In memory of ‘The Big Man,’ a look back at the E-Street Band’s Clarence Clemons

Some people step in and out of your life who make a huge impact on you. Clarence Clemons had that effect on me. While I am a large guy in stature, Clarence was larger than life in personality, demeanor, and talent.

Clarence, of course, was the celebrated sax player for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. He was a legend who, from time to time, is still memorialized.

It isn't easy to believe that Clarence has been gone since June 2011. I expect to see or hear about him from friends in the music business, or expect to see him backstage at recent Bruce shows. His absence is a profoundly large void.

Clarence Clemons played the sax every show like it was his last. It did not matter if it was in front of 300 people at a small bar in Red Bank or 80,000 people at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. He suffered from knee and hip problems, causing some of the legendary three-hour shows to take their toll. Regardless of the pain, Clarence always finished strong, and Bruce knew how to cope with those issues.

He started playing the sax at the age of nine, raised in Norfolk, Virginia, to the son of a fisherman and the grandson of a preacher who disdained Rock and Roll. He was gifted in sports and played football in college, then semi-pro. He moved to the Jersey Shore and played with a few bands until he met Bruce Springsteen on that faithful night in 1971.

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In describing Clarence, Bruce Springsteen said it best when he and the E Street Band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, describing meeting the Big Man for the first time. Here is the quote from Bruce:

“That night we first stood together, I looked over at C and it looked like his head reached into the clouds. I felt like a mere mortal scurrying upon the Earth, you know. 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 I could never have told without him at my side."

The sympatico friendship that Bruce and Clarence had was so incredibly special. It allowed both to be the best of friends and maintain an unmatched, unwavering relationship on stage. Bruce and the E-Street Band were and remain tight; Bruce and Clarence were very tight.

I interviewed Clarence when the band was on the final leg of their Born to Run tour in 1976; they were appearing at the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis, and I was working at the campus radio station. I had so much fun talking with Clarence that I forgot that we were recording. The stories were many and were filled with the antics and tribulations, including multiple situations of racism that he experienced on the road in Europe. I became a major fan of his that night.

My favorite Clarence Clemons moment was in 1984, back in Minneapolis for the kick-off to the Born in the USA tour, we were all staying at the same hotel. It was an off night for the band and Clarence, and I ended up at the small annex hotel bar, empty except for Clarence and I. Clarence asked me if I ever tried Metaxas, and I said I had not. Three bottles later and major payoffs to the bartender so he would continue this insanity, we stumbled off the barstool at 3:30 in the morning. The next morning, I felt like I had been embalmed.

I ran into the Big Man and his wife were at breakfast, and she told me to stay away, as together we were trouble. Clarence smiled that big grin at me and shrugged his shoulders. She was right. We would hang out again, but never to the degree that we did that epic night in Minneapolis. He was the best, whether you saw him at his club Big Man’s West, or driving around Sea Bright, or were a fan of any of the shows, he was an icon; many of us still miss him.

There are so many songs that he played on that brought each to life that only he could. The song Jungleland off the Born to Run album is one of the best sax solos ever played and remains one of my favorites.

I was thinking of him and wanted to share with you my fond memories and will raise a glass to the Big Man, but it won’t be Metaxas.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 weekend host Big Joe Henry. Any opinions expressed are Big Joe’s own.

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