Bruce Springsteen Says His Kids Once Thought He Was 'Like Barney for Adults'

Will Russell/Getty Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen is always full of surprises.

During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show Friday, Springsteen, 73, revealed he once compared himself to Barney the dinosaur so his kids could understand his fame.

"When they were really little, they would ask why people would come up to me so I told them it was because where I worked I 'was like Barney for adults' so they understood," The Boss joked with Norton about life with Evan, Jessica and Sam, now 32, 30 and 28, whom he shares with wife Patti Scialfa, 69.

"Now they have virtually no interest in music or in that part of my life," Springsteen added about his grown-up kids. "But as I always say, 'They don't need a hero, they need a father.'"

Talking about the inspiration behind his 21st studio album Only the Strong Survive, the New Jersey-born superstar added that it came to his mind during the pandemic when he was "at home with nothing to do."

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"I thought, 'Maybe I'll sing someone else's songs?'" said Springsteen about his new album, which features a collection of 15 classic soul hits. "I had all these songs I was brought up on as a kid and all these soul singers whose work I have studied very hard and whose music I have loved for such a long time. It's very joyful music so it was easy to have a good time."

Yet, the rocker still appreciates that he's still no Marvin Gaye or Otis Redding. "I am really a bar singer and have a good voice for five sets a night and can go on for hours and hours as I usually do," he told Norton about his famous four-hour-long concerts.

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Jamie McCarthy/Getty Bruce Springsteen

"I've a great voice for that, but I lack the finesse, precision and tone of my greatest heroes so on this album I really focused on the singing and took it up a notch."

"I have been singing professionally for 60 years and have been playing with my band for 50," he added about his legendary recording career, adding jokingly, "Imagine this – you are with the same people you went to high school with, working with them every day for the rest of your life!"

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Come February, Springsteen and the E Street Band will kick off a 31-date North American tour that will end in April in the rocker's native New Jersey.

After that, Springsteen and company will head to Europe, for which they announced tour dates in May. Those shows will take place from April through July, before the group heads stateside once more for a second North American leg in August.

The dates mark the first time in six years he and the E Street Band will hit the road together.