Extrovert on stage, introvert off, Bruce Springsteen has retained his dignity through 25 years as America's foremost rock performer. Never a man to rush into anything, Bruce's words carefully considered thoughtful, passionate and sincere. Here, then, is what Bruce has to say about his life and work, and his place in American society, from the early days on the New Jersey shore to the end of the millennium...

• I think when you're a kid, one of the scariest things is hearing grown-ups argue.
• In the third grade a nun stuffed me in a garbage can under the desk because she said that's where I belonged.
• There ain't a note that I play on stage that can't be traced back directly to my mother and father.
• Rock'n'roll is a means of erasing the past. You have to want to get away from something pretty bad. I wanted to perform. I wanted to travel. I wanted to feel free.
• The first day I remember looking into a mirror and being able to stand what I saw was the day I had a guitar in my hand.
• I'm really lucky. I get to have a little bit of my dream every night.
• After Watergate America just died emotionally, Nobody had any hope left.
• You ride in a limousine the first time, it's a big thrill but after that it's just a stupid car.
• I don't think the American dream was that everyone was going to make a billion dollars. But it was that everyone was going to have an opportunity and the chance to live a life with some decency and a chance of some self-respect.
• I need to do work that sets me in the present, where I don't have to come out at night and depend upon my history or a song I wrote 20 years ago. What I'm interested in doing now is finding my place in the world as it stands. That to me is what is vital and gives you the commitment and motivation to tour and stand behind your work. That's all I know, 20 or 25 years down the line.
• At this point, I don't need my records to be Number 1 and sell as many as this person or that person. That's not fundamentally important. I don't believe that sustains you.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN... IN HIS OWN WORDS
JOHN DUFFY
Omnibus Press