And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he's no longer

“And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he's no longer God... They'll turn on him, and I hope he survives it.” Thus spoke John Lennon, the prophet of song and sorrow, who had himself tasted the bitter fruit of worship and rejection. In this haunting reflection, uttered with the weary wisdom of one who knew fame’s cruelty, lies a warning not just for artists, but for all who dwell beneath the gaze of the crowd. Lennon, once raised to the heavens by adoring multitudes, knew that the same hands that lift you up will, in time, cast stones when you fall. His words about Bruce Springsteen, then newly rising as a voice of the American dream, are not envy nor irony — but compassion.

For Lennon understood that fame is a false god, and that those who bow before it must eventually face its wrath. To be adored is intoxicating, but adoration is unstable — it burns bright and fades fast. The crowd, ever hungry for new idols, demands divinity from mortal men, and when it discovers that they are human after all, it turns on them with the same passion it once called love. Lennon had lived this cycle: from Beatlemania’s screaming worshippers to the backlash that followed his every word. When he said, “God help Bruce Springsteen,” he was not jesting — he was mourning the innocence that would soon be lost, the peace that fame devours.

The origin of this quote lies in the late 1970s, when Bruce Springsteen stood at the height of his glory. His music — fierce, honest, drenched in sweat and soul — had captured the heart of a generation searching for truth. To Lennon, who had once been that same symbol for another age, it was a familiar and dangerous fire. He recognized in Springsteen the same sincerity that once burned in his own youth — and he knew what the world does to sincere men. It loves them until it can no longer stand the mirror they hold up. Then it tears them down.

History offers countless such tragedies. Consider Jesus of Nazareth, hailed one day as the Son of God and crucified the next. Or Joan of Arc, adored by her countrymen while she led them to victory, only to be condemned and burned by their fear. In every age, the world crowns its heroes not out of understanding, but out of need — and when that need changes, the crown becomes a noose. Lennon himself, once the voice of peace and love, was hounded by controversy, vilified for his honesty, and ultimately slain by the very kind of obsession he feared. His warning to Springsteen was, in truth, a lament for all who are idolized beyond measure.

There is, too, a deeper wisdom here — about the nature of worship itself. When we make gods of men, we rob both them and ourselves of truth. The artist ceases to be a soul and becomes a symbol; the crowd ceases to love and begins to possess. Lennon’s insight is not only about celebrity, but about the human hunger for perfection. We lift others to impossible heights because we long to escape our own imperfection — and when they fail to bear that illusion, we destroy them to punish our own disappointment. Thus the tragedy of fame is born: not in the hearts of the famous, but in the need of the watchers.

But Lennon’s hope — “I hope he survives it” — gives light to his prophecy. For survival, in this context, does not mean mere endurance of public scorn, but the preservation of the self amidst chaos. To survive fame is to hold fast to one’s humanity when others see only the myth. It is to know oneself apart from the mirror of adulation or hatred. Lennon hoped that Springsteen, and all who followed, would learn to root their worth not in applause, but in authenticity — to remember that the artist’s first duty is not to please, but to tell the truth.

And so, my child, let this teaching be a mirror for your own soul. Do not seek the thrones of the world, for they are built upon sand. Seek instead to live truthfully, even if unnoticed. And when you love others for their light — be they artists, leaders, or friends — love them not as gods, but as fellow travelers, flawed and striving. For idolatry is the enemy of love; it devours what it adores.

Remember always the wisdom of Lennon: that greatness without humility perishes, and that those who are exalted today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do not chase the world’s praise; chase meaning. And when the world raises someone high, do not worship them — pray for them. For the higher the pedestal, the colder the air, and the lonelier the soul.