{"id":653,"date":"2011-06-29T16:40:20","date_gmt":"2011-06-29T20:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/the_prophet_of_pop\/?p=653"},"modified":"2011-06-29T16:40:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-29T20:40:20","slug":"bruce-springsteens-eulogy-for-clarence-clemons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/06\/bruce-springsteens-eulogy-for-clarence-clemons.html","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen’s Eulogy for Clarence Clemons"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last week the music world was shocked by the death of one of the legends of classic rock, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons.\u00a0 What has become clear in the aftermath is that the Big Man was not only an amazing musician and performer, but a great person and friend.\u00a0 Bruce Springsteen delivered the eulogy at his funeral<\/a>, and it is incredibly touching.\u00a0 Leave it to The Boss to capture the life of a person so poignantly.\u00a0 It is honest, real, and clearly full of love.\u00a0 Here is the opening, check out the rest at his website:<\/a><\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve been sitting here listening to everyone talk about Clarence and staring at that photo of the two of us right there.\u00a0 It\u2019s a picture of Scooter and The Big Man, people who we were sometimes.\u00a0 As you can see in this particular photo, Clarence is admiring his muscles and I\u2019m pretending to be nonchalant while leaning upon him.\u00a0 I leaned on Clarence a lot; I made a career out of it in some ways.<\/em><\/p>\n

Those of us who shared Clarence\u2019s life, shared with him his love and his confusion. \u00a0 Though “C” mellowed with age, he was always a wild and unpredictable ride.\u00a0 Today I see his sons Nicky, Chuck, Christopher and Jarod sitting here and I see in them the reflection of a lot of C\u2019s qualities. I see his light, his darkness, his sweetness, his roughness, his gentleness, his anger, his brilliance, his handsomeness, and his goodness.\u00a0 But, as you boys know your pop was a not a day at the beach.\u00a0 “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.\u00a0 This was just the nature of your daddy and my beautiful friend.\u00a0 Clarence\u2019s unconditional love, which was very real, came with a lot of conditions.\u00a0 Your pop was a major project and always a work in progress. \u00a0 “C” never approached anything linearly, life never proceeded in a straight line. He never went\u00a0 A\u2026 B\u2026. C\u2026. D.\u00a0 It was always A\u2026 J\u2026. C\u2026. Z\u2026 Q\u2026 I\u2026.!\u00a0 That was the way Clarence lived and made his way through the world.\u00a0 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.<\/em><\/p>\n

It took a village to take care of Clarence Clemons.\u00a0 Tina, I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re here.\u00a0 Thank you for taking care of my friend, for loving him.\u00a0 Victoria, you\u2019ve 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\u2019s” 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I was lucky enough to stand in that light for almost 40 years, near Clarence\u2019s heart, in the Temple of Soul.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hit “Like” to share this with your friends! Last week the music world was shocked by the death of one of the legends of classic rock, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons.\u00a0 What has become clear in the aftermath is that the Big Man was not only an amazing musician and performer, but a great person and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[680,668,681,683,679,682],"class_list":["post-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-bruce-springsteen-eulogy","tag-clarence-clemons","tag-clarence-clemons-funeral","tag-the-big-man","tag-the-boss","tag-u2-tributes-clarence-clemons"],"yoast_head":"\nBruce Springsteen's Eulogy for Clarence Clemons - The Prophet of Pop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/06\/bruce-springsteens-eulogy-for-clarence-clemons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bruce Springsteen's Eulogy for Clarence Clemons - The Prophet of Pop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hit “Like” to share this with your friends! 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Last week the music world was shocked by the death of one of the legends of classic rock, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons.\u00a0 What has become clear in the aftermath is that the Big Man was not only an amazing musician and performer, but a great person and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/the_prophet_of_pop\/2011\/06\/bruce-springsteens-eulogy-for-clarence-clemons.html","og_site_name":"The Prophet of Pop","article_published_time":"2011-06-29T20:40:20+00:00","author":"S. 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