Bruce Springsteen reacted in bemusement when TV host Stephen Colbert asked him what he thought of having his own Twitter emoji.

Colbert displays the new image, which appears when the hashtag #Springsteen is used, in a clip from last night’s episode of The Late Show – available below. (Apparently, it can’t be embedded in messages.) The emoji is based on the iconic photo by Annie Leibovitz that was used for the “Born in the U.S.A.” single sleeve in 1984.

“Uh,” said Springsteen, shaking his head, before adding: “Yeah, I’m uh … see, I’m not even sure what that exactly means. I mean, I know what an emoji is. But, does that mean everyone has access to that figure?” When Colbert told him that’s exactly what it meant, Springsteen laughed then said very carefully: “I think that’s … wonderful!” Colbert replied: “I think you’re very … nice!”

Elsewhere in the episode, Springsteen explained why he felt it was important to make the movie Letter To You, which was shot during the recording of his new album with the same name and celebrates his five-decade run with the E Street Band.

“I always tell people, imagine this: You’re going to high school right now,” he said. “When you’re 70 years old, those are the exact people you’ll be working with and will have worked with them for the past 50 years. The only place that that happens is in rock ’n’ roll – and it doesn’t happen much, for the very simple reason that people can’t stand it. They can’t stand each other for that long. It’s a miracle!”

When Colbert pointed out that “the audience doesn’t always stick around for 50 years,” Springsteen agreed: “No, they do not. It’s a confluence of very, very special events, and some luck and magic involved, that allows you to have a long life and career that we’ve been blessed enough to have.”

Letter To You was set to be released today along with the record, but arrived via Apple TV 24 hours early.

 
 

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