Paul KeenanRock and Roll superstar Bruce Springsteen has spoken candidly of how his faith upbringing in a staunchly Catholic family has shaped his life and work.
Speaking during an interview with RTÉ’s Late Late Show, the songwriter responsible for such hits as Born in the USA, Hungry Heart and Thunder Road admitted that religion was “a big issue” during his formative years in New Jersey.
Describing his family as “serious Catholics on both sides – Irish and Italian”, he said “I grew up in the shadow of the steeple and the red-brick church”.
Raised by “the Irish side of the family”, he explained, “It was a very old-school Catholicism, Catechism class every day for the first six years of my life. The first thing you learned about was religion, so it was a big big shaping factor in my life.”
Springsteen went on to acknowledge that he has been both helped and haunted by his faith upbringing.
“When I was in the 8th grade I said I’m done [with religion], I’m just going to walk away. But as I look back on my own writing and see the remnants of Scripture in it, remnants of things that I’ve learned, I see that there’s a Gospel-like fervour in what I do. I see I’m writing about redemption and damnation and loss and transcendence. These are things I am deeply interested in, and I trace it all back and realised it all came out of my Catholic upbringing.
“It followed me then and still does to this day.”