"Bobby Jean" is a song written and performed by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

, from his 1984 album ''

Born in the U.S.A. ''Born in the U.S.A.'' is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released by Columbia Records on June 4, 1984. It topped the charts in nine countries, including the US and UK, becoming his most commercially su ...

'' Although not released as a single, it reached number 36 on the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart.

History

"Bobby Jean" was one of the last songs from the album to be recorded, and was considered a musical breakthrough for Springsteen during the recording, with its more accented rhythm and near dance groove. Marsh, Dave. ''Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s''. Pantheon Books, 1987. . p. 168. The title character's name is somewhat gender ambiguous,Rob Kirkpatrick, ''The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen'',

Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...

, 2006. p. 101. allowing for various interpretations. Nonetheless, "Bobby Jean" is often considered to have been written about his long-time friendship with

Steve Van Zandt Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin ...

, who was leaving the

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

at the time: for example, Swedish journalist Richard Ohlsson made the interpretation in his book ''Bruce Springsteen: 16 Album'' that the title contained both a male and a female name because "the friendship with Bobby Jean is so strong that it's almost a kind of love." When this song is played live with the E Street Band, close ups of Van Zandt are often shown on the bigscreens. :''Now you hung with me, when all the others turned away ... turned up their nose'' :''We liked the same music — we liked the same bands — we liked the same clothes'' :''We told each other, that we were the wildest, the wildest things we'd ever seen ...'' The lyric turns to deeper emotions, which Springsteen biographer

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of ''Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), ...

characterized as "lines that mingle love, grief, and rancor", with the chorus summing: :''Now I wished you would have told me —'' :''I wished I could have talked to you —'' :''Just to say goodbye, Bobby Jean ...'' At the conclusion, Springsteen imagines the song's subject hearing the very song in a motel room, as

Roy Bittan Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthe ...

's piano riff that drives the song yields to a saxophone coda from

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

and the recording fades out. Marsh suggests that Springsteen was not singing a farewell just to Van Zandt, but also to his own depressed ''

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

'' self. Nevertheless, use of minor to major

altered chord An altered chord is a chord that replaces one or more notes from the diatonic scale with a neighboring pitch from the chromatic scale. By the broadest definition, any chord with a non-diatonic chord tone is an altered chord. The simplest examp ...

in the last parts of the chorus lend the song a spirit of generosity.

Live performances

The song has become one of Bruce Springsteen's more popular concert staples, with about 596 performances through 2013. During the 1984-85

Born in the U.S.A. Tour The Born in the U.S.A. Tour was the supporting concert tour of Bruce Springsteen's '' Born in the U.S.A.'' album. It was his longest and most successful tour to date. It featured a physically transformed Springsteen; after two years of bodybuil ...

, "Bobby Jean" appeared frequently throughout the shows with a loud audience response, during the 1988

Tunnel of Love Express The Tunnel of Love Express was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and featuring The E Street Band along with The Horns of Love that took place in 1988. It was followed by a four and a half months of the release of Springsteen's October 198 ...

, the song generally appeared first or last; though by the 1992-93 "Other Band" Tour, "Bobby Jean" was not heard during concerts. By the

Ghost of Tom Joad Tour The Ghost of Tom Joad Tour was a worldwide concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage in small halls and theatres, that ran off and on from late 1995 through the middle of 1997.Santelli, ''Greetings From E Street'', pp ...

, the song was suddenly turned into a short four-minute performance with only Springsteen doing his opening on harmonica and acoustic guitar. It remained to have several performances on the Reunion Tour and only several times on

The Rising Tour The Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003. It followed the release of their 2002 album '' The Rising''. Itin ...

. By the

Devils & Dust Tour The Devils & Dust Tour was a 2005 concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen performing alone on stage on a variety of instruments. It followed the release of his 2005 album ''Devils & Dust''. The tour was named the Top Small Venue Tour of 2005 b ...

, the acoustic version had turned given yet another warm welcome back by fans, however, by the start of the Sessions Band Tour, "Bobby Jean" appeared, still on acoustic guitar and harmonica only this time the large outfit were playing a folk-like tune in the back that made it sound rather depressing. Springsteen and the E Streeters since reverted to playing the original version on the late 2000s Magic Tour and

Working on a Dream Tour The Working on a Dream Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which began in April 2009 and ended in November 2009. It followed the late January 2009 release of the album ''Working on a Dream''. This was the first ful ...

, being occasionally setlisted, usually being heard in the band's encore. Springsteen performed "Bobby Jean" with

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...

during their closing set at the

2009 Bonnaroo Music Festival The 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival was held June 11–14, 2009 at a farm in Manchester, Tennessee, United States. There were roughly 75,000 people in attendance. The onset of Bonnaroo 2009 was punctuated by monstrous thunderstorms. Thursday ...

. In 2010 a live version of the song appeared on the live DVD London Calling: Live in Hyde Park. The song was used as the primary closer of the shows throughout 2016/2017 tour. In recent years, crowds, especially in Europe, have taken the habit of arm-waving in unison throughout the song.

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...

from

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

made a surprise appearance on March 24, 2016 in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

when he joined Springsteen and the band for "Bobby Jean."

Critical reception

The aggregation of critics' lists at

Acclaimed Music Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...

did not place this song in its list of the top 3000 songs of all time, but rated it as one of the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

songs "bubbling under" the top 3000.

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: *

– vocals, guitars *

– synthesizer, piano *

– saxophone, tambourine *

Danny Federici Daniel Paul Federici (January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008) was an American musician, best known as the organ, glockenspiel, and accordion player and a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. In 2014, Federici was posthumously induct ...

– glockenspiel *

Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being bass player and founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band si ...

– bass *

Max Weinberg Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' a ...

– drums

Covers

"Bobby Jean" was covered by

Portastatic Portastatic is an American indie rock band founded in the early 1990s as a solo project of Mac McCaughan, singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Superchunk. The project has since expanded into a full band, sometimes including Superchunk gui ...

on their 2003 ''

Autumn Was a Lark ''Autumn Was a Lark'' is an EP by the band Portastatic. It was released on the Merge Records label in 2003. The EP was recorded at Pox Studios in Durham, North Carolina, after the touring version of Portastatic finished the '' Summer of the S ...

'' album.

References

External links

Lyrics & Audio clips from Brucespringsteen.net
{{authority control Bruce Springsteen songs 1984 songs Songs written by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Jon Landau Song recordings produced by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Steven Van Zandt Song recordings produced by Chuck Plotkin