BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Born to Run

 

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

New Jersey

1978

BRUCE

THUNDER ROAD

BORN to RUN

In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway nine,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected,and steppin' out over the line
H-Oh, Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Yes, girl we were

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
And strap your hands 'cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
H-Oh, Will you walk with me out on the wire
'Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Babe I want to know if love is real

Oh, can you show me

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss

One, two, three, four!

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
But there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
H-Oh, Someday girl I don't know when
We're gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go
And we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

Oh honey, tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

Come on with me, tramps like us
Baby we were born to run

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COMMENTARY on Bruce Springsteen's "BORN to RUN"  1975

This is indeed a true love song people, but it’s also much more. Bruce once described it as a song about two people trying to find their way home. So yes, it’s about escaping somewhere, but I think it’s also about running to somewhere; towards adulthood maybe, escaping the constraints of adolescence. It’s about yearning to find out if life is really all it’s cracked up to be, do dreams become realised or do they drown in life’s mediocrity? Is there such a place where you can ‘walk in the sun’? and, most importantly is love really real — does it really exist as it does in books and films and music, or is it an exaggerated, exploited myth? 

So for me this is a song about two people taking the decision to stare life in the face and ask those kind of questions of it, they’re challenging their existence, wanting more from it, desperately wanting life to mean something, and they’re about to find out if it does. 

This is why this song is so incredible, because it’s universal — the questions asked in this song are the questions we all ask ourselves at some point in our life, and often spend the rest of it trying to answer them.

BECAUSE THE NIGHT

BRUCE

Bruce Springsteen is the embodiment of American Rock 'n' Roll. Influences from Chuck Berry, the Byrds, Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Woodie Guthrie shaped the music.

Starting as a folk singer/songwriter in Greenwich Village, Springsteen was quickly spotted and signed by CBS Records. Early Springsteen records, Greetings from Asbury Park NJ and The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle were Dylanesque storytelling wrapped in Jersey Shore r&b, soul, and Stax, see Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. His third effort, entitled, Born to Run was an instant success, and is the early highpoint of Springsteen's career.

Before Springsteen ever had a hit record, he had the hype. This was purely on the basis of the live shows. In 1974, Rolling Stone critic and future Springsteen manager, Jon Landau stated 'I saw rock 'n' roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.' A quarter century later, Landau has been proved correct.

Springsteen shows would last between 3,5 and 4,5 hours, and were regarded as near-religious experiences. I personally went to shows in Detroit's Joe Louis Arena (<20.000) and the Silverdome (>60.000) fans during the Born in the USA tour. Springsteen would keep playing until the fans were out of energy. He would ask if we wanted more, and once the energy was gone, he walked off. Those were the best shows I ever saw.

The late seventies and early eighties saw the revivalist Springsteen release a string of critically acclaimed and wildly popular records. Darkness on the Edge of Town was moody, stark, and different than anything else on AOR radio.

Four sides of the double album, The River, encompassed British Invasion and post-Byrds such as on the 'The Ties that Bind' and 'Out in the Street'. The word was that the studio, The Record Plantturned into an Elvis shrine. Singles such as 'Fire' and 'Because the Night' were giveaways to The Pointer Sisters, Robert Gordonand Patti Smith. Springsteen's own Top 10 single "Hungry Heart,' was a paeon to The Turles and harkened back to The Lovin' Spoonful. The darker 'River' and 'Stolen Car' were a harbringer of Springsteen's first solo record.

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