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Thread: Clarence Clemons

  1. #1

    Default Clarence Clemons

    Yesterday, longtime sax player for Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons passed away at the age of 69 due to complications from a stroke.

    Clemons' death leaves void for Springsteen | oregonlive.com

    Just before he passed, he recorded two sax solos for Lady Gaga giving him even more of a fanbase as a younger generation who may not be in to Springsteen got a chance to hear him play the sax.

    I got in to Springsteen in my late teens by accident. One day I was flipping through old CD's that were around the house and I stumbled upon "Born to Run". I'd heard of Bruce, sort of had an idea that he was a big deal, but never really understood why. I didn't know his music except for the big hits, "Born To Run", "Born In The USA", Dancing In The Dark", "Glory Days" and they were hit or miss for me. I loved some, hated others, so I was a Bruce neutral. Yet, something about the album cover intrigued me: It was Bruce and another guy, a fella with a sax, and they were leaning on each other, two guys propping each other up, sharing a private joke, and I wanted to know more.

    Bruce Springsteen - Telegraph

    So, I popped in the CD and the rest was history. "Born to Run" isn't my favorite Springsteen album but it's damn near a perfect one. From "Thunder Road" straight on through "Jungleland", the vision that Springsteen had about life, about growing up, escaping to a better place is all there. Springsteen created the vision, but he needed help in sharing it with the world and in that he had the one and only E Street Band. Each one a vital cog though none more so then "The Big Man" as he's called out on during "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", Clarence Clemons.

    Springsteen and the band had been around for a few years already, had released other albums together but "Born to Run" is what pushed them to the next level, to the mainstream, to a point of no return. What Clemons offered the band was the soul that frankly, very few white guys from Jersey or anywhere could create on their own. With each blast of the sax, he added the grit, the swagger and the truth that turned Springsteen needed. Theirs was a match made in rock and roll heaven.

    I had the good fortune of seeing Bruce and the E Street Band live just once so far, and there is so much I'll take away from it. Like, how a 60+ year old guy could whip a crowd in to a frenzy better then any performer I've ever seen before. However the most endearing image is of The Big Man, hampered by bad knees, bad hips and just TIME, slowly shuffling around the stage at times, resting between songs and sometimes even during other people's solos in a throne-like chair. Yet, when the moment came, he got up, picking up his instrument and made THAT sound come out of his sax. The sound, like a primal scream of music, with all the wisdom, hardship, victories, losses, blood, sweat and tears. It was a timeless sound, a sound I'll never forget.

    I can say proudly that I am a Springsteen fanatic now, and a lot of that has to do with Clarence Clemons.

    RIP Big Man.


    Also, to give this thread an added point: Do you think bands should carry on when iconic members pass away? Or should they retire, or perhaps create a new identity? Rename themselves, etc?

    Take care all.

  2. #2
    card mod ur face Rocket Edge's Avatar
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    I think they should carry on. There would be no point to stop if they still desire to perform.

    Very sad news. Seen him live myself about 6 years back - was great stuff. RIP Big Man.

    Str8 Pimpin'

  3. #3
    The Misanthropist charliepanayi's Avatar
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    A sad loss for music, RIP Clarence *sticks on Tenth Aveue Freeze Out and Jungleland*
    "Excuse me Miss, do you like pineapple?"

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