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Clarence Clemons dies at age 69


Carl

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Bruce Springsteen's sax player Clarence Clemons died on Saturday (June 18th) from complications of a stroke. Shocking news considering he was recently performing with Lady Gaga, and appeared on her songs "The Edge of Glory" and "Hair."

Clarence has one of those mythical stories that is most likely true. Bruce Springsteen alludes to it in his song Tenth Avenue Freeze Out: Springsteen was playing a club in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and a crazy storm was raging outside. Clemons came in, and the door literally blew off the hinges. So there he was, a big black man standing in the doorway with lightning flashing behind him. When he asked to sit in, Bruce obliged, and he quickly went from being a social worker to the full time sax player in the E Street Band.

Clarence will be sorely missed.

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I once met a brunette with brown eyes and a great big smile. I managed to get invited to her room, where she played me her favourite music. "I love the saxophone on this one", she explained as the violins opened "Jungleland". So we listened to the saxophone, staring at the picture of The Boss leaning on The Big Man. And we listened again; and again.

This was the beginning of a happy story. We saw Clarence playing the solo in Rotterdam, 1992 I think, and we shivered.

The happy story has a sad chapter now. Our son mourns as well.

We'll always remember Clarence Clemmons.

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From Springsteen's eulogy:

We were united, we were strong, we were righteous, we were unmovable, we were funny, we were corny as hell and as serious as death itself. And we were coming to your town to shake you and to wake you up. Together, we told an older, richer story about the possibilities of friendship that transcended those I'd written in my songs and in my music. Clarence carried it in his heart. It was a story where the Scooter and the Big Man not only busted the city in half, but we kicked ass and remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship would not be such an anomaly. And that... that's what I'm gonna miss.

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  • 1 month later...

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