Born To Run..40 years later

“When I was a young boy my father took me into the city to see a marching band.” Except that it wasn't a marching band nor was it a My Chemical Romance concert circa 2008. Although, it was indeed a concert, it was several years prior to that particular time stamp in the summer of 2004. My dad had decided to bring me along to Buffalo, so it was a trip to the city to both visit my beloved grandparents and to catch the almighty boss, himself, Bruce Springsteen and his E-Street band. At the time, my palate of known Springsteen songs was very limited..I knew Born to Run, Thunder Road, and..that was about it. But nonetheless I was still excited having only been to a couple concerts before that (Weezer, Saves the Day was the most recent one). I don't in all actuality remember that much of the concert save a few songs (as it was over a decade ago), but I do remember the feeling and sense of American pride after seeing such a genuine rock and roll performance. To me, Bruce Springsteen was rock and roll.

Fast forward several years..I continued to be quite enamored by the boss and his aura he expelled. As I explored Springsteen's extensive catalog, I became particularly obsessed with his 1975 debut album Born To Run. A masterpiece of a rock and roll album that today coincidentally, turns 40 years old. Ahead of its time, it wasn't just the feelgood anthems that made you wanna ride off into the sunset. There was something both salvageable and familiar about that gruff voiced, working class NJ native that forever struck a chord. Painting a landscape of the long forgotten American dream with that steel guitar of his, Bruce Springsteen sweat through his now infamous American flag bandanna onto the walls and hearts of American teenagers everywhere. It was the swan song of a generation..A call back to both innocence and love lost as we come into the realization that the world isn't always so kind and forgiving as we grow older. As Springsteen poetically laments in Thunder Road,“There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away. They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned out Chervrolets” Ugh it still give me chills all these years late.

As I had mentioned, at the time of its release, Born To Run would indeed become the Boss' meal ticket  . The one that broke him out of the underground onto the horizon and radar of the mainstream populace everywhere. In fact up til the albums release, he had been compared to Bob Dylan almost relentlessly (a memory that to this day, Springsteen still hates to talk about). It has become an essential rock album, while containing such classics as the titular track Born To Run, Tenth Avenue Freeze out, and one of my personal favorites, the bittersweet rock anthem Thunder Road. However the real TKO comes from the tear jerker of a closing track, Jungleland. Clocking in at over nine minutes long, there is no denying the song's raw power. So much so that even brash comedian Louis CK has admitted shedding some serious tears to the track in his own car. It brings the album full circle. For me at least, it even measures up against a similarly somber ballad which happens to be another favorite of mine - Miami 2017 by Piano Man Billy Joel. And don't get me started on the soothing sounds of founding member, the late, great“Big Man” Clarence Clemons masterful Saxophone.

To this day, Born To Run continues to be relevant and seemingly influences even current rock bands such as the Gaslight Anthem (a personal favorite). Although the E-Street band has gone through some decent member changes including the aforementioned loss of saxophonist Clarence Clemons, one fact remains the same. Born To Run was a game changer and 40 years later, it is still just as important and influential. Here's to you Bossman and I hope you all enjoyed my short (but hopefully sweet) dedication to one of Rock and Roll's most classic of albums.