Bruce Springsteen’s lightning speed writing ‘Letter to You’ shocked Steven Van Zandt: ‘Never happens’

The breakneck speed that Bruce Springsteen created his 2020 album “Letter to You” shocked E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt.

“He wrote it in two weeks, which never happens,” Van Zandt, 73, told The Post. “We recorded it in four days, which never happens.”

Featuring songs such as “Burnin’ Train,” “Last Man Standing” and “Ghosts,” the record is the basis of Springsteen’s current world tour, the band’s first in more than six years, which lasts until summer 2025. 

The journey — from rehearsal to international arenas — is told in the new Hulu documentary “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band” out Oct. 25.

“I knew that this was going to be different because the album was different,” Van Zandt added of the ongoing tour. 

“He never had a theme, an album that focused thematically, you know. Maybe only ‘The Rising’ comes to mind, but not quite this literal … He knew what he wanted to say the minute he wrote it.”

“It was just waiting to be born, this thing, you know? And we couldn’t wait to play it. We knew it was going to be great live.”

A throughline of the 75-year-old rocker’s album is mortality.

“That called for a series of new discussions about how do we do this and make sure it works,” Van Zandt said of the distinctive tour with a more introspective tone. 

“And part of it was was balancing out that very, very specific theme of the album and tour of mortality. Balancing that out with vitality was going to be an absolute requirement.”

The colorful Little Steven plays a major role in the documentary, but manager Jon Landau says that some of his greatest hits are on the cutting room floor.

“You should’ve seen the stuff we cut on Stevie, by the way,” Landau said. “We’ll discuss that later!”