- Writer: Bruce Springsteen
- Producers: Bruce Springsteen and Mike Appel
- Recorded: August 1974 at 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt, New York
- Released: August 1975
- Players:
Bruce Springsteen — vocals, guitar
Garry Tallent — bass
Ernest “Boom” Carter — drums
David Sancious — keyboards
Danny Federici — organ
Clarence Clemons — saxophone - Album: Born To Run (Columbia, 1975 )
- Also On:
Live/1975-1985 (Columbia, 1986)
Greatest Hits (Columbia, 1995)
Live In New York City (Columbia, 2001)
The Essential Bruce Springsteen (Columbia, 2003) - Bruce Springsteen recorded the Born To Run album under stress, since his first two albums had sold a combined 90,000 copies.
- The song was recorded in advance of the album during a session at 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt, New York. It was one of the last of Springsteen’s recordings coproduced by then-manager Mike Appel and to feature E Street Band members Ernest “Boom” Carter and David Sancious.
- Shortly after it was finished, Appel leaked copies of “Born To Run” to a DJ in Philadelphia, then to stations in New York City and Boston, while the album was still being recorded, which created a buzz and heightened expectations for the album.
- Former Hollies singer Allan Clarke was impressed enough by the song to record a cover version and release it in the fall of 1974 — before Springsteen’s own version came out. (In 1975, the Hollies would also release “Sandy,” a cover of Springsteen’s “4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).” The group’s version peaked at Number 85 on the pop chart, better than any Springsteen single had done to that point.)
- Columbia spent an estimated $150,000 advertising and promoting the Born To Run album, a huge sum for a relatively unknown and unsuccessful artist. Part of the campaign included maneuvering Springsteen onto the cover of both Time and Newsweek magazines in the same week in 1975.
- Springsteen acknowledged his lofty ambitions for the song in the liner notes of his Greatest Hits album, calling it “my shot at the title — a 24-year-old kid aiming at ‘the greatest rock ‘n’ roll record ever.'”
- He told biographer Dave Marsh, “The most important thing is the question thrown back at ‘Born To Run’: ‘I wanna know if love is real.’ And the answer is yes.”
- Guitarist “Miami” Steve Van Zandt joined the E Street Band during the Born To Run sessions, after Springsteen asked him to arrange horns on “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.”
- “Born To Run” peaked at Number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- A “Born To Run” video featuring concert footage was released in 1987.
FAST FORWARD:
- Van Zandt, who now goes by Little Steven, left the E Street Band following the 1984 album Born In The U.S.A. to work on a solo career. In addition to the albums he’s released, he’s also made a name for himself through several endeavors, including as an actor on the HBO series The Sopranos.
- Springsteen dismissed the E Street Band in 1989, although he reunited with them, briefly, in 1995, and for world tours in 1999-2000 and 2002-2003.
- Drummer Max Weinberg has a steady job for the downtime between projects with Springsteen — he’s the leader of the Max Weinberg 7, the house band for NBC’s Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
- Springsteen was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1999.