Polar Music Prize
Bruce's Acceptance Speech
"Thank you… Thank you. My speech here… I'd like to thank Your Majesty, Princess Christina, Princess Lilian, Your Excellency
Stick Anderson, members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, members of the Polar Music Prize Committee for honoring
my music tonight with this award.
It’s been an additional source of joy to receive this award alongside Mr. Erikson: His coral music,
particularly the chamber choir seems to be filled with the intensity and the soul of his country.
And ... with my music I've also tried to give people a sense of the country where I come from: its physicality,
its landscape, its people, its blessings and its curses. When I started out I wasn't so concerned with instantaneous
success or biggest hits as I was with making music that would find its way in people's daily lives. That I would become
a part of them and I wanted to illuminate those lives to provide companionship if I could. Provide a tool for making sense
of the world that we live in. A map made from whatever I’ve gained from my own experience, something that I could pass on
and share.
I wanted to find my audience, my spiritual community, my blood brothers and sisters, somebody I could talk to, sharing
my concerns and my obsessions. Little did I expect to find that audience not only in my hometown but thousands miles away
across oceans, languages barriers, cultural differences and for a long time out here in Sweden. That's why I'm here tonight,
to thank that audience, for it's the audience that gives my work its deepest meaning. Somewhere in a search for the things
that we share and that we hold in common there’s a small glimpse of a perfect world. Whether it's in the every day’s heroism
of the people that I’ve sung about for 25 years, or in the impossible beauty of the voices in Mr. Erikson choir work.
There's a sense of higher place, a more humane community, a deeper love and understanding of one-another. That’s the
artist’s job and it's in his audience that he finds his work fulfillment.
I've been received very warmly and made to feel at home here in Sweden since 1975. My only regretful performance is in
1985 when rumor has it my concert destroyed the foundation of the stadium at Gothenburg. But supposedly the
entire audience dancing in unisism to an exuberant version of Twist 'n' Shout. We had a good time doing it but I assure
you the damage was mostly unintentional and I was initially concerned that the repairs bill might be taken out of my Polar
Prize money but. Mr. Anderson has assured me that that won’t be the case!
I’ve never received an award for my body of work before and I feel a bit of a youngster for this. But I thank you for
your generosity and your graciousness; and I promise to continue to provide you with some fun, entertainment, laughs,
something to dance to, to vacuum your floor by, to make love to your baby too and provide you with a little company on
your own trip down Thunder Road.
So I’ll accept this award as a pat-on-the-back for a job well done in this, the early part of my career
and I hope to follow into Mr. Erikson footsteps and I’ll see you when I’m 80 alright
(The crowd applauses and Bruce goes on to play an acoustic version of Thunder Road.)