"Bobby Jean" is a song written and performed by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

, from his 1984 album '' Born in the U.S.A.'' Although not released as a single, it reached number 36 on the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart.

History

"Bobby Jean" was one of the last songs from the album to be recorded, and was considered a musical breakthrough for Springsteen during the recording, with its more accented rhythm and near dance groove. Marsh, Dave. ''Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s''. Pantheon Books, 1987. . p. 168. The title character's name is somewhat gender ambiguous,Rob Kirkpatrick, ''The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen'',

Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of ...

, 2006. p. 101. allowing for various interpretations. Nonetheless, "Bobby Jean" is often considered to have been written about his long-time friendship with

Steve Van Zandt Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandolin. He has appeared in ...

, who was leaving the

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band that has been the primary backing band for rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972. In 2014, the E Street Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the bulk of Springsteen's recordin ...

at the time: for example, Swedish journalist Richard Ohlsson made the interpretation in his book ''Bruce Springsteen: 16 Album'' that the title contained both a male and a female name because "the friendship with Bobby Jean is so strong that it's almost a kind of love." When this song is played live with the E Street Band, close ups of Van Zandt are often shown on the bigscreens. :''Now you hung with me, when all the others turned away ... turned up their nose'' :''We liked the same music — we liked the same bands — we liked the same clothes'' :''We told each other, that we were the wildest, the wildest things we'd ever seen ...'' The lyric turns to deeper emotions, which Springsteen biographer

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born ) is an American music critic and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of '' Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone'', and has published num ...

characterized as "lines that mingle love, grief, and rancor", with the chorus summing: :''Now I wished you would have told me —'' :''I wished I could have talked to you —'' :''Just to say goodbye, Bobby Jean ...'' At the conclusion, Springsteen imagines the song's subject hearing the very song in a motel room, as

Roy Bittan Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synth ...

's piano riff that drives the song yields to a saxophone coda from

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American saxophonist. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. Clemons rel ...

and the recording fades out. Marsh suggests that Springsteen was not singing a farewell just to Van Zandt, but also to his own depressed ''

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

'' self. Nevertheless, use of minor to major

altered chord An altered chord is a chord that replaces one or more notes from the diatonic scale with a neighboring pitch from the chromatic scale. By the broadest definition, any chord with a non-diatonic chord tone is an altered chord. The simplest examp ...

in the last parts of the chorus lend the song a spirit of generosity.

Live performances

The song has become one of Bruce Springsteen's more popular concert staples, with over 700 performances through 2024. During the 1984-85 Born in the U.S.A. Tour, "Bobby Jean" would frequently appear during the second set of the shows with a loud audience response. During the 1988 Tunnel of Love Express, the song appeared during the European leg. Making occasional appearances on the 1992-93 "Other Band" Tour, Bobby Jean lost its coda saxophone solo in favor of Springsteen’s vocal wailing. "Bobby Jean" appeared on the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, where the song was turned into a four-minute acoustic guitar and harmonica performance. The full band version reappeared on the Reunion Tour and

The Rising Tour The Rising Tour was a lengthy, worldwide, top-grossing concert tour featuring Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band that took place in arenas and stadiums over 2002 and 2003. It followed the release of their 2002 album '' The Rising''. Itin ...

. By the Devils & Dust Tour, the acoustic version had returned. On the Sessions Band Tour, "Bobby Jean" appeared again in its acoustic form with additional big-band folk instrumentation. On subsequent E Street tours, starting with the Magic Tour and Working on a Dream Tour, "Bobby Jean" has appeared in its full band arrangement, usually being placed in the encores. Springsteen performed the song with

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

during their closing set at the 2009 Bonnaroo Music Festival. In 2010 a live version of the song appeared on the live DVD London Calling: Live in Hyde Park. The song was used frequently as the closer of the show on the 2016 River Tour.

Eddie Vedder Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam. He was previously a gues ...

from

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

made a surprise appearance on March 24, 2016 in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

when he joined Springsteen and the band for "Bobby Jean." "Bobby Jean" has appeared throughout the Springsteen and E Street Band 2023-2025 Tour in the encores, usually alternating with Glory Days.

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: *

– vocals, guitars *

– synthesizer, piano *

– saxophone, tambourine *

Danny Federici Daniel Paul Federici (January 23, 1950 – April 17, 2008) was an American musician, best known as a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, where he was its organist, accordionist and glockenspiel player. Federici appeared on ten ...

– glockenspiel *

Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the bass player and a founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing ...

– bass *

Max Weinberg Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' an ...

– drums

Covers

"Bobby Jean" was covered by

Portastatic Portastatic is an American indie rock band founded in the early 1990s as a solo project of Mac McCaughan, singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Superchunk. The project has since expanded into a full band, sometimes including Superchunk ...

on their 2003 ''

Autumn Was a Lark ''Autumn Was a Lark'' is an EP by the band Portastatic. It was released on the Merge Records label in 2003. The EP was recorded at Pox Studios in Durham, North Carolina, after the touring version of Portastatic finished the ''Summer of the Sh ...

'' album. "Bobby Jean" was covered by Buford Pope for the 2016 tribute album '' Keep On Dreaming (Tribute to Bruce Springsteen).'' "Bobby Jean" was covered by CarterTown for their 2022 EP '' Bruce Synthsteen''.

References

External links

Lyrics & Audio clips from Brucespringsteen.net
{{authority control Bruce Springsteen songs 1984 songs] Song recordings produced by Jon Landau Song recordings produced by Bruce Springsteen Song recordings produced by Steven Van Zandt Song recordings produced by Chuck Plotkin Songs about friendship Songs written by Bruce Springsteen