Bono gave Bruce Springsteen a hard time for refusing to license his song “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” for a commercial for the clothing brand Gap in partnership with Bono’s AIDS foundation (RED).
While presenting Springsteen with the Harry Belafonte Voices for Social Justice Award at Tribeca Festival, Bono started to praise the Boss’ ability to bring a Woody Guthrie sensibility to pop radio. It reminded him of his failed attempt to get Springsteen to bring it to a TV ad.
Bono was partnering with Gap for a clothing line supporting his nonprofit and recalled, “I tried to get you to give … I said, ‘Bruce, this song “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” this is like one of the great pop songs ever … Would you think about using it for a commercial, for (RED) and the Gap?’ And you said, ‘No.’”
“That was a big mistake,” Springsteen said, drawing laughs. “I should have said yes.” He called the 2008 song one of his “personal favorites” that the “audience doesn’t really care” about.
“That was just a song that I love,” Springsteen added. “Damn it, I still think back: ‘Bono asked you to put this thing on a commercial on television.’ I should have fucking done it! People would hear it like a hit, you know? So I have to apologize.”
At the beginning of the event, Tribeca Festival founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal introduced Bono, who then delivered heartfelt words of praise for the “Born to Run” legend. “Bruce Springsteen is America,” the U2 frontman said. “Bruce made poetry from the voices of the people and set that poetry to music. We honor him tonight as a musician and poet and as an activist and a patriot.”
In a brief conversation, the two talked about bringing resistance on the road for Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour, on which he has blasted President Donald Trump and sang his recent ICE protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis.”
To close the event, Patti Smith (backed by Tony Shanahan) sang her 1988 song “People Have the Power” in honor of Springsteen. Then, he and Bono joined for a reprisal, joyously singing backup vocals on the chorus.
Then, Springsteen stayed on stage and treated a room full of fans in Lower Manhattan to an acoustic version of the fan favorite “Land of Hope and Dreams.”
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