Big Man: Real Life &Tall Tales(Grand Central) is the first autobiography written by an E Street Band member.Remarkably, it’s by Clarence Clemons, not Little Steven or even BruceSpringsteen himself. Big Man has aforeword by the Boss, who says in bemused reference to the cover photo for his1975 Born To Run albumthe one withSpringsteen and Clemons occupying equal space as icons of all things rock music“Whatis the joke they are sharing?”
Whata fond way to describe the image of Springsteen and Clemons, pictured on analbum that brought literate rock music to every corner jukebox. Springsteenrightfully says that everybody wanted to be hip to the in-joke once they sawhim and Clemons on that cover. With the recent success of the E Street Band’sconcert tour, playing Born to Run inits entirety with dedication and joy, and with this book, apparently the punchline is still relevant.
It’sa good book, Big Man, a rock ’n’ rollfable at its most joyous, and without any primary emphasis on the detailed drugand sex adventures so beloved by rock scribes. And the book is hilarious. Fromanecdotes about playing pool with Fidel Castro to spaced-out musings on HunterS. Thompson, Big Man is a real joy.Co-author Don Reo is identified as Clemons’ best friend (and the producer of“M*A*S*H,” among other television shows). From the textual flow it feels asthough they are helping one another recall such things as the secret Robert DeNiro told Clemons and Springsteen that had to be kept for 25 years, whathappened when, in a hotel room with Ringo Starr, Clemons got the call fromSpringsteen that the E Street Band was put on hold, andmost interestingly andas much fun, toohow the final hours of the Bornto Run album went down once and for all on tape. The book is a mixture ofstartling gossip and hilarious interlude. It has absolutely no insight intoanything, but is honest, endearing, completely crazy and always in thestoryteller mode. Every chapter has its combined moment of smart aleck and wiseresolution.
Onethinks of many recent, overwrought rock autobiographies. Unlike them, this iswhat living rock ’n’ roll is about, with no pretense toward literary flair andintent. For Springsteen fans, Big Manwill be endearing for its sincere picture of the Boss as a kind and dedicatedperson. The big man in the book is obviously Bruce Springsteen, for withouthim, and Clarence Clemons makes this clear, there would be no autobiographyfrom the sax player in the band.
Inthe end, this is a book for Springsteen fans, but at the beginning there isClemons, whose life story is uniquely important to the culture of rock ’n’ rollfrom the ’70s through the present because he isyou will knowone of us and notan indulgent hero. Clemons and Reo have crafted an exciting narrative wheretruth and fiction blend so seamlessly that the story becomes one that is bornto be fun.
