Next week, Bruce Springsteen will release a soul covers album, Only The Strong Survive. In the lead up, Springsteen stopped by Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show for a wide-ranging discussion, where he talked about the death of E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, selling his songwriting catalog, and what he thinks of Taylor Swift’s Midnights.

Regarding the historic sale of his recording-music and publishing catalog to Sony Music, Springsteen said “it was a timing thing,” adding that he trusted Sony to take care of his music. “I bumped into the luckiest job in the world, because they gave me a fortune for something I would’ve done for free,” he said.

Springsteen also described being in the hospital with Clemons, who died in 2011, and playing “Land Of Hope And Dreams” for the E Street Band member. “I had a feeling he could hear me because he could squeeze your hand. When I first went to see him [after his stroke], there was some response to your voice and to you being in the room, it felt like,” he said. “I knew that he was going to die, and so I just brought the guitar in and I strummed a song called ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams.’ … It’s about passing over to the other side. It’s about life and death.”

Springsteen added of Clemons: “His brother was there. I think Jake, his nephew, was there. And there were a few other people. But it was just a little tiny space… It’s a hymn … it was a song we were playing at the end of the night [on tour] and it was one of the last songs that Clarence and I worked on a sax solo together on.”

Finally, Springsteen talked about listening to Taylor Swift’s Midnights with his daughter, who is apparently a huge fan. “It was good. She’s super talented, a tremendous writer,” he said.

Watch some Springsteen interview clips below.

Only The Strong Survive is out 11/11 via Columbia.