Aan Bruce Springsteen werd een tijd geleden de Engelse Fellow of the Ivors toegekend.
Na de bekendmaking zei hij al die onderscheiding op prijs te stellen, maar hij kwam ook daadwerkelijk naar Londen om die onderscheiding op donderdag 23 mei jl. in ontvangst te nemen. Misschien was dat doordat hij de eerste niet-Brit is die de eer te beurt valt.
De speech bij de uitreiking werd gehouden door Paul McCartney, die ook al goede maatjes met Springsteen is.
Zoals gebruikelijk was die speech ironisch, zodat er sprke was van het nogal veel gebruikte begrip ‘roast’.
McCartney hield het uiteraard leuk en zei het volgende: ‘Springsteen is a Dutch name. Did you know that? In Dutch it means man in charge. So he’s the man in charge. So unlike Bruce’s concerts, I’m gonna keep this brief. I said to him, ‘I blame you man, we used to play an hour, an hour and a half. The Beatles used to play a half hour.’ He starts doing one and we’re all playing three hours now. Anyway I’ll get on with it.
So er I can’t think of a more fitting person to be the first international songwriter fellowship except maybe Bob Dylan, or Paul Simon, or Billy Joel, or Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift. The list goes on. Just kidding Bruce. Anyway I was wondering how Bruce would fit into The Beatles. When it comes to talent, he was definitely in the Top Five.
Anyway as I say he is a mate and me and my wife Nancy go out to their place in New Jersey and him and Patti are just the best hosts. I mean they really look after you, you know? When you go there it’s like in the winter, he’s got a great big fire going in the fire pit so we sit outside and drink and chat about things.
He is a fantastic guy, he’s really nice guy and he showed up for me at Glastonbury and he promised to do that about three years before then COVID hit. And I thought, ‘Well he’s never gonna show up’ and then he shows up. He’s a lovely boy, he’s known as being the American working man you know? But he admits, he’s never worked a day in his life. It’s true.
So he’s a lovely, lovely boy. You know what, it’s great for me to be back here because I came here in the sixties. I know I don’t look that old. So it’s a great pleasure for me to present this to Bruce and he is a fellow.’
Springsteen zelf sprak natuurlijk ook en inderdaad, ook dat duurde even:
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