Jake Clemons recalls the time Springsteen screamed at him

Shortly after the 2011 death of Clarence Clemons, the E Street Bands longtime saxophonist and Bruce Springsteens right-hand man, his nephew, Jake Clemons, was asked to step into the big mans shoes. As the Boss recalled in his memoir, Born To Run, Jake who releases his debut album, Fear & Love, on Friday

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Shortly after the 2011 death of Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band’s longtime saxophonist and Bruce Springsteen’s right-hand man, his nephew, Jake Clemons, was asked to step into the big man’s shoes. As the Boss recalled in his memoir, “Born To Run,” Jake — who releases his debut album, “Fear & Love,” on Friday — didn’t make the greatest of first impressions, turning up an hour late and then casually saying he “sort of” knew his uncle’s parts.

The normally mild-mannered Springsteen went off.

“You don’t DARE come in here and play this music for Bruce Springsteen without having your S--T DOWN COLD,” he recounts telling Jake in the book. “You embarrass yourself and waste my precious time.”

With all due respect to the Boss, Jake tells The Post there was a little more to it. “No aspect [of the story] was untrue, but there’s some context. There were other circumstances that made that day slightly challenging, but who would I be to ask for more than one chapter in his book? There’s another part of that story that will be beautiful to share one day!”

If he flubbed his lines that first day, he’s been virtually note-perfect with the E Street Band since then. If anything, the 36-year-old’s youth has pushed Springsteen, 67, and the band to even greater heights, including a summer run across the US that saw shows regularly exceed four hours. “Even when I’m onstage, I’m still watching the show, wondering where it’ll go,” Clemons says. “I still know when there’s something supernatural going on.”

But more than five years on, the passing of his Uncle Clarence still casts a shadow over Jake’s life, and it’s something he touches on throughout the melancholic rock of “Fear & Love.” For a man with what seems like one of the greatest jobs in the world, he sure sounds like he has a lot on his mind.

“I watched my uncle, who I love dearly to this day, burn through four marriages and into a fifth,” says Jake. “That scared the hell out of me. My parents also had a very troubled marriage, and I didn’t want that either. It was one of my biggest fears to end up in a similar situation.”

He nearly did just that. The emotional turmoil of an on-off first marriage between 2005 and 2012 weighed heavily on him, but the process of creating “Fear & Love” helped heal his anxieties. Clemons is now in what he deems to be a much healthier coupling.

“I don’t have to let fear into my relationships anymore — I can be the best person I can be. It’s a completely different experience.”

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