7 Songs About Bruce Springsteen

Any aspiring musician knows that to truly succeed in the music industry, you can’t just make good music. You also have to have a brand—and ideally, a specific image and story that feels totally authentic and makes it easy for fans to connect with you. Few artists have cultivated this more successfully than Bruce Springsteen, whose working-class, all-American hero image has helped make him part of the wider cultural lexicon.

Known for his legendary hours-long concerts and his penchant for writing songs that tap into the heart of the American experience, Springsteen has become a larger-than-life figure. Because of this, he’s been name-dropped in songs by dozens of musicians over the years.

His name and music are often associated with young love and nostalgic summer nights spent listening to rock and roll, but some of these songs are a bit more critical than reverential—though maybe not for the reasons you might assume.

“Springsteen” by Eric Church
“Bruce” by Rick Springfield
“Tweeter and the Monkey Man” by the Traveling Wilburys
“Shutup Springsteen” by Gary Frost
“Talking New Bob Dylan” by Loudon Wainwright III
“Kid Inside” by John Cougar (Mellencamp)
“Redemption” by Frank Turner

“Springsteen” by Eric Church

Country musician Eric Church’s 2012 hit “Springsteen” is the ultimate ode to the many summer nights and romances that have been soundtracked by Springsteen’s music over the past half-century.

The song recalls a youthful love affair spent singing along to Springsteen and getting rebellious tattoos, and name-drops a number of Springsteen hits along the way. “Somewhere between that settin' sun / ‘I'm on Fire’ and ‘Born to Run’ / You looked at me and I was done / We were just gettin' started,” Church sings. At the end of the song, he admits that just hearing “Born in the USA” brings him back to those bygone days.

Church wrote the tune from a place of genuine affection for the Boss. “I love how powerful music is, and this is a song directly about that,” Church told Taste of Country. “And, I’m a big Springsteen fan. I just paid homage to him and what his music meant to me.”

“Bruce” by Rick Springfield

Rick Springfield and Bruce Springsteen do admittedly have a lot in common. Both were born in 1949, both were inspired by the Beatles, both released their first albums in the ‘70s and made it big in the '80s, and both have last names that start with “Spring.” And while they don’t look all that much alike up close, more than a few people have definitely confused these two guitar-wielding, shaggy-haired rockers over the years.

This apparently happened so often that Springfield ended up writing a song about it. The track “Bruce” describes being mistaken for Springsteen by a fan, a lover, and even his own mother. Initially released as a bonus track on Springfield’s 1981 album Working Class Dog, the tongue-in-cheek song was then re-released in 1984.

Apparently, the case of mistaken identity went both ways. Springsteen was reportedly once asked about his least favorite interview question, to which he responded, “Ask me about ‘Jessie’s Girl’”—one of Springfield’s biggest hits.

“Tweeter and the Monkey Man” by the Traveling Wilburys

The Traveling Wilburys were a supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. To have even one of these artists write a song about you would be an honor, but it’s hard to imagine how surreal it must have felt to know all of these greats wrote, recorded, and performed a song that pays tribute to you.

That’s exactly what happened with this song, which was mostly written by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. According to Petty, Dylan wanted to write a song set in New Jersey that referenced Springsteen’s catalog.

It also was a genuine tribute, not a parody. “It was not meant to mock him at all,” Petty told Rolling Stone in 2013. “It started with Bob Dylan saying, ‘I want to write a song about a guy named Tweeter. And it needs somebody else.’ I said, ‘The Monkey Man.’ And he says, ‘Perfect, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man.” And he said, ‘OK, I want to write the story, and I want to set it in New Jersey.’ I was like, ‘OK, New Jersey.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, we could use references to Bruce Springsteen titles.’ He clearly meant it as praise.”

The song, which follows two New Jersey drug dealers, is indeed full of Springsteen Easter eggs, from the lyric “mansion on the hill,” which is also the title of a Springsteen song, to a reference to a “state trooper”—another Springsteen song title. Abandoned factories, mobsters, and New Jersey all get mentioned here, which all also appear in Springsteen’s catalog. Even the song’s title appears to be a reference to Springsteen’s song “Part Man, Part Monkey.” Apparently, the song wound up being so full of Americana references that it left the band’s English members, Harrison and Lynne, quite confused.

“Shutup Springsteen” by Gary Frost

Not everyone’s a genuine Springsteen fan, but this song is far from the diss track its title makes it out to be. Instead, “Shutup Springsteen” is a breakup song that laments a relationship spent listening to Springsteen—whose voice, of course, the singer can no longer bear to hear. This 2022 country ballad is chock full of references to Springsteen songs, from “Dancing in the Dark” to “Tougher Than the Rest.”

“Talking New Bob Dylan” by Loudon Wainwright III

“Talking New Bob Dylan” is more of a tribute to Dylan than Springsteen, but the latter plays a major part in it as well. This 1992 song honors Dylan while poking a bit of fun at all the artists who have tried to emulate him over the years, from John Prine to Springsteen. “Well, we still get together every week at Bruce's house / Why, he's got quite a spread I tell ya, it's a twelve step program,” Wainwright sings.

“Kid Inside” by John Cougar (Mellencamp)

“Kid Inside” finds a young John Mellencamp lamenting Springsteen’s talent and success. “Yeah, and it's hard for me to justify my position / Yeah, when everything that I'm singing / Can be said better by Mr. Springsteen, yeah,” Mellancamp sings in this 1983 track, which he released while still performing under the name John Cougar. The song was actually written in 1978 for the album The Kid Inside, but Mellencamp was dropped from his label soon after, and the album was not released until after his 1982 breakout album American Fool put his name on the map.

Mellencamp would later find his way, adopting his new name and eventually being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Still, this song shows how comparison and insecurity can come for anyone and everyone.

“Redemption” by Frank Turner

Here, Turner takes a more contemplative and philosophical look at some of Springsteen’s lyrics, and reflects on the loneliness and existential questioning often hidden behind the rocker’s catchy choruses and pumped-up drums.

“I was walking home to my house through the snow from the station / When Springsteen came clear in my headphones with a pertinent question / Oh, is love really real and can any of us hope for redemption?” Turner sings in this devastating 2011 breakup song.

The track is, among other things, a reminder of some of the rawer realities and contemplativeness that underlie Springsteen’s all-American image, from Springsteen’s own struggles with depression to the often misunderstood meaning of the song “Born in the USA.”