I was the only person I'd ever met who had a record contract. None of the E Street Band, as far as I know, had been on an airplane until Columbia sent us to Los Angeles.

I heard a political message in rock music. A liberation message. A message of freedom. I heard it in Elvis' voice.

My dad was young. He went to work. But he'd been to war. He'd seen some of the world. It wasn't like he was going to be an extensive traveler or something. That didn't seem to be in the nature of - in his nature or in the nature of his parents or many of the folks in my family, really. They were - we had a cousin that went to - off to Brown University. It was like a nuclear explosion took place.

I had spent about three months where I couldn't sing at all, so that was anxiety-provoking. But after that, I went back out. I sang for two hours in my garage one day to see if I had a voice.

You can't shut off the risk and the pain without losing the love that remains.

The life of a rock & roll band will last as long as you can look down into the audience and see yourself.

The one thing I wished for my children is that they'd be readers.