Clarence Clemons - Goodbye and Goodbye E Street Band

Bruce Springsteen at his Rock HOF admission in 1999: "You wanna be like him, but you can't. The night I met Clarence, he got up on stage; a sound came out of his horn that seemed to rattle the glasses behind the bar, and threatened to blow out the back wall. The door literally blew off the club in a storm that night,. But there was something else. Something happened when we stood side by side; some energy, some unspoken story

“….For 15 years, Clarence has been a source of myth, and light, and enormous strength for me onstage. He has filled my heart so many nights, so many nights. And I love it when he wraps me in his arms at the end of the night. That night when we first stood together, I looked over at C., and it looked like his head reached into the clouds, and I felt like a mere mortal, scurrying upon the earth. But he always lifted me up - way, way, way up. Together we told a story of the possibilities of friendship; a story older than the ones that I was writing, and a story that I could never have told without him at my side. I want to thank you, Big Man - I love you so much.”

That was what Bruce said in 1999 being inducted to the Rock Hall Of Fame. ...now if thethe "15 years" he mentions seems short, it was Bruce honestly taking in to account the years Bruce played with someone else...and I can tell you from seeing those "F Street Band" performances as they were called, it felt VERY empty when a song came up that needed Clarence on Sax ...was not the same without him, as the music world never will be without him today. I've seen Bruce a dozen times ---first time in 1975 at Burruss Hall in Blacksburg for $4.50. and the arena was always electric when Clarence stepped into the spotlight. I also had one of the times of my life when "Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers" played to about 300 faithful during a huge ice storm at Radford University until the wee hours of the morning in the early 80's . Somehow, those of us who saw the band the past few years had to realize we were seeing the end of something . At the end of the shows, with the crowd prompted by the screens, we all hailed
The E Street Band!



The E Street Band!



The heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-shaking, booty-quaking, Viagra-taking, love-making -



Le-gen-dary E - Street - Band!

Guess you know I will miss him.