Can you feel the spirit... of bein' 76? Happy Birthday to Bruce Springsteen, our rockin' patriot!

UPDATE (October 11, 2025) - Hey, do you really dig Frank Caruso's awesomely beautiful image below? Now you can WEAR it, and support one of Bruce Springsteen's longtime favorite charities while doing so. Click here to pre-order your "Spirit of '76" shirts NOW!

September 23, 2025

Well, it's now just past midnight in the ET (Eastern Time, or is that "E Street Time?") Zone. So Happy 76th Birthday, Mr. Bruce Springsteen!

To get ready to celebrate this special day here at Letters To You, we recently reached out to the great Frank Caruso, who collaborated with Springsteen on his Outlaw Pete quasi-children's book. Frank loved our basic idea of how we thought he could help us to salute Bruce @76, in the same year that the latest Springsteen tour with the E Street Band showed the world what true U.S. bravery, citizenship, and, yes, patriotism look like. Given how skilled and creative an artist Frank Caruso is, he took our basic suggestion and turned it into something even better than we'd imagined he would.

So in honor of Bruce Springsteen turning 76 years old today, we're very happy and honored to unveil for the first time anywhere Frank Caruso's brilliantly Bruceified version of Archibald Willard's classic painting Spirit of '76, aka Yankee Doodle:

original artwork created by Frank Caruso and used with his permission

How fitting, Bruce, that you should turn 76 in the same year that you and the E Street Band also embodied the freedom-loving patriotism behind that spirit of '76. Thank you for recently and consistently reminding us that this hard land of ours, despite everything that's been going down, remains "a great country with a great people," for summoning at each and every concert this year "the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in dangerous times," and for so strongly encouraging "all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring!"

Thank you, in other words, for once again living up to the best of your work and helping to bring out the best in all of us, at a time when that's so desperately needed. Happy 76th birthday, Bruce, and best wishes for many, many more happy birthdays ahead. Long may you run!

UPDATE (October 11, 2025) - Hey, do you really dig Frank Caruso's awesomely beautiful image above? Now you can WEAR it, and support one of Bruce Springsteen's longtime favorite charities while doing so. Click here to pre-order your "Spirit of '76" shirts NOW!