Springsteen Recalls Being 29 In Holmdel, Writing 'The River'

HOLMDEL, NJ — Before playing "The River" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday, Bruce Springsteen thought back to the time when he was 29, living in Holmdel, and wrote this song.

He was about 30 minutes from his sister, who was living "a very blue-collar life," similar to their parents'.

"Really, she and her husband were the inspiration for the core of that song," he told Colbert. "Once I got the opening lines —that I come from down in the valley where, mister, when you're young they bring you up to do like your daddy done — the rest fell out after that."

He also showed Colbert the guitar featured on the cover of the album "Born To Run," which he's had for 50 years.

"I bought it when I was 22 years old for $185 on Highway 34 I think in Belmont, New Jersey, from a great guitar man," Springsteen said. "It's kind of a mut, it's made up of two different guitars. This guitar has been in every club, theater, arena and stadium across America and most of the world."

He also said he doesn't play that guitar on stage that much anymore and that it's been sort of been put out to pasture.

At one point Colbert asked if he should put the guitar back, jokingly picking it up and getting away from his desk for a few seconds.

He couldn't help but bring up his long-time friend and New Jersey-raised comedian.

"Have you ever let Jon Stewart touch this?" Colbert asked. To the host's delight, the answer was a probable "no."

Springsteen also talked about work-life balance, with Springsteen saying that you have to set clear boundaries between work, home and family "if you want to live a full life."

"I love my job. Great way to make a living, no way to live if you're a musician," The Boss said. "There have been very many artists previous to me and my peers who didn't figure that out and it can be very very very dangerous to you."

He also remembered a time when he jumped over Elvis' fence to see if he was home and said that, on the other side, he had to deal with some of his fans doing the same to him for a while.

"And of course, when I would chase them away off my front lawn they would say 'but you, you did it to Elvis,'" he said laughing.

Springsteen talked about the podcast and subsequent book that he and Barack Obama created, saying he thought the former president had dialed the wrong number when he picked up the phone and heard his voice float the idea of doing a podcast together.

"I am a guitar player. I am a Freehold Regional High School graduate," he said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. "He's a Columbia graduate, teacher of constitutional law in the University of Chicago Law School, first African American president of the United States."

The two recently sat together at The Boss's Colts Neck home for an interview that aired on CBS over the weekend, promoting their new book and podcast, both named "Renegades: Born in the USA."

During the CBS interview, the pair were seen taking a lap around the Colts Neck property in Springteen's 1960 Corvette.

"This was one of the highlights of my time on this farm, was getting behind the wheel of this mean machine," Obama said. "I will confess that the secret service, normally I'm good about alerting them but...I just took off. And in the review mirror, I could see some of my agents running behind."

Springsteen said he bought the car when he was 25 years old and that it was all he got out of his record deal at the time, along with a piano.

During the CBS interview, Springsteen and Obama talked bout the things that brought them together, including the feeling of being outsiders and having absent fathers. The two met in 2008 during Obama's campaign and became friends over the years.

"I joked with Bruce, I said well I don't understand why a kid from New Jersey thinks he's an outsider cause, now, I'm an outsider. You can definitely understand why Barack Obama is an outsider," the former president said.

Springsteen recognized that the idea of what his father would think of him was always a driving force in his career.

"Why did you become president?" he also asked Obama, whose father left when he was two years old. "Who were you trying to impress?"