BORDER BOSS: “Dead Man Walking” isn’t the...

BORDER BOSS: “Dead Man Walking” isn’t the only true story inspiring Springsteen of late. Several songs on his upcoming album “The Ghost of Tom Joad” were ripped from the headlines--almost literally.

The Times’ Central Valley correspondent Mark Arax was skeptical last summer when he got a call from someone claiming to be Springsteen’s assistant, looking for background from a story Arax and Tom Gorman had written about San Joaquin Valley orchard workers involved in illegal drug manufacturing. But after checking it out, Arax provided details about the region and the people.

He didn’t think much more about it until last week, when he was faxed lyrics to three songs dealing with undocumented immigrants in California. One of those, “Sinaloa Cowboys,” was drawn directly from his story and input.

“[Springsteen] took things we did and created his own little short story about two brothers,” Arax says. “He needed to get an image in his mind of this valley that he may have never seen before, and it was interesting being a conduit for that.”

San Diego-based Times reporter Sebastian Rotella was in Mexico when Springsteen’s assistant tried to contact him, but his stories about life on the border also turned up in two songs: “Balboa Park,” about undocumented immigrant teen-agers living on the streets of San Diego, and “The Line,” about a Border Patrol officer falling in love with an immigrant woman.

“In ‘Balboa Park’ he captured images that were in my story--the kids sleeping under the freeway, sniffing drugs, turning to prostitution,” says Rotella. “It’s an honor that he would be inspired by something I wrote and that he takes an interest in border issues and immigrants. It’s rare that someone singing in English deals with this.”

And how did Springsteen show his appreciation, besides citing the reporters and their stories on the CD package?

“Maybe we settled cheap,” says Arax, “but they said they’d get us tickets and backstage passes when he does his acoustic shows after Thanksgiving.”