Springsteen's father dies; he inspired several songs

They were two sides of the same coin - "too much of the same kind," the son once observed. Factory worker Douglas Springsteen, who inspired his son Bruce's songs and monologues about sullen, embittered fathers and headstrong sons, has died.

The ordinarily ultraprivate Springsteen detailed his strained but later conciliatory relationship with his father on stage, in songs like "Adam Raised a Cain," "Independence Day" and "My Hometown," and in interviews.Douglas Springsteen, with his wife, Adele, raised three children next to a gas station in central New Jersey. Bruce, the oldest and only boy, was born in 1949. In addition to factory work, Douglas had an assortment of jobs, including cab driver and prison guard.