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.
