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Bruce Springsteen – ‘Born To Run’

  • 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 ErnestBoomCarter 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 “MiamiSteve 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.

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