An alternate cover for “Born to Run” from the sessions with photographer Eric Meola that Clemons writes “is a lot sexier” in his book
Glory daze
There’s a good amount of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll in “Big Man,” but one guy who is never a part of the debaucherous tales is Springsteen, who Clemons writes had a “no drugs rule.” We had to press him on this…
“The thing about it is, he never touched the stuff,” says Clemons of his Boss. “It’s hard to believe; I always thought he was a stoner when I first met him. He was always kind of lucid. But he never did. He said he never found a need for it.” METRO/PH
You talkin’ to me?
If you want to know what secret De Niro told Clemons, you’ll have to read the book or listen to our podcast at www.metro.us/MMMpod
Clarence Clemons says he did actually play pool with Fidel Castro, but the game didn’t unfold quite like the way he tells it in his book, “Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales” (Grand Central Publishing, $27). In the book, the man known best for being Bruce Springsteen’s sax-playing wingman goes to Havana with Hunter S. Thompson, who slips Castro’s bodyguard some acid, while Clemons gets El Presidente drunk and tries to hustle him at nine-ball.
“I didn’t want to write an autobiography,” laughs Clemons. “I didn’t want to write something that was just true facts. I wanted to expound upon the theme and make it more exciting and add some things to it.”
“Big Man,” which Clemons wrote with good friend and television producer Don Reo, does distinguish between fact and this funny fiction, printing the “Tall Tales” on gray pages.
“Don thought of that,” says Clemons about the darkening device. “He’s the genius.”
Written in a prose like it’s the charismatic guy next to you at the bar, there are several narrative arcs at play throughout “Big Man,” including the struggle for success with Springsteen, the deep spiritual bond that forms between E Street Band-mates, the friendship between the two authors, Clemons’ personal struggle with the accelerated aging effects of playing a lifetime of four-hour shows and those aforementioned legends, which always hold some degree of truth, such as the secret Robert De Niro made Clemons promise he wouldn’t reveal for 25 years.
TWO HEARTS ARE BETTER THAN ONE
Clemons says he and co-author Reo came up with the idea to write a book while “drunk in Ireland.”
“We were sitting around, just sitting and talking, telling stories,”
he says. “I invited him to go fishing with me a lot. One day we were
sitting on the boat telling stories. I was telling him stories and he
said we should write a book. And I said ‘OK, that sounds like a good
idea.’ And we went from there.
The book was being written all my life. We just decided to put it
down on paper. ... It’s pretty great because it’s something I’ve never
done before. ... Having a book out that’s being well received is pretty
exciting for me. And it’s totally out of my element.”
