Bruce Springsteen SXSW Keynote: The Boss Delivers Speech in Austin

The name Bruce has been thrown around Austin over the past few days as often as in that 1974 Monty Python Live at Drury Lane sketch, as both hardcore and casual fans caught the buzz of The Boss coming to SXSW for a keynote address and performance on Thursday.

Springsteen jumped the gun with a surprise Wednesday night appearance at the Austin Music Awards, where he performed a handful of songs with Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely, ending with a Garland Jeffreys-led run through the Rolling Stones' 'Beast of Burden.'

No photography, videography or audio recording was allowed for Springsteen's keynote at Austin Convention Center, which began 40 minutes late. But he still received a standing ovation and screams of "Bruce" when he walked out and asked: "Why are we up so f---ing early?"

Springsteen said there's no keynote in the fragmented music world today, so he wasn't quite sure what to focus on. He illustrated the point by saying he first picked up the guitar in 1964, when there were only 10 years of rock 'n' roll history to draw on, and now there are thousands of music artists in almost as many genres roaming the streets of Austin just this week.

"When Danny and the Juniors sang 'Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay,' they didn't have any idea of how terrifyingly f---ing right they were,'" he said, and pondered that U2 might be the last band for which he remembers the names of all four members.

Springsteen elected to relay some of the influences that molded his career, and offered these:

-- Elvis Presley's 1956 appearance on Ed Sullivan's television show was the genesis moment in his life. "Television and Elvis gave us a new form of language" and "new ways of thinking about everything and hearing music."

-- Doo-wop is the most sensual music ever made, and he called it the soundtrack to "unclasping bra straps across the U.S.A."

-- Roy Orbison was the "true master of the romantic apocalypse you knew was coming right after you whispered 'I love you' to your girlfriend," and he went on to list song titles like 'Crying,' 'Only the Lonely' and 'Running Scared' to prove his point.

-- Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" production technique and "three-minute symphonies" can be summed up with song title 'He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)' that he produced for the Crystals in 1962.

Check Out SXSW 2012 in Photos -- The Animals were a "revelation" and introduced class-consciousness in rock music to Springsteen with 'We've Gotta Get Out of This Place,' which he played part of on acoustic guitar. He missed a few notes vocally, but still received a rousing ovation. He said that song is the basis for almost every song he's ever written and that he has an even deeper appreciation for the Animals because they didn't rely on their looks, and he thought he looked "hideous" in his youth.

-- The Sex Pistols were frightening, but listening to them made you brave, and their energy crept into the recording sessions for his 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' album.

-- He was signed to his record deal as an acoustic singer-songwriter, but "was a wolf in sheep's clothing" and saw no need for a new Bob Dylan since "the old Dylan was only 30."

-- Dylan asked: "How does it feel to be on your own? And if you were a 15-year-old in 1965, you were on your own because your parents didn't understand what was going on." He went on to call Dylan "the president of my musical country forever."

-- Standing on stage alongside the "underrated" James Brown had a major impact because of Brown's dedication to showmanship.

-- Springsteen found country music in his 20s and spent a while trying to "crack the code" of Hank Williams until his ears tuned into it and he appreciated its simplicity and was attracted by its fatalism.

Springsteen led the crowd through an abbreviated version of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land' near the end of the speech and said that the song "united a nation." (The tune had also united the keeners who'd showed up extra early to get a good seat as Colombian star Juanes performed a sing-along version with Eliza Gilkyson and Jimmy LaFave in honour of what would have been the folk songwriting legend's 100th birthday.)

Springsteen concluded by offering some advice to the musicians in the audience: "Stay hard, stay hungry and stay alive."

Watch Bruce Springsteen Perform 'Born to Run'