At an event yesterday in Long Branch, NJ, a crazed Bruce Springsteen fan with a microphone—who knows who gave it to him—spoke for a while, then took questions from the audience. When an attendee disputed the middle-aged man's supposed relationship with the Boss, however, things went awry.

"I think it was like six or seven Bruce Springsteen songs before you got here," the woman begins in the video below, to which the man gives a small chuckle. "But I was under the impression—I thought I heard that Bruce asked that none of his music was played at your events because he didn't believe in your politics." The woman is emphatic, but it's unclear what "politics" she means. Maybe the man runs an E Street Band fan club.

"No, he never did that. No, you're wrong about that. Bruce has never asked me to do that," the deranged superfan responds, visibly upset. "In fact, I saw Bruce just a week and a half ago." In concert?

"He had every opportunity to tell me not to, and he didn't, and he never has told me not to do it," he insists, believing wholeheartedly in his imaginary friendship with the musician he adores. "Listen, I know him. I know him, and you're wrong."

For all his bluster, you feel a little bad for the guy. This poor fellow knows Bruce Springsteen, it's clear, just like that little girl knew Drop Dead Fred, or Joseph Gordon-Levitt knew the Angels in the Outfield. It may be hard for us to understand, but for him, it's just as real as Springsteen's Telecaster, or Clarence's sax, or, oh I don't know, a traffic jam on a bridge.

[h/t Daily Intel]