FEATURE:
Two Bosses
The Renegades: Born in the USA Podcast
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THIS is a little extra feature for a Tuesday…
PHOTO CREDIT: Rob DeMartin/Spotify via AP
as I have been interested by the new podcast, Renegades: Born in the USA. It features ‘The Boss’, Bruce Springsteen, and another boss: the former President of the U.S.A., Barack Obama. Although it seems like an unlikely partnership, the two are compelling and comfortable with one another. Last month, the news was announced that the podcast was launching. This article from The Guardian explains more:
“Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen have teamed up to produce a podcast, they announced on Monday, with the first two episodes available immediately.
Renegades: Born in the USA features the politician and the rockstar musing over their backgrounds, music and their “enduring love of America”, according to Spotify, which is hosting the podcast.
Given the name recognition of its two hosts, Renegades is likely to be the Obama family’s latest big podcasting hit, following the success of Michelle Obama’s podcast in 2020.
“On the surface, Bruce and I don’t have a lot in common,” Obama said in a trailer for the podcast.
“He’s a white guy, from a small town in Jersey. I’m a Black guy of mixed race, born in Hawaii. He’s a rock’n’roll icon. I’m … not as cool.”
Despite those differences, the pair formed a friendship after meeting during Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and have recorded eight episodes of conversation.
Spotify released the first two episodes of Renegades on Monday, along with a teaser video showing Obama and Springsteen sitting in front of microphones, surrounded by guitars and recording equipment.
“In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys, looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning, truth and community with the larger story of America,” Obama says in the trailer.
“And over the course of a few days, all just a few miles from where he grew up, we talked.
“What we discovered during these conversations was that we still share a fundamental belief in the American idea. Not as an act of nostalgia, but as a compass for the hard work that lies before us”.
A few episodes have gone up already, and it is great to hear Springsteen and Obama discuss race, being outsiders, in addition to American music. Although I have seen a couple of reviews claiming the podcast is quite dull, I think it is really interesting and informative. It is a great podcast with two huge names. There is no ego or wrestling for attention during Renegades: Born in the USA. In their review, this is what The Times noted:
“Two instalments have been released so far from the eight-episode series which is part of the deal Obama and his wife have struck with Spotify. The format is familiar from a thousand other podcasts: two friends shooting the breeze about their lives and the issues of the day. When the two friends are a former president of the United States and one of the biggest rock stars in the world and the setting is Springsteen’s New Jersey farmhouse, it’s all a bit different.
One episode deals with race, the other with Obama and Springsteen’s “unlikely” friendship. The idea is that they get along because both grew up as outsiders: Obama because of his race and unconventional childhood in Hawaii; Springsteen because of the difficult childhood that sprang from his father’s schizophrenia and his grandparents’ eccentric child-rearing. However, as soon as they get on to politics it’s obvious this is the real reason they’re pals. Both share a pragmatic, optimistic, civically responsible liberalism. Springsteen’s idea that “you are a part of a general flow of history and as such what is happening and what has happened is part of your responsibility” is pure Obama and might almost have come from one of his campaign speeches.
Both are able to find the heart in a kind of liberal politics which may sound too technocratic or moderate to be really emotional. Springsteen also speaks convincingly about racism and the race riots he watched in his town as a teenager in a way that sounds sincere, unlike some of the blandly worthy stuff provided by some Hollywood celebrities on the issue.
The production is unimpeachably classy and unobtrusive use is made of the audio medium. Springsteen plays a fragment of his song My Hometown, which adds nice emotional heft. When Obama mentions playing by the sea as a child in Hawaii there is the tasteful sound of waves. This, inevitably, is part of the problem. You know before you listen that it will all be a little too slick. Obama is a master of trailing tantalising but uncontroversial details of his private life. So he recalls that his burgeoning friendship with Springsteen featured a night at the White House singing Broadway songs together, with Springsteen on the piano (“there were libations involved . . . there was drinkin’ ”). The trip the men took on a luxury yacht with Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks in 2017 is left unmentioned”.
I wanted to keep this fairly brief, only to recommend people listen in. I think it can be risky when a huge musician launches a podcast but, with Springsteen possessing natural warmth and gravitas, there is plenty to enjoy. Barack Obama is equally fascinating and natural. I hope that the run of Renegades: Born in the USA is quite long, and we get to hear many more episodes. Based on the episodes so far, Renegades: Born in the USA is born to run (sorry!). Not only is it a podcast where you will learn more and find out quite a bit about Springsteen and Obama; you will also keep coming back to the episodes and discovering new things. If you have not heard Renegades: Born in the USA, then check it out as it makes for…
INTRUIGING and essential listening.