Simon & Schuster, the publisher of Rick Springfield’s upcoming memoir, has posted one of its “Author Revealed” interviews with my main man. It’s pretty meme-ish and inconsequential, but Rick’s answers to three particular questions are indeed revealing:

Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
A. Staggering insecurity
Q. What’s your best quality?
A. Wow, I don’t know if I have one (see above)
Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
A. A better version of me

Not exactly what you’d expect from a rock star who looks as good for his age as he does and who still has women throwing themselves at his feet every night. But that, quite honestly, is part of the reason why I like the guy so much. When I was a kid and “Jessie’s Girl” was on the radio every five minutes, I liked him because I thought he was cool and he recorded music I liked and he was on TV and the girls all thought he was cute. Years later, after I’d rediscovered him and learned where he’d been throughout the ’90s, I liked him because — surprise! — he was a human being with some major frailties, and he wasn’t afraid to talk about them or work them into his music. Moreover, he shared many of the same frailties as yours truly; that “staggering insecurity” thing strikes very close to home for me.

In a weird kind of way, learning that my boyhood idol struggles with his ego and with depression, the same way I do, has been kind of like what happens as you grow up and come to understand your parents as real people instead of omnipotent lords of the household. There is a certain sense that something has been diminished, and that sense is tinged with sadness (at least for me), but your relationship with them is ultimately richer for the discovery of their flaws. You identify more with them because they have been diminished, if that makes sense.

Wow. Did I just say that Rick Springfield is a father figure for me? I don’t think I did, but it certainly sounds that way, doesn’t it?