Dear tramps,
It was a dark and stormy night…. the story that
followed these words was big. As Mr Springsteen said, it was bigger than the one he could have ever told by himself.
On that dark and stormy night, a little guy was
playing on a stage somewhere in Jersey when the door of the bar blew off. Then,
a majestic and big silhouette bumped into and asked him to play with his band. The
little guy could not refuse the proposal from that Big Man. That night the
stars lined up and every loose end seemed to tie right. What followed next was house
rocking, pants dropping, brain-shocking, earth quaking, booty-shaking,
sexifying, electrifying and legendary. Ladies and gentlemen, that night the
change was made uptown because the BIG MAN joined the band.
A friendship larger than life itself began and
today we are here as testimonies of it. Sadly, four years ago today the Big Man
left us but I am sure that we will meet again along other rivers, in other
cities, in other fields where we will once again pick up that work and get it
done. We may miss the physical part of Clarence today but his spirit, love and
passion are still and will always be with us.
C lived a full life. He smiled and he cried but
he did everything with joy and passion. Every night that he took the stage, he
proved that he was a Temple of Soul and that there was something, maybe an unnatural
feeling that was making us feel part of the same unique world at that moment. The
power of his saxophone was something extraordinary. He blew every note of every
song in a way that it seemed easy. As he said, he was just blowing and then the
soul started creating, the love started appearing and the music started
flowing.
I strongly believe he was not from the earth we
know. Clarence transmitted peace in every word, preached love in every note and
showed soul in every move. He taught us a lesson of life that we will never
forget. He was more than a man, more than a musician, more than a saxophonist:
he was a Temple of Soul. And we were the lucky pilgrims that could get in.
The real proof that C is still with us can be seen in every ESB show. The first gig I attended after Clarence's dead was very emotive and corroborated me that Clarence was still with us here. As Bruce said: "If you are here and we are here, he is here". Jake did a perfect performance but the tears started flowing when in the middle of Tenth Avenue, the music stopped and images of Clarence appeared. The feeling was true, the missing was real. The hardest thing was to realize that Clarence was not there playing. However, you could feel his spirit in the stadium.
Do you think that someone as Big as him can vanish
and disappear in only one day? I don’t think so. That’s why I am saying that he
hasn’t left us yet. The simple act of thinking of him, the simple act of hoping
to hear again that “Do I have to say his
name?”…. this is what makes him eternal. Anybody really does not die till
the last person who remembers him dies. That’s the reason why I believe he is
still here. He is still with us, playing with the angels and blowing that sax
from up above but he is still doing it for us.
He was joy and that’s why we will always
remember him in a joyful way. However, how big was the Big Man? Too fucking big
to die. But remember, Clarence does not leave the E Street Band when he
dies, he leaves when we die.
SO LADIES AND GENTLEMAN… ALWAYS LAST, BUT NEVER LEAST.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE MASTER OF DISASTER, the BIG KAHUNA, the MAN WITH A PHD IN
SAXUAL HEALING, the DUKE OF PADUCAH, the KING OF THE WORLD, LOOK OUT OBAMA! THE
NEXT BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES EVEN THOUGH HE’S DEAD… YOU WISH YOU
COULD BE LIKE HIM BUT YOU CAN’T! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BIGGEST MAN YOU’VE
EVER SEEN!… GIVE ME A C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E. WHAT’S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT’S THAT
SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT’S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! … amen.
Eternal love for you C!!!! Thanks for the joy
you’ve given me!!
Till we meet again, take care of yourselves!
Today I leave you with the speech that Bruce
gave in honor to Clarence. It’s worth a read:
FOR THE BIG MAN
I’ve been sitting here listening to everyone talk
about Clarence and staring at that photo of the two of us right there. It’s a
picture of Scooter and The Big Man, people who we were sometimes. As you can
see in this particular photo, Clarence is admiring his muscles and I’m
pretending to be nonchalant while leaning upon him. I leaned on Clarence a lot;
I made a career out of it in some ways.
Those of us who shared Clarence’s life, shared with
him his love and his confusion. Though “C” mellowed with age, he was always a
wild and unpredictable ride. Today I see his sons Nicky, Chuck, Christopher and
Jarod sitting here and I see in them the reflection of a lot of C’s qualities.
I see his light, his darkness, his sweetness, his roughness, his gentleness,
his anger, his brilliance, his handsomeness, and his goodness. But, as you boys
know your pop was a not a day at the beach. “C” lived a life where he did what
he wanted to do and he let the chips, human and otherwise, fall where they may.
Like a lot of us your pop was capable of great magic and also of making quite
an amazing mess. This was just the nature of your daddy and my beautiful
friend. Clarence’s unconditional love, which was very real, came with a lot of
conditions. Your pop was a major project and always a work in progress. “C”
never approached anything linearly, life never proceeded in a straight line. He
never went A… B…. C…. D. It was always A… J…. C…. Z… Q… I….! That was the way
Clarence lived and made his way through the world. I know that can lead to a
lot of confusion and hurt, but your father also carried a lot of love with him,
and I know he loved each of you very very dearly.
It took a village to take care of Clarence Clemons.
Tina, I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for taking care of my friend, for
loving him. Victoria, you’ve been a loving, kind and caring wife to Clarence
and you made a huge difference in his life at a time when the going was not
always easy. To all of “C’s” vast support network, names too numerous to
mention, you know who you are and we thank you. Your rewards await you at the
pearly gates. My pal was a tough act but he brought things into your life that
were unique and when he turned on that love light, it illuminated your world. I
was lucky enough to stand in that light for almost 40 years, near Clarence’s
heart, in the Temple of Soul.
So a little bit of history: from the early days when
Clarence and I traveled together, we’d pull up to the evening’s lodgings and
within minutes “C” would transform his room into a world of his own. Out came
the colored scarves to be draped over the lamps, the scented candles, the
incense, the patchouli oil, the herbs, the music, the day would be banished,
entertainment would come and go, and Clarence the Shaman would reign and work
his magic, night after night. Clarence’s ability to enjoy Clarence was
incredible. By 69, he’d had a good run, because he’d already lived about 10
lives, 690 years in the life of an average man. Every night, in every place,
the magic came flying out of C’s suitcase. As soon as success allowed, his
dressing room would take on the same trappings as his hotel room until a visit
there was like a trip to a sovereign nation that had just struck huge oil
reserves. “C” always knew how to live. Long before Prince was out of his
diapers, an air of raunchy mysticism ruled in the Big Man’s world. I’d wander
in from my dressing room, which contained several fine couches and some
athletic lockers, and wonder what I was doing wrong! Somewhere along the way
all of this was christened the Temple of Soul; and “C” presided smilingly over
its secrets, and its pleasures. Being allowed admittance to the Temple’s
wonders was a lovely thing.
As a young child my son Sam became enchanted with the
Big Man… no surprise. To a child Clarence was a towering fairy tale figure, out
of some very exotic storybook. He was a dreadlocked giant, with great hands and
a deep mellifluous voice sugared with kindness and regard. And… to Sammy, who
was just a little white boy, he was deeply and mysteriously black. In Sammy’s
eyes, “C” must have appeared as all of the African continent, shot through with
American cool, rolled into one welcoming and loving figure. So… Sammy decided
to pass on my work shirts and became fascinated by Clarence’s suits and his
royal robes. He declined a seat in dad’s van and opted for “C’s” stretch
limousine, sitting by his side on the slow cruise to the show. He decided
dinner in front of the hometown locker just wouldn’t do, and he’d saunter up
the hall and disappear into the Temple of Soul.
Of course, also enchanted was Sam’s dad, from the
first time I saw my pal striding out of the shadows of a half empty bar in
Asbury Park, a path opening up before him; here comes my brother, here comes my
sax man, my inspiration, my partner, my lifelong friend. Standing next to
Clarence was like standing next to the baddest ass on the planet. You were
proud, you were strong, you were excited and laughing with what might happen,
with what together, you might be able to do. You felt like no matter what the
day or the night brought, nothing was going to touch you. Clarence could be
fragile but he also emanated power and safety, and in some funny way we became
each other’s protectors; I think perhaps I protected “C” from a world where it
still wasn’t so easy to be big and black. Racism was ever present and over the
years together, we saw it. Clarence’s celebrity and size did not make him
immune. I think perhaps “C” protected me from a world where it wasn’t always so
easy to be an insecure, weird and skinny white boy either. But, standing
together we were badass, on any given night, on our turf, some of the baddest
asses on the planet. We were united, we were strong, we were righteous, we were
unmovable, we were funny, we were corny as hell and as serious as death itself.
And we were coming to your town to shake you and to wake you up. Together, we
told an older, richer story about the possibilities of friendship that
transcended those I’d written in my songs and in my music. Clarence carried it
in his heart. It was a story where the Scooter and the Big Man not only busted
the city in half, but we kicked ass and remade the city, shaping it into the
kind of place where our friendship would not be such an anomaly. And that…
that’s what I’m gonna miss. The chance to renew that vow and double down on
that story on a nightly basis, because that is something, that is the thing
that we did together… the two of us. Clarence was big, and he made me feel, and
think, and love, and dream big. How big was the Big Man? Too fucking big to
die. And that’s just the facts. You can put it on his grave stone, you can
tattoo it over your heart. Accept it… it’s the New World.
Clarence doesn’t leave the E Street Band when he dies.
He leaves when we die.
So, I’ll miss my friend, his sax, the force of nature
his sound was, his glory, his foolishness, his accomplishments, his face, his
hands, his humor, his skin, his noise, his confusion, his power, his peace. But
his love and his story, the story that he gave me, that he whispered in my ear,
that he allowed me to tell… and that he gave to you… is gonna carry on. I’m no
mystic, but the undertow, the mystery and power of Clarence and my friendship
leads me to believe we must have stood together in other, older times, along
other rivers, in other cities, in other fields, doing our modest version of
god’s work… work that’s still unfinished. So I won’t say goodbye to my brother,
I’ll simply say, see you in the next life, further on up the road, where we
will once again pick up that work, and get it done.
Big Man, thank you for your kindness, your strength,
your dedication, your work, your story. Thanks for the miracle… and for letting
a little white boy slip through the side door of the Temple of Soul.
SO LADIES AND GENTLEMAN… ALWAYS LAST, BUT NEVER LEAST.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE MASTER OF DISASTER, the BIG KAHUNA, the MAN WITH A PHD IN
SAXUAL HEALING, the DUKE OF PADUCAH, the KING OF THE WORLD, LOOK OUT OBAMA! THE
NEXT BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES EVEN THOUGH HE’S DEAD… YOU WISH YOU
COULD BE LIKE HIM BUT YOU CAN’T! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BIGGEST MAN YOU’VE
EVER SEEN!… GIVE ME A C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E. WHAT’S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT’S THAT
SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT’S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! … amen.
I’m gonna leave you today with a quote from the Big
Man himself, which he shared on the plane ride home from Buffalo, the last show
of the last tour. As we celebrated in the front cabin congratulating one
another and telling tales of the many epic shows, rocking nights and good times
we’d shared, “C” sat quietly, taking it all in, then he raised his glass,
smiled and said to all gathered, “This could be the start of something big.”
Love
you, “C”.
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