Born to Be Wild

### Venue

* Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California (So Long Sam)
* The Marsh, Berkeley, California (Sam's Enchanted Evening)

### Length

* 4:28 (demo)
* 4:36 (single edit)

### Writer

Mars Bonfire

"**Born to Be Wild**" is a song written by Canadian rock musician Mars Bonfire. It was first recorded by the Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf, and released on their self-titled debut album in January 1968. It has sometimes been described as the first heavy metal song; the lyric "heavy metal thunder" in the second verse marks the first use of this term in rock music (although not as a description of a musical style but rather a motorcycle).

It was Steppenwolf's third single from their 1968 self-titled debut album. It became their most successful single, reaching No. 2 on the *Billboard* Hot 100 singles charts (being kept from the No. 1 spot by "People Got to Be Free" by the Rascals). In 2004, *Rolling Stone* magazine placed "Born to Be Wild" at No. 129 on the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. In 2018, the song was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a new category for singles.

In 2010, The Residents covered the song for their one-off performance So Long Sam; a recording of this arrangement was released on the digital EP *So Long Sam* and separately as a digital single on the group's official website in June of that year. In 2011 a stripped down arrangement of the song was included in the Randy Rose cabaret show Sam's Enchanted Evening.

## History

Originally written as a ballad, "Born to Be Wild" was first recorded by the Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf in a sped-up arrangement that AllMusic's Hal Horowitz later described as "a roaring anthem of turbo-charged riff rock" and "a timeless radio classic as well as a slice of '60s revolt that at once defines Steppenwolf's sound and provided them with their shot at AM immortality".

The song was notably featured in the 1969 road drama film *Easy Rider*, leading to the song being popularly associated with motorcycles and biker culture for years to come; in 2004, the song was ranked No. 29 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

### The Residents' versions

In March 2010, The Residents created an arrangement of "Born to Be Wild" more closely resembling the song's original conception as a ballad, for their one-off performance So Long Sam in 2010. The Residents' version of the song was released as a digital single on their official website in June 2010, and was later featured on the live album of the performance.

In 2011, The Residents' lead singer Randy Rose performed a stripped down arrangement of the song accompanied by pianist Joshua Raoul Brody, as part of his solo cabaret show Sam's Enchanted Evening.

The Residents' March 2010 demo of the song was released in September 2022 on the two CD compilation *So Long Sam (1945-2006)*.

## Lyrics

### Original lyrics

```
Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure
In whatever comes our way

```

```
Yeah, darlin', go and make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

```

```
I like smoke and lightnin'
Heavy metal thunder
Racing with the wind
And the feeling that I'm under

```

```
Yeah, darlin', go and make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

```

```
Like a true nature's child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die

```

```
Born to be wild
Born to be wild

```

```
Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure
In whatever comes our way

```

```
Yeah, darlin', go and make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

```

```
I like smoke and lightnin'
Heavy metal thunder
Racing with the wind
And the feeling that I'm under

```

```
Yeah, darlin', go and make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

```

```
Like a true nature's child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die

```

```
Born to be wild
Born to be wild

```

## List of releases

* *So Long Sam* EP (2010)
* "Born To Be Wild" (2010)
* *So Long Sam (1945-2006)* (2022)

### List of versions

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 So Long Sam live recording, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California, June 4th 2010 (single edit, 4:36)
2. ↑ So Long Sam live recording, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California, June 4th 2010 (4:50)
3. ↑ Studio demo recording, March 2010 (4:28)

## See also

* So Long Sam (show)
* *So Long Sam* (digital EP)
* *So Long Sam* (album)
* Sam's Enchanted Evening (show)
* *Sam's Enchanted Evening* (album)

## External links and references

* Sam's Enchanted Evening at The Residents Historical
* *So Long Sam* EP at Discogs
* "Born to Be Wild" at Wikipedia
* "Born to Be Wild" at Genius