Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.Joe Posnanski writes here of "Rosalita"; the New Yorker's David Remnick adds: "Clemons will be irreplaceable; Sonny Rollins could step in for him and never be able to provide the same sense of personality and camaraderie. His horn gave the band its sound of highway loneliness, its magnificent heart."
Below the fold: "Jungleland," from the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ, in September 1978. RIP, Big Man, and thank you, thank you, thank you:
When I was a little girl, my aunt taught me to yell "Clarence" whenever we listened to one of their albums. I've always loved his sax solos. My mom's favorite Springsteen song was Jungleland. I am so, so happy that I saw them live in 2008.
ReplyDeleteI'm just back from a wonderful (and Internet-free) Father's Day weekend trip to, of all places, the Jersey Shore, to receive the sad news. I'm not going to compete with Bruce, or Posnanski, or Remnick, or many others who have been and will be far more eloquent in their reactions and remembrances. I certainly need time to process. But I'll say this: we walked the boards at Ocean City this afternoon, and rode the rides at the Wonderland amusement park, and the soundtrack in my head was Bruce and Clarence and the E Street Band. Farewell and rest peacefully, Big Man - I hope you and Danny are making some sweet music together.
ReplyDeleteThere were times in the late 80s and early 90's when I really felt like I knew him. I will miss him.
ReplyDeleteRest well, Big Man. Let's hope Heaven has enough room for you and your sax.
ReplyDeleteThe saxophone is, without doubt, my very least favorite addition to the holy rock trinity of guitar, drums, and bass. Give me a strings, trumpet, xylophone, glockenspiel, tuba, Casio keyboard ... ANYTHING but sax, which I believe belongs in jazz and soul but not in rock. I have one exception to this rule, and you know the rock band I'm talking about, and do I have to say his name? DO I HAVE TO SAY HIS NAME?
ReplyDeleteClarence, you were beloved and will not be forgotten.
I've always said, Jungleland is a sax solo with a Bruce Springsteen song wrapped around it... Such a loss.
ReplyDeleteOn my way to work today, I was listening to some Born to Run outtakes, including an earlier version of Jungleland. The lyrics were almost locked, and it was much heavier on strings, but otherwise pretty close to the released version. Until you got to where CC's solo should have been, and it wasn't there. Not sure if this was just a cut as it existed before Clarence laid down his track, or if it was originally conceived not to be a sax song, but boy was it starkly different without him.
ReplyDeleteLoved Clarence Clemons RIP big man! When he did "Friend of Mine" with Jackson Browne I was blown away. You had me loving the sax Clarence thank you so much.
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