Obama, Springsteen Interviewed At The Boss’ Colts Neck Home

COLTS NECK — Former President Barack Obama and New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen sat down together at the rockstar's Colts Neck home for a joint interview for CBS which will be aired over the weekend.

The pair started a podcast together earlier this year and announced they will be publishing a book based on those conversations, both titled "Renegades: Born in the USA."

In an interview to the New York Times, the two acknowledged theirs was "at glance, an odd partnership." They met in 2008 during Obama's campaign and became friends over the years, even vacationing together.

During the CBS interview in New Jersey, Obama and Springsteen talked about things that bind them together and how they are both outsiders in their respective fields.

"What I do on any given evening, when I’m doing my job well, is I create a space of common values and shared narrative," Springsteen said. "For three hours, we create that place. It exists somewhere."

Obama mentioned that storytelling was also an important part of politics.

"And that power of storytelling is, you know, at its best, what good politics does well, right?" Obama said. “It says, ‘Here’s who we are. Here’s a common story we share.’"

The two also talked about the influence their fathers had on them and about Springsteen’s relationship with the late E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011. Springsteen has said in the podcast that the most important story he ever told was about his interracial friendship with Clemons and how it played out on stage.

"Well, it was … not intellectual. It was emotional. It was the language of the heart. … But it was incredibly visual, you know," Springsteen said. "And for a long period of time, you know, that was a story we told on stage, you know, which was – like I say, it was more valuable than the stories I wrote in my music, you know?"

Obama chimed in, adding: "In an ideal world what Bruce and Clarence portrayed on stage was essentially a reconciliation, right, and … redemption that comes about."

A preview of the interview will be aired on CBS Mornings on Friday at 7 a.m., with an extended interview on CBS Sunday Morning at 9 a.m. and more on Monday on CBS Mornings.