Eddie Vedder has recalled how he once went on a “terrifying” horseback riding excursion with Bruce Springsteen.
During an interview for The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday, host Howard asked the Pearl Jam frontman about his friendship with the music legend.
While Eddie had nothing but praise for Bruce, he recounted a particularly memorable story about the time the Born in the U.S.A. singer invited him and his wife, Jill Vedder, to go horseback riding.
“I’m terrified of horses, and that ride with Bruce did not help anything at all. I was trying to act not terrified. I was like, ‘I got this…’ You know, don’t let the shark know you’re scared,” he remembered thinking.
And though Bruce gave Eddie clear instructions about the path, the Alive hitmaker explained how he ended up off the trail and in a forest.
“I don’t know what is happening, and I’m just trying to surf. What I remember is surfing the horse and looking, ‘Where am I gonna jump? Where am I gonna jump?'” the 61-year-old sighed. “Everybody’s helping, yelling stuff like, ‘Pull right, pull up!’ and I can’t see a clear space to jump. Anyways, it stopped, and then everyone was a little mystified.”
Eddie went on to note that the horse’s behaviour was “very odd”.
“And then dammit, if the horse didn’t do it again!” he exclaimed. “So in the end, Bruce said that was pretty good horsemanship that I, you know, I didn’t crack my head.”
Previously, Eddie performed Bruce’s song, My City of Ruins, amid a tribute at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors.
The rocker is currently promoting his Netflix documentary Matter of Time, which chronicles the race to cure the rare genetic disorder epidermolysis bullosa (EB).
