you?

Oh, it’s a tremendous sense of purpose, a sense of meaning... ♪ I want to give you my love ♪ ...a sense of new directions I want to go in, new conversations I want to have with my audience, new communication, new-- new definitions of where the country might go and what we can do with it, the impact we can have on shaping it, all of those things.

You seem to become more energized onstage -as those three hours progress.

-[Laughs] That was my takeaway watching it.

Does it feel that way onstage?

Uh... I’m just up there doing it, you know.

So, the idea of the show for us is it starts way up here and ends way up here, you know?

So, we play our first song like it’s our last.

♪ ♪ Everybody... ♪ So, my job is to shape the arc of the show so it moves upwards, and so people go, "Well, it can’t get any more intense than that."

And then it does.

[Laughs] You know.

So, it’s just the stuff I learned from all the great Soul performers-- Sam & Dave and James Brown, you know, the greatest live performers of all time.

All lessons I learned from them.

Bennett: For all the reflection that comes with the opening of a career-spanning museum, Springsteen insists he’s far from finished.

You could have stopped a long time ago, and people would have said that that was a complete career.

Why keep going?

What does it cost you, and what does it give you?

It’s just my job, and it’s my pleasure.

I don’t even think about stopping, you know?

If you created a body of work that’s resonant, you know, I don’t see any immediate reason to-- There’s never going to be an E Street farewell tour, I can tell you that.

When you walk around this space, what does it feel like to have your life and your cultural contribution reflected back to you?

It makes you feel like you’re dead, you know?

[Laughs] You’re hovering here like some disembodied spirit looking at all your stuff that started in your mother’s garage.

You know, it’s great.

It’s flattering.

It’s nice.

The fans are going to like it, you know.

And if you experience downstairs, you’ll realize, like I was saying, hey, I feel like I’m simply a link in a big chain, you know?

And I would imagine, as time passes, you know, all that’s up here will end up in a little case along with a lot of other great, fabulous musicians.

-You think so?

-Sure.

Generations from now, if people walk through here, you want them to think that, "Oh, Bruce Springsteen was a link in a longer chain"?

Yes.

-Really?

-Yes.

Well, I would say that and more.

[Laughs] Thanks.

I appreciate it.

Bruce Springsteen, a real pleasure.

-Thank you.

My pleasure.

-Bennett: Absolutely.

♪ This train ♪ ♪ Bells of freedom ringing ♪ [Crowd cheering] ♪ ♪ Well, big wheels roll through fields ♪ ♪ Where sunlight streams ♪ ♪ Oh, meet me ♪ ♪ In a land of hope ♪ ♪ And dreams ♪ ♪ Oh, meet me ♪ ♪ In a land of hope and dreams ♪ Sing it with me.

All: ♪ Oh, meet me ♪ ♪ In a land of hope and dreams ♪ [Crowd cheering] [Song ends] God bless each and every one of you.

[Crowd cheering, whistling] Announcer: Funding for "Bruce Springsteen: Finding America in Song" is provided by PBS and viewers like you.

Thank you.

♪