Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run

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Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run

Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run

Rock n Roll

The song was written by Bruce Springsteen. It was released in 1975  on his album titled Born to Run as well as a single, backed with “Meeting Across the River.” This anthem of New Jersey, with its wall of sound,  is on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song “Born to Run” is very popular on album-oriented rock radio — and at Springsteen’s live concerts. The album received critical acclaim. It  is RIAA certified 6x Platinum in the U.S. It is 2x Platinum in Australia  and Canada, with Platinum certification in the U.K. and New Zealand. It is certified Gold in Italy and The Netherlands.

“Born to Run” was the first song Springsteen composed for studio production rather than a live performance. He says that he was at his home in Long Branch, New Jersey, sitting on the bed and the words “born to run” came to him. He was 24 years old at the time, and views this as a song from his youth. In it, he imagined a guy and a girl with the romantic notion of running and running  and never going back.

His songs often mention women by name, and the heroine in this one is Wendy. The women,  Springsteen says, are composites of people he knows. In the song, “Highway 9” is Route 9 in New Jersey. In the lyric the “hemi-powered drones scream don the boulevard ,” the hemi is a 425 Hemi engine made famous by Chrysler muscle cars. The “drones” here are robot-like men, who drive their cars without thinking of the future.

Bruce Springsteen is a singer, songwriter, and musician. He began performing in 1964 and has been going ever since. He continues to tour and perform.

Here are the lyrics to “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen:

In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages on highway nine,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin’ out over the line
H-Oh, Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Yes, girl we were

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims
And strap your hands ‘cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby we’ll never go back
H-Oh, Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I’m just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Babe ,I want to know if love is real

Oh, can you show me

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in the mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss

One, two, three, four

The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody’s out on the run tonight
But there’s no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul
H-Oh, Some day girl I don’t know when
We’re gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go
And we’ll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run

Oh honey, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run

Come on with me, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run

For More 70s Tunes

The System has daily featured music from all sorts of genres of 1970s music. You’re welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections in The System. Thank you for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen.

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