born to run

Bruce Springsteen had one last chance to make it real and spent months searching for his groove on the backstreets of a runaway American dream to come out on the other side with this visionary tour de force.     After the commercial disappointment of his first two albums Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, CBS Records execs told him that they would allow him to produce one more single, the strength of which would determine whether or not he would get to do another album.  

He spent six months producing the single that would make or break his career:   "One day I was… working on some song ideas, and the words ‘born to run’ came into my head. At first I thought it was the name of a movie or something I’d seen on a car spinning round the Circuit, but I couldn’t be certain.[I was determined to] deliver its message in less time and with a shorter burst of energy...Born To Run… proved to be the key to my songwriting for the rest of the record. Lyrically, I was entrenched in classic rock and roll images, and I wanted to find a way to use those images without their feeling anachronistic." 

An advance copy of the single was given out to select radio stations to build the buzz and the strategy worked.  Listeners and other radio stations were clamoring for the song before it had even been put into production.  The green light was given for Springsteen to record his third album.  By this point, however, two members of the band David Sancious and Ernest "Boom" Carter had moved on to pursue jazz.   Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg were brought in to replace them as sessions began in upstate New York at the lackluster 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt.   Springsteen's manager Mike Appel was able to secure better recording equipment at the Record Plant in New York City; and, by this point, journalist Jon Landau was brought into the fold as a co-producer.


Springsteen considers:   "Everyone was finding their way.  I was not interested in a strictly professional setup.  I did not want to contain my talents in that box, because I didn't know where they were going to lead me at that time.  At that time, my concern was this:  I have these abilities. I don't know what they are, but I know that they are there. I don't know where they are going to lead me, but wherever that is, I have to go, even if it is down a bunch of blind alleys, until I find one that I do want to go down.  Give me room to do this particular thing.  In my own fashion.   The primary questions that I would be writing about for the rest of my work life first took form in the songs on 'Born To Run'.  What do you do when your dreams come true?  What do you do when they don't?  Is love real?  'Born To Run' was the album where I left behind my adolescent definitions of love and freedom.  It was the real dividing line. "


All in all, 'Born To Run' took over fourteen months to record with  Bruce Springsteen  on lead vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, harmonica, and percussion;   Clarence Clemons on saxophones, tambourine, and background vocals;  Garry W. Tallent on bass guitar;    Roy Bittan on piano, Fender Rhodes, organ, harpsichord, glockenspiel, and background vocals on all tracks except "Born to Run";   Max Weinberg on drums on all tracks except "Born to Run";   David Sancious on piano and organ for "Born to Run";  Danny Federici on organ and glockenspiel for "Born to Run";  Ernest "Boom" Carter on drums for "Born to Run";  Suki Lahav on violin for "Jungleland";  Steven Van Zandt on background vocals for "Thunder Road" and horn arrangements;    with    Wayne Andre on trombone, Mike Appel on background vocals, Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone, Randy Brecker on trumpet and flugelhorn, David Sanborn on baritone saxophone.   Richard Davis on double bass for "Meeting Across The River", and conductor Charles Calello did the string arrangements.    The sessions were produced by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Mike Appel (except on "Born To Run" which was produced by Springsteen and Appel) with engineers Andy Abrams, Angie Arcuri, Ricky Delena, Jimmy Iovine, Louis Lahav, Thom Panunzio, Corky Stasiak, and David Thoener.  

Springsteen says he was seeking a sound reminiscent of "Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan, produced by Spector ... I know what it’s like not to be able to do what you want to do, because when I go home, that’s what I see. It’s not fun, it’s no joke. I see my sister and her husband. They’re living the lives of my parents in a certain kind of way. They got kids; they’re working hard. These are people, you can see something in their eyes ... I asked my sister, ‘What do you do for fun?’ ‘I don’t have any fun,’ she says. She wasn’t kidding...I don’t think the American Dream was that everyone was going to make it or that everyone was going to make a billion dollars, but it was that everyone was going to have an opportunity and the chance to live a life with some decency and a chance for some self-respect.”




The album became a major breakthrough for Springsteen, going to number thirty-one in Canada; twenty-eight in New Zealand; twenty-six in Norway; twenty in Ireland; seventeen in the UK; seven in Australia, the Netherlands, and Sweden; and number three in the US.    Springsteen recalls:    "Born To Run had the feeling of that one, endless summer night. The whole record feels like it could all be taking place in the course of one evening, in all these different locations. Everything is filled with that tension of somebody struggling, trying to find some other place."








http://brucespringsteen.net/

http://www.backstreets.com/









"Born To Run"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqTLl68aUzg


In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages on Highway 9
Chrome-wheeled, fuel-injected
And steppin' out over the line
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

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 across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
'Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
girl I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace hemi powered drones scream down the boulevard
The 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 a mist
I wanna die with you out on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

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
Someday girl, I don't know when,
we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go
and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
baby we were born to run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v63dQYJQxJI





'Born To Run' 
full album:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq5_IODrGmKijUfcxMTKroa5maPvYJDtz





All songs written and composed by Bruce Springsteen.

Side one
1. "Thunder Road"   4:49
2. "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"   3:11
3. "Night"   3:00
4. "Backstreets"   6:30

Side two
1. "Born to Run"   4:31
2. "She's the One"   4:30
3. "Meeting Across the River"   3:18
4. "Jungleland"   9:34



outtakes

 "Linda Let Me Be the One"
"So Young and In Love"
"Walking in the Street (aka Lovers in the Cold)"
"Lonely Night in the Park"
"A Love So Fine"
"A Night Like This"
"Janey Needs a Shooter"










Live in London at Hammersmith Odeon 1975
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXFWXgFk5Jo



Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out 
Spirit In The Night
Lost In The Flood
She's The One 
Born To Run
The E Street Shuffle
It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
Backstreets
Kitty's Back
Jungleland
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Detroit Medley: 
Devil With a Blue Dress On 
C.C. Rider 
Good Golly Miss Molly 
Jenny Take a Ride
For You
Quarter To Three

Springsteen became a household name when he appeared on the covers of Time and Newsweek in the same week on October 27, 1975.  

born in the u.s.a.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band started a fire and found their glory days in the serious storytelling of this brawny blockbuster.   Although he had broken though into the pop charts on his own with 'Hungry Heart' from 'The River', Springsteen followed that album up with the sparse 'Nebraska', which was basically a demo tape he had produced at his house.  He had attempted to record some of the songs with the E Street Band; but eventually decided that the original recordings had a power that could not be denied.  Some of the dark character studies written during this time period were revisited when it came time to record his next album.  The sessions for 'Born in the U.S.A.' began before 'Nebraska' was even released.  The recording took place at The Power Station and The Hit Factory in New York City with Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen, and Steven Van Zandt producing.  'Born in the U.S.A.'  features Bruce Springsteen on lead vocals, lead guitar, and acoustic guitar;   Roy Bittan on piano, synthesizer, and background vocals;   Clarence Clemons on saxophone, percussion, and background vocals;   Danny Federici on organ, glockenspiel, and piano on "Born in the U.S.A.";  Garry Tallent on bass guitar and background vocals;  Steven Van Zandt on acoustic guitar, mandolin, and harmony vocals;  and Max Weinberg on drums and background vocals;   with Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg on background vocals on "Cover Me" and "No Surrender";  and Ruth Davis on background vocals on "My Hometown".  



Springsteen reflected at the time:  "I think there's always been a nostalgia for a mythical America, for some period in the past when everything was just right...I guess my view of America is of a real bighearted country, real compassionate. But the difficult thing out there right now is that the social consciousness that was a part of the Sixties has become, like, old-fashioned or something. You go out, you get your job, and you try to make as much money as you can and have a good time on the weekend. And that's considered okay....I guess what I was always interested in was doing a body of work – albums that would relate to and play off of each other. And I was always concerned with doin' albums, instead of, like, collections of songs. I guess I started with 'The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle', in a funny way – particularly the second side, which kind of syncs together. I was very concerned about gettin' a group of characters and followin' them through their lives a little bit. And so, on 'Born to Run', 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' and  'The River', I tried to hook things up. I guess in Born to Run, there's that searchin' thing; that record to me is like religiously based, in a funny kind of way. Not like orthodox religion, but it's about basic things, you know? That searchin', and faith, and the idea of hope. And then on 'Darkness', it was kind of like a collision that happens between this guy and the real world. He ends up very alone and real stripped down. Then, on 'The River', there was always that thing of the guy attemptin' to come back, to find some sort of community. It had more songs about relationships – "Stolen Car," "The River," "I Wanna Marry You," "Drive All Night," even "Wreck on the Highway" – people tryin' to find some sort of consolation, some sort of comfort in each other. Before 'The River', there's almost no songs about relationships. Very few. Then, on 'Nebraska'...I don't know what happened on that one. That kinda came out of the blue...I think you can get to a point where nihilism, if that's the right word, is overwhelming, and the basic laws that society has set up – either religious or social laws – become meaningless. Things just get really dark. You lose those constraints, and then anything goes. The forces that set that in motion, I don't know exactly what they'd be. I think just a lot of frustration, lack of findin' somethin' that you can hold on to, lack of contact with people, you know? That's one of the most dangerous things, I think – isolation. 'Nebraska' was about that American isolation: what happens to people when they're alienated from their friends and their community and their government and their job. Because those are the things that keep you sane, that give meaning to life in some fashion. And if they slip away, and you start to exist in some void where the basic constraints of society are a joke, then life becomes kind of a joke. And anything can happen...Half of the 'Born in the U.S.A.' album was recorded at the time of Nebraska. When we initially went in the studio to try to record 'Nebraska' with the band, we recorded the first side of 'Born in the U.S.A.', and the rest of the time I spent tryin' to come up with the second side – "Bobby Jean," "My Hometown," almost all those songs. So if you look at the material, particularly on the first side, it's actually written very much like 'Nebraska' – the characters and the stories, the style of writing – except it's just in the rock-band setting...Most of the songs on 'Born in the U.S.A.' are under five takes, and "Darlington County" is live, "Working on the Highway" is live, "Down-bound Train," "I'm on Fire," "Bobby Jean," "My Hometown," "Glory Days" – almost the whole album is done live. Our basic style of recording now is not real tedious. The band is playing really well together, and in five or six takes of a song, they're gonna get it. 'Born to Run' was the only album I really did extensive overdubbing on; it's also the only album where I wrote only one more song than we recorded. For 'Born in the U.S.A.', we recorded maybe fifty songs. The recording is not what took the time; it was the writing – and waiting till I felt, 'Well, there's an album here; there's some story being told.' We record a lot of material, but we just don't release it all."

'Born in the U.S.A.'  became the biggest album of Springsteen's career and catapulted him into worldwide superstardom, going to number eleven in Ireland; six in Japan; two in France, Italy, and Spain; and number one in Australia, Austria, Canada, (West) Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.   'Born in the U.S.A.' was the best selling album of 1984 in the US with over fifteen million copies sold.  It has sold over twice that worldwide.   It produced seven top ten singles, putting in a tie with Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation 1814' for the record.   Springsteen spent two years touring the world for the album.  The iconic cover photo was shot by Annie Leibovitz.   






http://brucespringsteen.net/









"Dancing in the Dark" was written near the end of the sessions as a concession to producer Jon Landeau, who wanted a powerful hit single for the album.  The lyrics reveal Springsteen wrestling with the process.  It became the biggest hit of Springsteen's career (apart from Manfred Mann's chart-topping cover of his 'Blinded By the Light' from 'Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ' album), going to number seven in Norway: five in Australia; four in the UK; three in Canada; number two in Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, and on the US pop chart; and number one on the US hot mainstream rock tracks chart.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=129kuDCQtHs





"Cover Me" was originally written for Donna Summer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sejk6EI7rpA






"Born in the U.S.A." was conceived as a song for a film by Paul Schrader called 'Born in the U.S.A.' (which would become 'Light of Day', featuring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett, the title song of which was penned by Springsteen).  The working title of the song was 'Vietnam'.  Springsteen admits:  "I don't know if anybody could imagine what their particular experience is like. I don't think I could, you know? I think you had to live through it. But when you think about all the young men and women that died in Vietnam, and how many died since they've been back – surviving the war and coming back and not surviving – you have to think that, at the time, the country took advantage of their selflessness. There was a moment when they were just really generous with their lives."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRxAs3YZjcc



"I'm On Fire"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrpXArn3hII





"Glory Days"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQpW9XRiyM





"I'm Goin' Down"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fdZWbIsrFk





"My Hometown"










'Born in the U.S.A.' 
full album:





Side one
1. "Born in the U.S.A."   4:39
2. "Cover Me"   3:27
3. "Darlington County"   4:48
4. "Working on the Highway"   3:11
5. "Downbound Train"   3:35
6. "I'm on Fire"   2:37
Side two
1. "No Surrender"   4:00
2. "Bobby Jean"   3:46
3. "I'm Goin' Down"   3:29
4. "Glory Days"   4:15
5. "Dancing in the Dark"   4:00
6. "My Hometown"   4:34




'Born in the U.S.A.' 
outtakes:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF1DB7C11C23BDA14

the wild, the innocent & the e street shuffle

Bruce Springsteen expanded his band and his vision for the poetry and drama of this complex tapestry of folk, funk, jazz, and soul.  ‘The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle’  was produced by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos at 914 Sound Studios in Blauvelt, NY.  Sessions took place during the tour for ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ’ with his still unnamed touring band laying down most of the basic tracks.  Later sessions included new member David Sancious and several studio musicians.  The album credits Bruce Springsteen on guitars, harmonica, mandolin, recorder, maracas, and lead vocals; Clarence "Nick" Clemons on saxophones and backing vocals; Danny Federici on accordion, backing vocals, and 2nd piano on "Incident on 57th Street" & organ on "Kitty's Back"; Garry Tallent on bass, tuba, and backing vocals; Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez on drums, backing vocals, and cornet on "The E Street Shuffle"; and David L. Sancious on piano, organ (solo on "Kitty's Back"), electric piano, clavinet, soprano saxophone on "The E Street Shuffle", backing vocals, and string arrangement on "New York City Serenade"; with Richard Blackwell on conga and percussion; Albany "Al" Tellone on baritone saxophone on "The E Street Shuffle";  plus Suki Lahav on choir vocals on "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" .

Although it was lauded by critics,‘The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle’ didn’t sell well when it came out only seven months after ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ’.  It wasn’t until the massive success of his next album ‘Born to Run’ that ‘The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle’ would run up the charts, going to number sixty in Australia, fifty-nine in the US, thirty-four in Sweden, and thirty-three in the UK.  Springsteen says:  “It came out- it didn’t do that well; but it was an interesting record.  Half of the songs are sort of set around New Jersey and our little street corner… and the other half was sort of my romantic ideas and fantasies of New York City. “ 






http://brucespringsteen.net/






"Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uxQdY2jqj8








"4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgFHM8HMbWQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOU2Mi0H5RI



"Kitty's Back" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q66i8r8Jt8c





"Wild Billy's Circus Story" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_pfHheC7Pk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAUrofM9DDs





"New York City Serenade" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5iFPH6aig0














‘The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle’ 
full album:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgfI6cjeH22hozsViwGHaz2ObOWSp6cn8


01 The E Street Shuffle
02 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
03 Kitty's Back
04 Wild Billy's Circus Story 
05 Incident on 57th Street
06 Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
07 New York City Serenade





‘The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle’ 
performed live:  
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9CEBCC413747BA18

darkness on the edge of town

Bruce Springsteen fought for the heart, the soul, and the control to produce this document of defiance in the face of broken promises.  After the release of his landmark 'Born to Run' album, Springsteen became embroiled in a legal battle with his  former manager Mike Appel  over the rights to his music.  He was unable to record with his new manager and producer Jon Landau for over a year until the court ruled in his favor.  In the meantime, he had amassed more than seventy songs.  'Darkness on the Edge of Town' was recorded at the Record Plant Studios in New York with Bruce Springsteen on lead vocals, lead guitar, and harmonica; Roy Bittan on piano and vocals; Clarence Clemons on saxophone and vocals; Danny Federici on organ and glockenspiel; Garry Tallent on bass guitar; Steve Van Zandt on rhythm guitar and vocals; and Max Weinberg on drums.  Springsteen and Landau produced the sessions with assistance from Van Zandt.  



Springsteen reveals:     "The whole force of 'Darkness'...was a survival thing.  After 'Born to Run', I had a reaction to my good fortune. With success, it felt like a lot of people who'd come before me lost some essential part of themselves. My greatest fear was that success was going to change or diminish that part of myself...People thought we were gone. Finished. They just thought 'Born to Run' had been a record company creation. We had to reprove our viability on a nightly basis, by playing, and it took many years. You had to be very committed. One thing we did well after 'Born to Run' was, I said: 'Woah.' I got on Time and Newsweek because I decided to be. But I was very frightened at the train and how fast it was going when we got on. In a funny way, the lawsuit was not such a bad thing. Everything stopped and we had to build it up again in a different place...The record was of its time.  We had the late-70s recession, punk music had just come out, times were tough for a lot of the people I knew. And so I veered away from great bar band music or great singles music and veered towards music that I felt would speak of people's life experiences...I was never a visionary like Dylan, I wasn't a revolutionary, but I had the idea of a long arc: where you could take the job that I did and create this long emotional arc that found its own kind of richness ... Some of the greatest blues music is some of the darkest music you've ever heard. And I had maps. Obviously, Dylan had come when I was 15, and obviously I listened to his music first, and his music contained a lot — I used to say when I heard 'Highway 61' , I was hearing the first true picture of how I felt and how my country felt. And that was exhilarating. Because I think 1960s small-town America was very Lynchian. Everything was there, but underneath, everything was rumbling. ... I think what Dylan did, was he took all that dark stuff that was rumbling underneath, and I think he pushed it to the surface with irony and humor, but also tremendous courage to go places where people hadn't gone previously. So when I heard that, I knew I liked that, and I was very ambitious, also...I think 'Darkness' came out of a place where I was afraid of losing myself. I had the first taste of success [with 'Born to Run'] , so you realize it's possible for your talent to be co-opted and for your identity to be moved and shifted in ways that you may not have been prepared for. I was the only person I'd ever met who had a record contract. None of the E Street Band, as far as I know, had been on an airplane until Columbia sent us to Los Angeles. ... It was a smaller, smaller world. And we were provincial guys with no money. So there was this whole little street life in Asbury Park, and New York was a million miles away. Localism, as a movement, hadn't occurred yet in music. So there was nobody saying, 'I need to see what those bands in New Jersey are doing.' It was a very different time. But the good part about it was you were very, very connected to place and you had a real sense of place. And it was unique, the place where you lived and where you grew up...No one knows anyone else who has any money. They only know you. And at the time, even though we're making a lot of records, we're not making much money, because we didn't know how to make records, or because I signed a lot of bad deals and it all went away. My desire to not get disconnected from my parents and their history and a lot of the people I cared about; I said, 'These things aren't being written about that much. I'm not sure. And those were the topics I decided to take on for that particular record, not so much out of any social consciousness, but as a way of survival of my own inner life and soul."

'Darkness on the Edge of Town' went to number seventy-five in Ireland, sixteen in the UK, twelve in Norway, eleven in New Zealand, nine in Australia and Sweden, seven in Canada, five in the US, and four in the Netherlands.  









http://brucespringsteen.net/









'Darkness on the Edge of Town' 
full album:


"Badlands" – 4:01
"Adam Raised a Cain" – 4:32
"Something in the Night" – 5:11
"Candy's Room" – 2:51
"Racing in the Street" – 6:53
"The Promised Land" – 4:33
"Factory" – 2:17
"Streets of Fire" – 4:09
"Prove It All Night" – 3:56
"Darkness on the Edge of Town" – 4:30




Documentary 
'The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town' 
part one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psPbzqZE-DE

part two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CubHJ-1or2A

part three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU1wwSNOx7I









A box set of outtakes from the sessions was released in 2010.
  'The Promise': 



"Racing in the Street" ('78) – 6:49
"Gotta Get That Feeling" – 3:17
"Outside Looking In" – 2:16
"Someday (We'll Be Together)" – 5:35
"One Way Street" – 4:19
"Because the Night" – 3:25
"Wrong Side of the Street" – 3:34
"The Brokenhearted" – 5:19
"Rendezvous" – 2:37
"Candy's Boy" – 4:38
"Save My Love" – 2:36
"Ain't Good Enough for You" – 4:01
"Fire" – 4:08
"Spanish Eyes" – 3:50
"It's a Shame" – 3:14
"Come On (Let's Go Tonight)" – 2:18
"Talk to Me" – 4:20
"The Little Things (My Baby Does)" – 3:17
"Breakaway" – 5:30
"The Promise" – 5:52
"City of Night"
"The Way" (hidden track) – 7:08