The screen door slams, Marys dress sways/Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays/ Roy Orbisons singing for the lonely/ Hey thats me and I want you only/Dont turn me home again/ I just cant face myself alone again
What a beautiful portrait of the ache of loneliness and the hope of romance-all at the same time. So begins Thunder Road, the opening track of Bruce Springsteens Born to Run, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this past Thursday I was gonna write about it then, but with the situation in New Orleans still in the headlines, I decided to wait. I'm gonna talk about New Orleans later in the week, though. In case you were worried.
But back to Born to Run.
It is the single most important work of art Ive come across in my life, and it continues to inspire me on an almost daily basis. Its an unqualified masterpiece, and although it isnt my favorite Springsteen album, its the most important. If you give me a minute Ill tell you why, and why if you dont have this album you should do yourself a favor and get it.
Springsteens story is now steeped in myth-poor Jersey boy becomes American rock icon/ hates George Bush. All very well and good. But myths arent relatable. Born To Run was created when Springsteen WAS a poor kid in NJ. He had released 2 albums the previous year that had gone exactly nowhere, and his record company was threatening to drop him. A life of factory work, or worse, was waiting for him, like his father before him.
There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away Bruce sings to Mary in Thunder Road. They haunt these dusty beach roads in the skeleton frames of burnt-out Chevrolets Hes pleading for her hand, yes, but hes terrified of being thrown back into the ranks of his own lost generation-the lost, the lonely, the ones who didnt make it. The rest of Springsteens career would obsessively detail the broken dreams and the betrayal of the promise of the American dream of those who where left behind. He identifies with them because he was once one of them-and he knows how narrowly he escaped their fate.
Backstreets, a song that howls of love, betrayal, and broken promises, may be the albums starkest moment. Springsteens characters, so vivid by now, are sent running into the darkness/some hurt bad, some really dying/ at night sometimes it seems/ you can hear this whole damn city crying His voice becomes almost manic scream as the final chorus of a dream denied is repeated 26 consecutive times.
But Backstreets is followed by the title cut-an almost miraculous 4 minute burst of hard optimism and a desperate need to break free of the limitations that life sets. I could quote the entire song because after 20 years or so of hearing it, it still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But its the final verse that always gets me:
The highways jammed with broken heroes
On a last chance power drive
Everybodys out of the run tonight
Theres no place left to hide
Together Wendy, we can live with the sadness
Ill love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl, I dont know when,
Were gonna get to that place
We really wanna go
Well walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
Baby we were born to run
Springsteen specifically takes the old biker/punk motto Born to Lose and turns it on its head. While still allowing for the heartbreak that living entails, the character in the song finds the courage to try once again. And again and again. Until he gets it right. Its an incredible moment.
The album finishes with yet another masterpiece, the 10 minute opus Junleland that details the price of escapism and brings all of the albums characters back to earth. There are no free rides in Springsteens music, and at the end of Jungleland our heroes are left wounded, not even dead (for the wounded are not even offered the escape of death). The ambulances pull away, and the poets write nothing at all.
From this moment on Springsteens career would strip all romanticism from his music, and his music for the next decade would confront the harsh realities of trying to make it in the world. But its this moment when Springsteen did something that few had even tried-he wrote to, and about an invisible class of people, an underclass whose stories had been barely touched on in popular culture, and almost not at all in rock music. In telling his story, and theirs, hes inspired my own journey and countless others. Hes the only hero of my youth who hasnt betrayed me, and the only artist I can count on sometimes to make sense of the senseless. And his journey arguably started 30 years ago today.
Do yourself a favor and take this ride. You wont regret it. If you want a free copy write me and Ill send it to you. I love it that much.
What a beautiful portrait of the ache of loneliness and the hope of romance-all at the same time. So begins Thunder Road, the opening track of Bruce Springsteens Born to Run, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this past Thursday I was gonna write about it then, but with the situation in New Orleans still in the headlines, I decided to wait. I'm gonna talk about New Orleans later in the week, though. In case you were worried.
But back to Born to Run.
It is the single most important work of art Ive come across in my life, and it continues to inspire me on an almost daily basis. Its an unqualified masterpiece, and although it isnt my favorite Springsteen album, its the most important. If you give me a minute Ill tell you why, and why if you dont have this album you should do yourself a favor and get it.
Springsteens story is now steeped in myth-poor Jersey boy becomes American rock icon/ hates George Bush. All very well and good. But myths arent relatable. Born To Run was created when Springsteen WAS a poor kid in NJ. He had released 2 albums the previous year that had gone exactly nowhere, and his record company was threatening to drop him. A life of factory work, or worse, was waiting for him, like his father before him.
There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away Bruce sings to Mary in Thunder Road. They haunt these dusty beach roads in the skeleton frames of burnt-out Chevrolets Hes pleading for her hand, yes, but hes terrified of being thrown back into the ranks of his own lost generation-the lost, the lonely, the ones who didnt make it. The rest of Springsteens career would obsessively detail the broken dreams and the betrayal of the promise of the American dream of those who where left behind. He identifies with them because he was once one of them-and he knows how narrowly he escaped their fate.
Backstreets, a song that howls of love, betrayal, and broken promises, may be the albums starkest moment. Springsteens characters, so vivid by now, are sent running into the darkness/some hurt bad, some really dying/ at night sometimes it seems/ you can hear this whole damn city crying His voice becomes almost manic scream as the final chorus of a dream denied is repeated 26 consecutive times.
But Backstreets is followed by the title cut-an almost miraculous 4 minute burst of hard optimism and a desperate need to break free of the limitations that life sets. I could quote the entire song because after 20 years or so of hearing it, it still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But its the final verse that always gets me:
The highways jammed with broken heroes
On a last chance power drive
Everybodys out of the run tonight
Theres no place left to hide
Together Wendy, we can live with the sadness
Ill love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl, I dont know when,
Were gonna get to that place
We really wanna go
Well walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
Baby we were born to run
Springsteen specifically takes the old biker/punk motto Born to Lose and turns it on its head. While still allowing for the heartbreak that living entails, the character in the song finds the courage to try once again. And again and again. Until he gets it right. Its an incredible moment.
The album finishes with yet another masterpiece, the 10 minute opus Junleland that details the price of escapism and brings all of the albums characters back to earth. There are no free rides in Springsteens music, and at the end of Jungleland our heroes are left wounded, not even dead (for the wounded are not even offered the escape of death). The ambulances pull away, and the poets write nothing at all.
From this moment on Springsteens career would strip all romanticism from his music, and his music for the next decade would confront the harsh realities of trying to make it in the world. But its this moment when Springsteen did something that few had even tried-he wrote to, and about an invisible class of people, an underclass whose stories had been barely touched on in popular culture, and almost not at all in rock music. In telling his story, and theirs, hes inspired my own journey and countless others. Hes the only hero of my youth who hasnt betrayed me, and the only artist I can count on sometimes to make sense of the senseless. And his journey arguably started 30 years ago today.
Do yourself a favor and take this ride. You wont regret it. If you want a free copy write me and Ill send it to you. I love it that much.
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
Exact.
My Internet is still dead. Fucking shit, it's really annoying. It may be nerdy, or whatever, but that's the truth. I miss talking to you.
Exact.
My Internet is still dead. Fucking shit, it's really annoying. It may be nerdy, or whatever, but that's the truth. I miss talking to you.