An Album for America's Birthday

#18 Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run

Happy 4th!

Fourth of July, a time to celebrate the birth of America. When I thumbed through my record collection today I had an idea of what I wanted to hear. Something by an American artist, obviously, but also something that seemed synonymous with America. I found some great American artists in my collection...Van Halen, Michael Jackson, Sublime. But being American isn't enough for today. It has to be someone who's shouting it from the roof tops.  Usually your first instinct is the correct one, and today's pick was no exception. Bruce Springteen came out of New Jersey in 1973 with "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." After his first two albums, which are very good, he finally perfected his craft and released "Born to Run." I know what you're saying...what about "Born in USA?" Well sorry, I don't have that record yet.  Maybe another time. For me, "Born to Run" is the must have Springsteen. Less talk, more rock!

Side one starts with a beautiful ballad driven by piano and harmonica, "Thunder Road." The lyrics paint a picture of a beat up house out on the plains somewhere. The narator who also plays as lead character describes an old screen door falling off the hinges and a beautiful woman in a summer dress greeting us as the song starts. These two will be with us for the whole album. The characters in the song seem to be a little down and out, but don't fear, that wild American spirit of adventure is there. Springsteen delivers one of the greatest lines of rock and roll next...."You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're alright." Okay, so maybe its not a beautiful woman on the porch...way to compliment your woman Bruce. The song builds up adding guitar, a bell set, and the rest of the band. The lyrics are really the story of this song, the music is very solid and really helps drive home the message, but even by themselves, the lyrics are fantastic. If a pictures worth a thousand words then a Bruce Springsteen ballad is worth a 1000 pictures. Next the song gets to it climax. The piano slides down and welcomes the Clarence Clemons saxophone solo. Following Bruce's twanged out telecaster, this part of the song paints that epic conclusion of Mary and her man driving off to start their day, bright eyed and full of hope. Next up is "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," a song that offers another solid piano beat but this time with a much more solid groove punctuated by the horns. The song is more R and B and shows that Bruce has a wide variety of influences to draw from. It has an almost doowop feel to it, I can only imagine what this would be like live. White people dancing all over the place. The next track "Night" starts with BIG saxophone. From there it settles into more EPIC sounding Bruce and you're thinking...eh, I've heard this already on the album.  However, then it reaches the chorus. Bruce really uses an interesting tonal change to make the pre-chorus and chorus stand out a little, something very satisfying about those quick chord changes and rapid vocal delivery. Lyrically its another blue collar ode to a man just waiting for the end of the day...get to the night and really have some fun. "Backstreets," starts with piano and stays relatively quiet for the opening, with bass and subtle guitar joining in. The rest of band finally joins in and you get huge strumming chords on the guitar and booming toms on the drums. The vocal delivery is straight ahead and very matter of fact. The chorus finds Bruce singing up high and really stressing his voice. The feeling of desperation is most definitely there. The song continues with the desperation and loss theme before a short guitar break that features Springsteen doing a simple, and essentially chordal solo...trust me it works in the song. After reminding us many many times that he's hiding on the backstreet, the song finally gets to outro which uses the wall of sound instrumentation to build up to a final descent to the closing chord. It sounds to me like our characters aren't very happy with the status-quo.

Side two bring back the epic ballad format that started side one, "Born to Run." The title track takes place at quitin' time. The chains of the working world are released and its time to get the hell outta Dodge. Bruce first discusses the dreary working world that the blue collar man is trapped in. However, when its time to play, PLAY HARD. Can't you just picture a convertible screaming away from the factory? Tires spinning, half out of control, and probably a case of Budweiser Talls in the passenger seat. The saxophone solo kicks in now you truly start to feel like cuttin' loose yourself. The bridge features a scene straight out of American Graffiti. The women do their best to look good for the boys who are out speeding around in hot rods. The breakdown features all the instrumentation that could be jammed into the probably 16-24 tracks of recording. The final chorus announces that while we may be stuck working 40 hours a week, we really were Born to Run...to be free, to live our own life. After that start to side two, I feel 10 feet tall, bulletproof and ready for anything! Next up is "She's the One," a song that starts with, you guessed it, piano! The album was composed by Springsteen on the piano so that explains why it is featured so prominently on the finished product. After the first couple verses the band kicks in and the drums pound a simple rhythm that is imitated by the strumming of the guitar. The overall rhythm is an interesting one, something that we haven't really heard yet on the album. Another saxophone solo by Clemons eventually gives way to more big strumming chords and slides down the ivory. The outro tails off into eternity repeating this well used beat over and over and over. "Meeting Across the River," starts with the usual, piano, but this time a trumpet can be heard echoing in the distance. Sounds like the microphone is at one end of a hallway and the trumpet is on the other end. The lyrics paint yet another picture, but this time...things are getting kinda shady. We're meeting some guy on the other side of the river. I don't know about you, but meeting a guy on the other side of the river somewhere in New Jersey sounds like a bad idea. Wait...wasn't this song on the soundtrack of "Chinatown?" No wait...something on that timeline doesn't work. But really I'm waiting for a 30's private detective to pop up at any moment. The album concludes with the over nine minute "Jungleland." I hope you like saxophone.  The similar piano style for the album comes back again, I will describe it as 'twinkling' moonlight over calm seas. They won't stay calm for long. The instrumentation builds until Bruce's first mention of Jungleland when the whole band comes in and the wall of sound returns.  When the album started, there was a glimmer of hope in the eyes of the characters we came to know and love. In Jungleland, those characters are starting to make horrible decisions, and ultimately, they will pay for them. Before that though, we get some soloing. First the guitar has its go at it. Pretty good solo, usually don't get guitar work like this with Bruce, but I gotta say, I'm impressed. Another verse rolls through and then...SAXAMOPHONE! Here it comes...Clemons very long, very wandering saxophone solo. It actually is a good solo, he doesn't just try to bludgeon you to death with too many notes, there's some style here. Its played over a slower rhythm backing using strings, drums, guitars, piano and any other instrument that happened to be hanging around the studio that day, and I think that's what keeps it reigned in. Boiling down back to just piano the song slowly moves toward one final verse. The final verse finishes the story in the way that we all feared. The main character, named 'the Rat' in this song, meets his end courtesy of a gun shot.

Wow...that was a little depressing in the end. From the young starry eyed lover in Thunder Road, to the tough gunned down street thug in "Jungleland," "Born To Run" has told quite a story. The song can be seen as taking place in essentially one days time. Wake up in the morning with high hopes and go to work, maybe around 10th avenue? Perhaps. Next we daydream at the factory of the night that's ahead of us, contemplate life for a little while and finally, we're free.  After running out onto the streets with no tomorrow in site we focus on that one girl you just have to have. Since work isn't the most gratifying or high paying gig in town its time to make a few bucks on the side. The trouble begins as we go meet a guy across the river. With the deal done, we go into the bad side of town to meet up with the boys. After some trouble with rival gangs, the bullets fly and the story ends.  Wow...great, yet tragic, story. This was my first time really listening to this album and paying attention. I've always considered it a good album, but just as a collection of random songs. This is worth hearing straight through and uninterrupted to get the full effect of the story.


Strongest Song: Thunder Road, Born to Run
Weakest Song: You might think its 'Night', but the chorus saves the song.
Song You Know: Born to Run, 10th Avenue Freeze-Out, Thunder Road
Why You Might Hate It: You hate America, you don't hate America? Do you?
Buy It? YES, its an easy one to find used on vinyl, I paid $2 for mine and its worth every penny.