In 1975 Bruce Springsteen was standing on the precipice of his career. ‘Born To Run’ was his last hope, and, ultimately, his saving grace.
Springsteen was almost three years into his professional career. He had been signed to Columbia Records by its legendary talent scout John Hammond (the man responsible for ‘discovering’ Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan, amongst others), but had so far failed to live up to his promise. His debut album, ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.’, named after the New Jersey native’s beach town, had been a hit with the critics (perhaps because of the Hammond connection) but not with the American public. ‘The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle’ fared little better. Knowing his chances were on the line, Springsteen entered the studio in 1974 with sounds in his head and a vision in his heart. He couldn’t – and wouldn’t – emerge with anything less than a masterpiece.
Columbia had given Bruce a substantial budget in an effort to ensure a commercial product. This paid for what would be a fourteen-month production – six of those on the title track alone. Holed up in the studio, Springsteen had pursued his ideas, striving to recreate the lavish arrangements he was imagining, building up his own wall of sound to rival his hero, Phil Spector. Over a year later, ‘Born To Run’ was complete – eight panoramic songs about passion, escapism and desires, all hugely epic and utterly compelling. “‘Born To Run’ was the album where I left behind my adolescent definitions of love and freedom,” Springsteen said thirty years later. “It was the dividing line.”
As the album opener, ‘Thunder Road’ is a perfect introduction. It starts plaintively with just piano and harmonica, then Bruce comes in, singing sweetly about Mary dancing on her porch, the music building up to a climax when he sings: “What else can we do now / Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair”. The song’s pace and determination is a glorious proclamation of deliverance – expertly encapsulated in its final line: “It’s a town full of losers / I’m pulling out of here to win”.
The title track deserved every minute that was laboured over it. It stands as the quintessential song of breaking free from a home town’s shackles, with ambitions as grand as its score.
Upon release, ‘Born To Run’ fulfilled all of Springsteen’s early promise and more. His attempts and appeals to escape New Jersey were finally realised when the album became a national – then international – success.
‘Born To Run’ established Bruce Springsteen as the voice of America’s working class, offering hope in its romantic hyperrealism. “It was a seminal record for me,” he later admitted. “It set out my aspirations. It was what I wanted to accomplish and what I wanted to be about, the kind of music I wanted to write and what I wanted my music to contain.”
The Boss, clearly, had arrived.
Words by Simon Harper
Bruce Springsteen – ‘Born To Run’
Released: 25th August 1975
Producer: Bruce Springsteen, Mike Appel, Jon Landau
MUSICIANS
Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitar, harmonica
Max Weinberg / Ernest Carter – drums
Clarence Clemons – saxophone, backing vocals
Danny Federici – organ
Garry W. Tallent – bass
David Sancious / Roy Bittan – piano
Suki Lahav – violin
Steven Van Zandt – backing vocals
TRACKLIST
1. ‘Thunder Road’
2. ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’
3. ‘Night’
4. ‘Backstreets’
5. ‘Born To Run’
6. ‘She’s The One’
7. ‘Meeting Across The River’
8. ‘Jungleland’
1975: In The News
– Charlie Chaplin is knighted.
-Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in the Thrilla In Manila.
– Badfinger’s Peter Ham commits suicide.
1975: The Albums
– Bob Dylan – ‘Blood On The Tracks
– Roxy Music – ‘Siren’
– Aerosmith – ‘Toys In The Attic’
