What Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' Means to Me (Happy Birthday, Old Friend)

by Julian Spivey
Today (August 25) is the 40th anniversary of the release of what I consider to be the greatest album ever recorded – Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band.

Born to Run isn’t just a perfect rock ‘n’ roll music album about disillusionment and trying to break free from an unhappy life – something that makes it as relevant today as when it was released four decades ago, but is also one of the most important albums in music history.

Today most of us know Bruce Springsteen as a legendary singer-songwriter whose legions of loyal fans consider to be almost a musical God, but without Born to Run it’s highly unlikely any of that would’ve ever happened.

Springsteen released two albums prior to Born to Run in the span of a year in 1973 entitled Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ and The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle that were commercial flops, despite being fairly acclaimed by critics – some referring to Springsteen as the next Bob Dylan for his superior songwriting chops.

Everybody knows you have to sell records to remain in the music game and if you’re lucky you might only get a few opportunities to do so and if Springsteen struck out on his third album that would likely be it for his young career.

So, Springsteen, his management and record company threw absolutely everything behind his third release Born to Run – and what came out was a musical masterpiece that truly captured Middle America and continues to do the same to this very day.

Born to Run was such a pop culture sensation from the get go that Springsteen became the first musician to ever grace the covers of TIME and Newsweek in the same week. Behind a killer single like “Born to Run” and beautifully written and fantastically performed tracks like “Thunder Road,” “Backstreets” and “Jungleland” that remain among the favorites of his millions of fans to this day he became a star that four decades later is still burning bright and releasing critically-acclaimed albums, when most from his era are long gone or at the very least recording material nowhere near their heydays.

The thing that Springsteen hit upon in Born to Run that makes it so appealing to his fans is that disillusionment of being in a dead end situation and trying everything you possibly can to break free from that life. Like the narrators in his perfectly written “Born to Run” and “Thunder Road” you just want to jump in your hot rod and leave that town full of losers fading fast in your rearview mirror.

The unfortunate thing about being a Bruce Springsteen fan is I’m not sure you can be completely content with your life and be a big fan of his, because it’s physically and emotionally identifying with these characters that he so deftly writes about (because he lived them and with them) that brings you so close to his music. You love the narrators of “Born to Run” and “Thunder Road” so damn much because they represent who you are and the dreams you have of running away from everything that brings you down.

That’s why Springsteen concerts are almost religious experiences, because when he sings a line like “It’s a town full of losers/And I’m pulling out of here to win” or “Tramps like us/Baby we were born to run” and you’re screaming these lyrics with a few thousand of your closest friends for an evening you honestly believe you’re these characters making a break for the promised land or a better life.

Springsteen makes you believe you can escape. He makes you feel better about your life. Even if it’s just for four-to-five minutes while hearing his song you’re hopeful there’s something better down the road for you. True art makes you feel like you can conquer the world and Springsteen makes me feel like I’m going to make it someday more than almost all the other great artists combined.

That’s why Born to Run is the greatest album of all-time, in my opinion. God bless Born to Run. God bless Bruce Springsteen. Happy birthday/anniversary to my great friend that makes me realize there’s something better down that road and that all I need to get there is a car, a girl, a dream and a little Bruce Springsteen.

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