Bruce Springsteen’s mother Adele is no more. The rocker paid tribute to his mother, who passed away at the age of 98, with lyrics from his song “The Wish” which describes his younger years.
The lyrics to the song go like: “I remember in the morning mom hearing your alarm clock ring. I’d lie in bed and listen to you getting ready for work, the sound of your makeup case on the sink. And the ladies at the office all lipstick, perfume and rustling skirts, how proud and happy you always looked walking home from work.”
“It ain’t no phone call on Sunday, flowers or a Mother’s Day card. It ain’t no house on the hill with a garden and a nice little yard. I’ve got my hot rod down on Bond Street I’m older but you’ll know me in a glance. We’ll find us a little rock ‘n roll bar and we’ll go out and dance.”
Adele Springsteen
Born Adele Zerilli in Brooklyn, she moved to Freehold, NJ in 1940, where she and her husband Doug Springsteen raised three children, Virginia, Bruce and Pamela. She was of Italian descent and raised Springsteen as a Catholic.
Bruce remembers when he was introduced to a guitar by his mother. She worked as a secretary and saved money to buy him his first guitar. In the song, he mentions the same as he sings about a “brand-new Japanese guitar” under the Christmas tree “and how proud and happy you always looked walking home from work.”
Adele Springsteen was battling Alzheimer’s.