Baby, we were born to run

Born in the U.S.A.

Truly where there’s Springsteen there’s always a spark. I learnt that very young. Born in the U.S.A. It’s the first song that thrilled me to no end. On a black and white T.V. Bruce Springsteen held an aura that almost broke my television set and I always felt like he was in my living room. I still remember waving my skinny little arm feeling the excitement just like him and yelling Born in the U.S.A….!!! It was the best kind of thrill you could feel back in the 80’s. He made you feel part of a concert through the screen. It took me much longer to discover more of Springsteen. But that song is why music caught my heart forever!

Radio Nowhere

Born to Run a detailed autobiographical work by Bruce Springsteen took me through endless stories of his music journey when I read it. So when I pulled it out to revisit it I almost felt like reading it again as though I had missed much of it.

Radio days is a chapter that I related to because just like Bruce Springsteen’s mum loved music our mornings would begin with the radio too. For Bruce Springsteen his mother imparted to him an enthusiasm for life’s complexities, an insistence on joy and good times and the perseverance to see the hard times through. Also touching is how they gathered up money for his first electric guitar a faith only parents can have in their children.

His relationship with his siblings and the funny anecdote where his sister’s hair got caught in the electric mixer and how he was there for her and shared a few laughs with her is heartwarming.

Working on a Dream

Bruce Springsteen also speaks of hard times when all he had were some pennies and had to beg the attendant at the poll booth at the Lincoln tunnel to let him pass. I like how he ended it by saying in the real world ninety nine cents will not get you into New York City. You will need the full dollar.

My Hometown

My most memorable part of the book and one which touched a chord in me was when Bruce Springsteen was driving out of his town in a truck perched on a couch. He felt the streets of his childhood slipping by.  He felt filled with the freedom of being young and leaving something ,a certain detachment from a place that he had loved and hated and where he had found both comfort and pain. His town would never leave him although he knew he would never live there again. The feeling of exultation he described from a moving truck was really beautifully described.

Born to Run

His process of how he started writing the song Born to Run where he only had a title and how he describes a smash to be like it has always been there and as if you’ve never heard anything like it before. He was sure he had seen the title somewhere on the hood of a car perhaps. Maybe it was just in the air floating along. It’s always a great feeling to read how musicians break down their songs and have connections to it and what inspired them.

Born to Run takes you through the journey of all the bands Bruce Springsteen was a part of, his equations with The E Street Band, his deep rooted connection to his family and the epic story of a legendary musician.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. He is an originator of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with poetic and socially conscious lyrics that tell a narrative about working-class American life. Nicknamed “The Boss”, he is known for his lyrics and energetic concerts, with performances that can last more than four hours.