Remembering When Bruce Springsteen Made an Album Dedication That Was Quite Ironic in 1987

“Thanks, Juli.” Bruce Springsteen usually saved his emotions for his lyrics, not for album packaging. But those words, a reference to Julianne Phillips, his wife at the time, adorned the inner sleeve of the 1987 LP Tunnel Of Love.

Many of the songs contained within the album projected anything but marital bliss and romantic harmony. As it turned out, Springsteen’s inner concerns about relationships soon bore themselves out when his marriage crumbled less than a year after the album arrived.

The Boss in ‘Love’

Bruce Springsteen wrote a lot of songs throughout the first decade-plus of his recording career. But compared to how romance and love generally dominated as a topic in pop music, relatively few of those Springsteen songs mused on the ups and downs of amorous relationships.

That all changed when Springsteen released Tunnel Of Love. When fans saw the title of the album, many assumed that The Boss was ready to tackle the issue of romance head-on. After all, in the interim between Born In The U.S.A., released in 1984, and the new record, Springsteen got married for the first time.

After a whirlwind romance of a few months, Springsteen tied the knot with Phillips in May 1985. Although they generally kept their privacy about the relationship intact, their romance occasionally spilled into the public eye. Phillips danced on stage with Springsteen a few times during the tour for Born In The U.S.A. She also appeared in the video for “Glory Days”.

A ‘Tunnel’ Full of Tumult

The Born In The U.S.A. tour also served as the maiden voyage in the E Street Band for backing vocalist Patti Scialfa. Scialfa allegedly was getting close to Springsteen early in that tour. But the relationship with Phillips doused all that.

By the time the tour for Tunnel Of Love rolled around in 1988, however, Scialfa was often front and center in the performances, the two gazing at each other as they duetted intensely. From there, the dominoes started to fall pretty quickly.

Newspapers and tabloids noted that Springsteen wasn’t wearing his wedding ring. Photos of him and Scialfa frolicking in Italy popped up on newsstands everywhere. Phillips’ management confirmed that the couple had separated. Finally, she filed for divorce in August 1988, just a little bit past three years after they were wed.

It’s in the Songs

These developments might not have come as a surprise to anybody who listened closely to Tunnel Of Love. Songs like the title track, “Brilliant Disguise”, “One Step Up”, and “Cautious Man” are filled with uncertainty, suspicion, and tortured feelings about romance. In many ways, it was Springsteen’s darkest album.

That’s why the “Thanks, Juli” dedication on the sleeve turned out to be such a twist to the story. You could make the argument that Springsteen’s rocky romance with Phillips brought those anguished songs to the fore. Maybe gratitude, even the ironic kind, was the only proper response.

The flip side to all this drama is that Springsteen and Scialfa have been together ever since, one of rock’s longest-running couples. And most of Bruce’s love songs since then have followed a much more upbeat path.

(Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)

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