Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales (Hardcover)

~ Clarence Clemons (Author), Don Reo (Author), Bruce Springsteen (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the saxophonist for the E Street Band, the famed backup band for Bruce Springsteen, Clemons has lived a kind of pop music celebrity that's rare these days, a life spent rising and staying at the top of the album charts and performing before stadiums packed with tens of thousands of people. Along the way, he's mastered the art of telling yarns that are entertaining, whether plausible or dubious. It's a skill acquired during long hours waiting for gigs, traveling to gigs and recovering from gigs (Clemons now suffers from knee, hip and other joint ailments). His storytelling prowess is on display in this memoir, written with friend and producer Reo (My Wife and Kids; 'Til Death). The book is part episodic memoir (printed on white pages) and part bull session (legends printed on gray pages). The authors trade chapters about how the E Street Band got its name, how Spring-steen and Clemons met and why Big Man decided not to cut his hair, among other things. The intent is to give readers, especially fans, an idea of life behind the music by sharing the stories bandmates told each other. It's a novel approach to memoir that unfortunately skimps on serious insight and Springsteen's music and too often settles on nostalgia and celebrity name-dropping. Fans of Springsteen (who contributes a foreword to the book) will no doubt be more tolerant and eager to savor every page. (Oct. 21)
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Review

"Big Man is one of the greatest books about a big black man ever written. If you want to get really close to a big black man without getting punched in the face, this book's for you!"
--Chris Rock


"Big Man is too funny, soulful, outrageous and wise to have been written by two people. I suspect Don Reo is an invented character. A mystical book, an oddly beautiful book, a wonderful book."
--Kinky Friedman


"Big Man takes you on an outrageous journey with one of the most charismatic, gracious, kind and talented men of our time. This peek into the world of Clarence is full of fun and laughter, which is exactly what this guy is all about. He's a genuine soul worth his weight in gold. That's why he's been an inspiration to me for years and years, and his incredible music brings great joy to my heart. His role in the E Street Band helped place him and the band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...right where he belongs."
--Pat Riley, NBA Hall Of Fame coach

"Legends have a way of growing every time they're told. This time, the tales of rock and roll history are brought to life by a legend himself, Clarence Clemons. Big Man relives Clemons's story in a unique personal narrative that's bound in both history and folklore. This is an essential read for any music lover."
--President Bill Clinton

"The feeling I get watching Clarence walk to center stage to play his sax must be similar to the feeling a Yankee fan had watching Babe Ruth walk to home plate: you're sure a big man is about to do something that's gonna make you cheer louder than you ever have before. This great book makes that feeling even stronger. Now excuse me while I drive my sleek machine over the Jersey state line."
--Artie Lange, New Jersey native, E-Street fanatic, and New York Times bestselling author of Too Fat To Fish

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446546267
• ISBN-13: 978-0446546263
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #100,647 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A class act!, October 13, 2009

By	On line shopper "On line shopper" (New York) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

As a Springsteen junkie (more than 100 shows under my belt starting with No Nukes in 1979) I buy lots of these books. Most I scan through and never get to reading all the way through. Even as one who would find what Springsteen eats for breakfast entertaining, I get bored. Not the case with Big Man! I read it in one day. It is truly enjoyable, funny and well written. Clarence's tales are so convincing, I found myself googling Englebert Humperdinck to see if he was still alive! As a black man, that on a given night may perform in front of 50,000 white people and on a good night maybe a dozen black people, he did not set out to prove anything. (Damon Wayons, a friend of Don Reo's comments at his first show that Bruce must be a Sopranos fan since he just spotted Stevie Van Zandt backstage!) Clarence is immensely talented, incredibly likable and really funny. And, he gets 50,000 white people pay money to see him! His stories come off as honest and straight forward. Clarence doesn't offer inside gossip on Bruce and the other band members; he doesn't have to; his stories are more than enough entertainment. There are really great photos that you don't want to miss, so don't opt for the Kindle version. As larger than life as Springsteen is, The Big Man never plays second fiddle. He doesn't do this with ego, but with talent, presence, likeability and a smile that can light up a stadium.

Don Reo's additions are really amusing. He is obviously a very successful man in his on right, and surely has met and hung out with many a celebrity, but offers his observations from a very humble perspective. He gets as excited by the private planes with the band, the backstage access, the inside scoop as any die hard fan would. In many cases he is the fly on the wall that we would all like to be. His perspective on Clarence is that of an old dear friend; by no means a ghost writer.

This book is a really good read, that even a less than obsessed fan could enjoy. I hope Clarence's new knees keep him pain free and performing for many years to come. Springsteen without the Big Man would never be the same!

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strange and Wonderful, October 22, 2009

By	sodapopinski - See all my reviews

It says in the beginning of the book that this is not a standard memoir, which is certainly true. I can't really think of an appropriate comparison because I don't think I've ever read anything like it before. It's a peculiar and utterly unique mix of Clarence's memoir and half-truths (the "Legend" sections tell you up front, basically, that they are compilations of true things that happened but in different orders/settings and half truths that have been embellished for fun). On top of that, it's told in rotating first-person narratives so you have Clarence's voice telling you what happened and then sometimes you have the co-writer basically filling in the blanks. Honestly, it's a strange combination of factors.

That said, I couldn't put it down. The writing is excellent, the storytelling is a blast, it moves incredibly quickly, and you do learn a ton about Bruce and E Street (at least I did, but I'm not a complete Bruce nut...just a regular fan who could not tell you the last time he played any specific song live).

More than anything, this book seems to be about conveying a feeling, as in giving you the feeling that you are basically hanging out with Clarence while he tells you many things about his own past (childhood, wanting to be a football player, following music to Bruce, etc etc) to his hopes and dreams and fears. When you look at this way, you end up with a much better sense of Clarence as a person than you would have with "I was born in X. Then I did X. Then I did X." type of standard memoir. As Bruce says in the Foreword: "This book gets as close to the "truth" about Clarence Clemons as I can imagine. Mere facts will never plumb the mysteries of the Big Man."

I applaud Clarence for having the courage and desire to take a really different route in the book world, one that is far more creative, personal, unqiue, strange, and, for me at least, leaves me with a much longer-lasting impression of the man himself than I have gotten from other musician/celeb memoirs I can think of. I'm sure it would have been a lot easier for him to just tell a ghostwriter stuff about his life and do a standard thing. This feels nothing like that...it comes from the heart and clearly Clarence and Don have a relationship far deeper than a celeb and ghostwriter.

Like the Big Man, it's one of a kind. Bravo.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book!, October 11, 2009

By	J. Force (Sicklerville, nj United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I've been a fan of Bruce and the band for as long as I can remember. In fact, my yearbook ambition back in the early 80's was to be roadie for the E Street band. Having read this book I feel like I've been given a small glimpse of what that life might be like. Beautifully written, insightful and often downright hilarious this book takes the reader back stage and gives us an insider's view of what is arguably the greatest rock and roll band of all time.


This book is not only about rock and roll but more importantly about friendship. The kind of friendship that comes along very rarely, lasts a lifetime and is a blessing to all those who experience it.

I'll be fortunate enough to attend two more shows in the upcoming week and I can hardly wait! After reading about what Clarence has to go through to get himself up there to perform night after night, I have a whole new respect for him. Anyone who has been fortunate enough to attend a show knows that the "Big Man" is in a class all by himself. His musical talent and stage presence are beyond compare, and now he can hopefully add bestselling author to his list of accomplishments.