That isn’t quite true either, but I’ll come back to that. Suppose that Springsteen was indisputably a fraud. Suppose we learned last year that his real name was Bryce Springfield IV, Duke of Bedford, that he’d grown up riding to hounds, attending Oxford, and receiving a double first in Russian and chemistry. Suppose the closest he had ever come to New Jersey was . . . Jersey. Suppose he’d grown up a right proper English twit.
How would “Born to Run” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” sound then? Would we dismiss him as a charlatan and stop showing up for his concerts? Would this be a career-upending scandal?
I’d say it shouldn’t be. While all of this would be a very interesting development for a biographer, it shouldn’t matter to a critic or a fan. The songs would still be the songs. They’d still be as wistful, poetic, and propulsive as they are.
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