26 | Rolling Stone | RollingStone.com Photograph by Danny ClinchR&R
I
ntheearlydaysoftherea-
gan administration, Steve Van Zandt
startedwritingadoo-wopsong
called “The City Weeps Tonight”. The
goal was total authenticity, some-
thingthat“couldhavebeenbytheStudents
ortheJiveFive”,andhewasgettingpretty
close,untilhegotstuckonthefinalverse.
As Van Zandt threw himself into the im-
probablearcofthenext36yearsofhislife
–leavingtheEStreetBandtolaunchan
activism-fuelled solo career; helping to es-
tablish a pivotal cultural boycott of South
Africa with “Sun City”; then falling into a
post-Eighties showbiz limbo that consisted
mostly of walking his dog, only to find him-
self, all at once, starring onThe Sopranos,
touring the world again with Bruce Spring-
steen, and becoming the world’s leading
and only garage-rock evangelist – that song
somehow never left his mind.
“Every couple of years,” he says, “I’d see
ifIcouldfinishthatlastverse.I’mnotkid-
din’.I’dhavepagesandpagesofwords....
‘Not yet, that’s not quite it.’ ” He laughs,
offsetting the heavy-lidded sternness of a
defaultexpressionyoumightcallResting
Silvio Face. (“Steven is a kindhearted guy,”
sayshislongtimecollaboratorSouthside
Johnny Lyon, “but he can be very intimi-
dating, because he’s so focused.”)
VanZandtis,forthefirsttimeinmany
years, focused on his lapsed solo career.
In October, Van Zandt was fresh from a
yearlongEStreetBandtourwhenafriend
persuadedhimtoplayashowofhissongs
in London, where he had to win over an
audience filled with as many “curiosi-
ty-seekers”asfans.“Itwasarevelation,”
saysVanZandt.“Thestuffheldupsowell.
Itwasnicetofeelthat,thestrengthof
those songs.”
Thanks in part to his proximity to
Springsteen and his habit of giving away
some of his best songs to other artists
(Southside Johnny, Gary U.S. Bonds and,
recently, Darlene Love), Van Zandt is
among the most underrated songwriters
of the rock era, and it’s hard not to think
that even Van Zandt had started to under-
value his work. “He really is a great writer,”
says Jackson Browne, who recorded andfrequently performed Van Zandt’s protest
song “I Am a Patriot” (also a favourite of
Eddie Vedder’s), and credits him with in-
spiring the political bent of his own Eight-
ies work. Browne notes that Van Zan-
dt’s second album, Voice of America, was
“more recognisably political than Born in
the U.S.A.”, released a month later. “And
Little Steven’s songs could not be misun-
derstood. It really was a huge influence onme, and Bruce became more and more po-
litical from that point on.”
At the moment, Van Zandt is in a re-
hearsal studio on the Far West Side of
Manhattan, preparing for an upcoming
Asbury Park show with a new incarna-
tion of his backing band, the Disciples of
Soul – this one 15 musicians strong, barely
fitting in the room, not to mention form-
ing a substantial collective payroll. “StillLittle Steven Is His
Own Boss Again
On his first solo album in decades, rock’s ultimate sideman
reclaims the Jersey Shore sound he helped inventBY BRIAN HIATTBOARDWALK
EMPIRE
Van Zandt atop
Asbury Park’s
Convention
Hall in April