Springsteen and Obama Remember How Their Collaboration Began: 'I Thought He Had the Wrong Number'
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Ethan Miller/Getty Images; Mike Coppola/FilmMagic Barack Obama (left) and Bruce Springsteen
Former President Barack Obama and rock icon Bruce Springsteen are sitting for their first joint interview in a a wide-ranging conversation on CBS that touches on everything from race to the influence of their fathers.
A clip of the interview — which will air in full on CBS Sunday Morning — was shown Friday in which the pair touched on their unlikely friendship, which has been chronicled in a joint podcast and, soon, a new book.
RENEGADES: Born in the USA chronicles a collection of intimate and candid conversations between the two and is modeled after a Spotify podcast of the same name.
"I always say when I first met Bruce he kind of seems like surprisingly shy, considering he goes out there and sings before tens of thousands of people for hours at a time," Obama, 60, told CBS in the clip aired Friday.
RELATED: Obama and Springsteen's Friendship Includes Their Wives, Too: 'Michelle and Patti Hit It Off'
The former president continued: "And we just ended up being in settings where we had these long conversations and I thought the things we're talking about — what does it mean to be a man, what does it mean to be an American? These were things that were just kind of popping up over a meal ... and I thought, You know what? This might be something that would be useful for folks to hear."
"I initially thought that he had gotten the wrong number when he called me," Springsteen, 72, said, adding, "I said, 'Okay let me figure this out. I am a guitar-playing high school graduate from Freehold, New Jersey — and you want me to do what?' "
Barack Obama (left) and Bruce Springsteen in 2012
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Over the course of several days in 2020, the 44th president and the 20-time Grammy winner shared stories with each other about their lives. Those stories made their way into the fully illustrated book, which also includes rare and exclusive photographs from the authors' personal collections and never-before-seen archival material, including Springsteen's handwritten lyrics and Obama's annotated speeches.
In the opening pages of the book, Obama writes: "Over the years, what we've found is that we've got a shared sensibility. About work, about family, and about America. In our own ways, Bruce and I have been on parallel journeys trying to understand this country that's given us both so much. Trying to chronicle the stories of its people. Looking for a way to connect our own individual searches for meaning and truth and community with the larger story of America."
"The conversations Bruce and I had in 2020 feel as urgent today as they did back then," he continues in the book. "They represent our ongoing effort to figure out how it is that we got here, and how we can tell a more unifying story that starts to close the gap between America's ideals and its reality."
The pair, who became friends on the 2008 campaign trail, launched their podcast at the end of February — hosting frank discussions about racism, masculinity, fatherhood, their careers and their unlikely friendship.
The duo's eight-part podcast series wrapped up its season in April with a conversation about fatherhood and the future.
RENEGADES: Born in the USA will hit shelves on Tuesday.
