Bruce Springsteen thought Barack Obama had the wrong number when he floated podcast idea

Singer and politician are releasing a new book

Bruce Springsteen has admitted he thought Barack Obama had the wrong number when he asked him to team up for a podcast.

Renegades: Born in the USA, was an eight part podcast that premiered on Spotify in February and features the two discussing life, music and America.

During an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Springsteen confessed to being shocked to being asked to make the podcast: “I initially thought that he had gotten a wrong number when he called me. And I answered. I said, ‘OK, let me figure this out. I am a guitar-playing high school graduate from Freehold, New Jersey. And you want me to do what?’”

During the interview, Obama also described the legendary rocker as “surprisingly shy considering he goes out there and sings before tens of thousands of people for hours at a time”.

The former president said the idea for the show came from sitting and talking with Springsteen, who has been a friend of Obama’s for over a decade: “We just ended up being in settings where we’d have these long conversations. ‘What does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be an American?’”

Obama said he later thought that their conversations might be of interest to the public: “These were things that were just kind of popping up over a meal or a drink. And I thought, ‘You know what? This might be something that would be useful for folks to hear.’”

A book of the same title as the podcast is set to be released on 26 October and will feature never before seen archive material from the two important figures in American politics and culture.

Books Obama Springsteen (Crown)

The book will also feature Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics from across his 50-year career as a rock star.