Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen - Listen to Free Music by Bruce Springsteen on Pandora Internet Radio more Bruce Springsteen In the decades following his emergence on the national scene in 1975, Bruce Springsteen proved to be that rarity among popular musicians, an artist who maintained his status as a frontline recording and performing star, consistently selling millions of albums and selling out arenas and stadiums around the world year after year, as well as retaining widespread critical approbation with ecstatic reviews greeting those discs and shows. Although there were a few speed bumps along the way in Springsteen's career, the wonder of his nearly unbroken string of critical and commercial success is that he achieved it while periodically challenging his listeners by going off in unexpected directions, following his muse even when that meant altering the sound of his music or the composition of his backup band, or making his lyrical message overtly political. Of course, it may have been these very sidesteps that kept his image and his music fresh, especially since he always had the fallback of returning to what his fans thought he did best, barnstorming the country with a marathon rock & roll show using his longtime bandmates.

Bruce Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in Freehold, New Jersey, the son of Douglas Springsteen, a bus driver, and Adele (Zirilli) Springsteen, a secretary. He became interested in music after seeing Elvis Presley perform on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 and got a guitar, but he didn't start playing seriously until 1963. In 1965, he joined his first band, the Beatles -influenced Castiles. They got as far as playing in New York City, but broke up in 1967 around the time Springsteen graduated from high school and began frequenting clubs in Asbury Park, New Jersey. From there, he briefly joined Earth, a hard rock band in the style of Cream . Also in the hard rock vein was his next group, Child (soon renamed Steel Mill), which featured keyboard player Danny Federici and drummer Vini Lopez. (Later on, guitarist Steve Van Zandt joined on bass.) Steel Mill played in California in 1969, drawing a rave review in San Francisco and even a contract offer from a record label.

But they broke up in 1971, and Springsteen formed a big band, the short-lived Dr. Zoom & the Cosmic Boom, quickly superseded by the Bruce Springsteen Band. Along with Federici, Lopez, and Van Zandt (who switched back to guitar), this group also included pianist David Sancious and bassist Garry Tallent, plus a horn section that didn't last long before being replaced by a single saxophonist, Clarence Clemons . Due to a lack of work, however, Springsteen broke up the band and began playing solo shows in New York City. It was as a solo performer that he acquired a manager, Mike Appel, who arranged an audition for legendary Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond. Hammond signed Springsteen to Columbia in 1972. In preparing his debut LP, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., Springsteen immediately re-hired most of his backup band, Federici, Lopez, Sancious, Tallent, and Clemons .

(Van Zandt, on tour with the Dovells , was mostly unavailable.) The album went unnoticed upon its initial release in January 1973 (although Manfred Mann's Earth Band would turn its lead-off track, "Blinded by the Light," into a number one hit four years later, and the LP itself has since gone double platinum). The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (September 1973) also failed to sell despite some rave reviews. (It too has gone double platinum.) The following year, Springsteen revised his backup group -- now dubbed the E Street Band -- as Lopez and Sancious left, and Max Weinberg (drums) and Roy Bittan (piano) joined, and in 1975, Van Zandt returned to the group. With this unit he toured extensively while working on the LP that represented his last chance with Columbia. By the time Born to Run (August 1975) was released, the critics and a significant cult audience were with him, and the title song became a Top 40 hit while the album reached the Top Ten, going on to sell six million copies.

Despite this breakthrough, Springsteen's momentum was broken by a legal dispute, as he split from Appel and brought in Jon Landau (a rock critic who had famously called him the "rock & roll future" in a 1974 concert review) as his new manager. The legal issues took until 1977 to resolve, during which time Springsteen was unable to record. (One beneficiary of this problem was Patti Smith , to whom Springsteen gave the composition "Because the Night," which, with some lyrical revisions by her, became her only Top 40 hit in the spring of 1978.) He finally returned in June 1978 with Darkness on the Edge of Town. By then, he had to rebuild his career. Record labels had recruited their own versions of the Springsteen "heartland rock" sound, in such similar artists as Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (who actually preceded Springsteen but achieved national recognition in his wake), Johnny Cougar (aka John Mellencamp ), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Meat Loaf , Eddie Money , and even fellow Jersey Shore residents Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, to name only some of the more successful ones.

At the same time, the punk/new wave trend had become the new focus of critical devotion, making Springsteen seem unfashionable. Notwithstanding these challenges, Darkness earned its share of good reviews and achieved Top Ten status, selling three million copies as the single "Prove It All Night" hit the Top 40. (In early 1979, the Pointer Sisters took Springsteen's composition "Fire" into the Top Ten.) Springsteen fully consolidated his status with his next album, the two-LP set The River (October 1980), which hit number one, sold five million copies, and spawned the Top Ten hit "Hungry Heart" and the Top 40 hit "Fade Away." (In 1981-1982, Gary U.S. Bonds reached the Top 40 with two Springsteen compositions, "This Little Girl" and "Out of Work.") But having finally topped the charts, Springsteen experimented on his next album, preferring the demo recordings of the songs he had made for Nebraska (September 1982) to full-band studio versions, especially given the dark subject matter of his lyrics.

The stark LP nevertheless hit the Top Ten and sold a million copies without benefit of a hit single or a promotional tour. (Van Zandt amicably left the E Street Band for a solo career at this point and was replaced by Nils Lofgren .) But then came Born in the U.S.A. (June 1984) and a two-year international tour. The album hit number one, threw off seven Top Ten hits ("Dancing in the Dark," which earned Springsteen his first Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, "Cover Me," "Born in the U.S.A.," "I'm on Fire," "Glory Days," "I'm Goin' Down," and "My Hometown"), and sold 15 million copies, putting Springsteen in the pop heavens with Michael Jackson and Prince .

For his next album, he finally exploited his reputation as a live performer by releasing the five-LP/three-CD box set Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live/1975-85 (November 1986), which topped the charts, was certified platinum 13 times, and spawned a Top Ten hit in a cover of Edwin Starr 's "War." (In March 1987, "the Barbusters" -- actually Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, took Springsteen's composition "Light of Day," written for the movie of the same name, into the Top 40.) Characteristically, Springsteen returned to studio work with a more introverted effort, Tunnel of Love (October 1987), which presaged his 1989 divorce from his first wife, actress Julianne Phillips.

(He married a second time to singer/songwriter/guitarist Patti Scialfa , who had joined the E Street Band as a backup vocalist in 1984.) The album was another number one hit, selling three million copies and producing two Top Ten singles, "Brilliant Disguise" and the title song, as well as the Top 40 hit "One Step Up." The album earned him a second male rock vocal Grammy. (In the spring of 1988, Natalie Cole covered the Springsteen B-side "Pink Cadillac" for a Top Ten hit.) Springsteen retreated from public view in the late '80s, breaking up the E Street Band in November 1989. He returned to action in March 1992 with a new backup band, simultaneously releasing two albums, Human Touch and Lucky Town, which entered the charts at numbers two and three, respectively, each going platinum. A double-sided single combining "Human Touch" and "Better Days" was a Top 40 hit. Of course, this was a relative fall-off from the commercial heights of the mid-'80s, but Springsteen was undeterred.

He next contributed the moody ballad "Streets of Philadelphia" to the soundtrack of Philadelphia, film director Jonathan Demme's 1993 depiction of a lawyer fighting an unjust termination for AIDS. The recording became a Top Ten hit, and the song went on to win Springsteen four Grammys (Song of the Year, Best Rock Song, best song written for a motion picture or television, and another for male rock vocal) and the Academy Award for best song. In early 1995, Springsteen reconvened the E Street Band to record a few new tracks for his Greatest Hits (February 1995). The album topped the charts and sold four million copies, with one of the new songs, "Secret Garden," eventually reaching the Top 40. Despite this success, Springsteen resisted the temptation to reunite with the E Street Band on an ongoing basis at this point, instead recording another low-key, downcast, near-acoustic effort in the style of Nebraska, The Ghost of Tom Joad (November 1995), and embarking on a solo tour to promote it. The LP won a Grammy for best contemporary folk album, but it missed the Top Ten and only went gold.

A much more prolific songwriter and recording artist than what was reflected in his legitimately released discography, Springsteen went into his vault of unreleased material and assembled the four-CD box set Tracks (November 1998), which went platinum. Whether inspired by the playing he heard on those recordings, bowing to constant fan pressure, or simply recognizing the musicians with whom he had made his most successful music, Springsteen finally reunited the E Street Band in 1999, beginning with a performance at his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. All the members from the 1974-1989 edition of the group returned. (Characteristically, Springsteen sidestepped the question of whether to use Van Zandt or Lofgren in the guitar position by rehiring both of them.) They embarked on a world tour that lasted until mid-2000, its final dates resulting in the album Live in New York City, which hit the Top Ten and sold a million copies.

Springsteen's writing process in coming up with a new rock album to be recorded with members of the E Street Band was given greater impetus in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the resulting disc, The Rising (July 2002), contained songs that reflected on the tragedy. The album hit number one and sold two million copies, winning the Grammy for rock album, as the title song won for rock song and male rock vocal. Following another lengthy tour with the E Street Band, Springsteen again returned to the style and mood of Nebraska on another solo recording, Devils & Dust (April 2005), taking to the road alone to promote it. The album hit number one and went gold, winning a Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. One year later, Springsteen unveiled another new musical approach when he presented We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (April 2006), an album on which he played new arrangements of folk songs associated with Pete Seeger , played by a specially assembled Sessions Band. The album reached the Top Ten and went gold as Springsteen toured with the group. It also won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.

The tour led to a concert recording, Live in Dublin (June 2007), which reached the Top 40. Once again, Springsteen recorded a new rock album, Magic (October 2007), as a precursor to re-forming the E Street Band and going out on another long tour. The album hit number one and went platinum, with the song "Radio Nowhere" earning Grammys for rock song and solo rock vocal. (Another track from the album, "Girls in Their Summer Clothes," won the rock song Grammy the following year.) Sadly, longtime E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici succumbed to a three-year battle with melanoma on April 17, 2008, his death causing the first irrevocable change in the group's personnel (saxophonist Clarence Clemons would die on June 18, 2011 due to complications from a stroke). Federici was replaced by Charles Giordano, who had played with Springsteen previously in the Sessions Band. Springsteen finished the tour in 2008 and held several additional shows in support of Senator Barack Obama, whose presidential campaign had kicked into hyperdrive earlier that year.

While playing an Obama rally in early November, Springsteen debuted material from his forthcoming album, Working on a Dream, whose tracks had been recorded with the E Street Band during breaks in the group's previous tour. The resulting album, which was the last to feature contributions from Federici (as well as his son, Jason), arrived on January 27, 2009, one week after Obama's historic inauguration. It immediately hit number one, Springsteen's ninth album to top the charts over a period of three decades, and it went on to go gold and win him another Grammy for solo rock vocal. In February, Springsteen and the E Street Band provided the half-time entertainment at Super Bowl XLIII. The group's tour, which featured full-length performances of some of Springsteen's classic albums at selected shows, ran through November 22, 2009. In December, the 60-year-old was ranked fourth among the top touring acts of the first decade of the 21st century, behind only the Rolling Stones , U2, and Madonna . The same month he was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.

Springsteen's 2010 was devoted to a revival of Darkness on the Edge of Town, with the 1978 masterpiece receiving an expanded box set called The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town; the set contained a feature-length documentary and a double-disc set of outtakes that was also available separately. As Springsteen began work on a studio album produced by Ron Aniello, who'd previously worked with Patti Scialfa , Clarence Clemons died. Clemons ' last recorded solo appeared on "Land of Hope and Dreams," one of many politically charged songs on the resulting album, Wrecking Ball. Supported by a major media blitz that included a showcase week of Bruce covers on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the Boss delivering a keynote address at South by Southwest, Wrecking Ball appeared the first week of March 2012. Before the end of that month, he embarked on a mammoth world tour to promote the album, on which he eventually took in 26 countries over the course of 18 months.

Late in 2013, it was announced that the E Street Band would receive a belated induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in early 2014. Prior to the induction ceremony came High Hopes, Springsteen's 18th studio album. Inspired in part by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello , who had temporarily replaced Van Zandt for the last six months of the Wrecking Ball tour and also played on the album, High Hopes was a collection of covers, reinterpretations of old songs, and leftovers; it appeared in mid-January 2014 and easily reached number one on the album charts. He toured with the E Street Band through the late spring, and also issued the EP American Beauty, which consisted of four unreleased songs from the High Hopes sessions. In late 2015, Springsteen released another audio/video box set offering an in-depth look at one of his classic albums.

The Ties That Bind: The River Collection offered a remastered version of Springsteen's 1980 album, along with an expansive disc of outtakes, an early single-LP version of the album Springsteen pulled prior to release, an original documentary on the making of The River, and a complete concert filmed in Tempe, Arizona in 1980. In the fall of 2016, Springsteen released a memoir entitled Born to Run, which was accompanied by a career-spanning collection called Chapter & Verse that he compiled himself. ~ William Ruhlmann Born to Run in the USA | stuck between stations Born to Run in the USA ABSTRACT The United States of America, despite being overwhelmingly diverse and complex, is nonetheless a country very much concerned with its own projected image of what it means to be ‘American’. It is a country that prides itself on a unifying national identity when so much of its identity comes from the culturally varied population it seeks to represent. Nevertheless, it is both engaging and insightful to attempt to deconstruct and explore America, if only to demonstrate its cultural complexities. As a musician, songwriter, political spokesman and cultural icon, Bruce Springsteen occupies a unique place in American society.

He is an artist whose every album, every performance and every interview is, constructed or not, a representation of what it means to be American. From early albums such as Born to Run, and Darkness on the Edge of Town, Springsteen presented the music-buying public with countless representations of the American tradition, be it the down-and-out roustabout on 42nd Street, the blue-collar dock worker eagerly awaiting pay-day, or the solitary trawler of late-night bars. Throughout twenty-plus albums, Springsteen has continued to shift his focus; images of the American West from Nebraska give way to the social discontent of Born in the USA and the personal sensibilities of Tunnel of Love. In a career approaching forty years, Springsteen has never released an album that does not seek to portray, favourably or not, the country to which he owes his identity. By focusing on two of Springsteen’s albums that distinctly differ in their representations of America, and by exploring the lyrics, music and reception of these, along with the cultural context from which they originate, it is possible to explore America from a unique and exciting viewpoint.

By contrasting the bleak portrayal of post-industrial workers found on 1984’s Born in the USA, with the optimistic and romantic presentation of America in 1975’s Born to Run, a wider appreciation and a greater insight into the ability of music as an art form to capture, instil, enlighten and engage becomes immediately apparent. INTRODUCTION “They’re doing the E Street Shuffle” An anticipatory and highly-charged crowd has gathered in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. As the July air crackles with excitement, people shuffle nervously, waiting for a sign, yet fearing an avalanche. There’s enough tension to fill an arena twice the size of the colossus that is New York City’s most prestigious rock venue. A small flicker of movement on the dwarfed stage causes a ripple of apprehensive applause. Two men walk onto the stage, raising their hands in stiff salutations. To the casual observer the pair could be any of the eight members of the renowned E Street Band. They are, in fact, Roy Bittan and Danny Federici, pianist and organist respectively and catalysts for the carefully rehearsed entrance that is about to unfold.

The pair part and move towards their respective instruments situated at either side of the stage, carrying themselves with grace and dignity and appearing more as experienced public speakers than rock stars. The applause increases as Garry Tallent takes to the stage, quickly striding towards his bass guitar, offering a one-handed salute to the crowd. The noise raises a few more decibels as Steven Van Zandt and Mrs. Springsteen herself, Patti Scialfa, stroll arm-in-arm onto the stage, grinning madly and seemingly caught in the middle of a private joke. Another pair appears; this time, drummer Max Weinberg and guitarist Nils Lofgren, once again arm-in-arm, and dignified in their manner. This entrance, despite its contrived manner, is received favourably by the huge audience inside the Garden. The stage has been set, the foundations laid; the audience knows what comes next. And therein lies a certain secret. As Bruce Springsteen sets foot on the stage, side by side with the formidable Clarence Clemons, an applause so rapturous and so intense engulfs the venue that any hint of cynicism is immediately disbanded.

For many of the crowd, this may be the first and only time they are in the presence of the man. For many others who have witnessed this entrance before – Springsteen has, in fact, implemented it on the previous nine shows of a ten-show residency at Madison Square Garden – the entrance is familiar, yet no less effective. Before there is even time for a strong intake of breath, the lights drop even further and Springsteen strikes up the opening chords of ‘Code of Silence’, a song that has opened seven of the ten shows and, despite being a relatively new composition and not particularly well-known, it delivers a personal message that connects Bruce well with his audience. With pulsating regularity, Springsteen and his band move effortlessly from song to song, blending the old with the new, the personal with the political. From the dynamic ‘Prove It All Night’, through a striking version of ‘The River’, a reworking of the acoustic ‘Youngstown’, and onto the anthemic ‘Badlands’, Bruce and his band appear very much as a group enjoying themselves and the music they are making.

There are occasional lapses into the rehearsed; most noticeably the closing section of ‘Out in the Street’, where band members take it in turn to sing the song’s title, each in their own inimitable style. The touching and poignant introduction to ‘American Skin (41 Shots)’, a song about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, is similarly constructed, but once again, effective. The carefully rehearsed performance of ‘If I Should Fall Behind’, a song that appears in the second encore of the night, is also contrived in its emotional message yet, in the hands of Springsteen and close to 20,000 fans, feels as heartfelt as anything. Over three hours later, with two half-hour long encores and a catalogue of songs that range from personal and emotive to commercially widespread and political, Springsteen vacates the stage and leaves the audience with an impression that few other performing artists have the ability to achieve. From blue-collar worker to spiritual prophet, political spokesman to circus ringmaster, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have performed a collection of songs that approach America from all manner of angles, with a myriad of styles and influences, and a dizzying array of views and opinions.

Unpacking those themes and ideas is no easy task, but one which has the potential to yield interesting and thought-provoking results, not only around the man and his music, but on the very essence of America itself. An effort to explore and deconstruct the music of an artist can never be truly objective; after all, why make any substantial effort, if not convinced of the importance and integrity of the artist from the outset? However, whilst the occasional lapse into hyperbole may be forgiven, an overriding sense of objectivity is needed to successfully examine the music of such a highly renowned, yet often misunderstood artist. In an effort to avoid a biographical document, or a wide-angled exploration of Springsteen’s music that, in attempting to address too much, addresses little at all, two of Springsteen’s twenty-plus albums will form the focus of this piece. ‘Part One’ will focus on Springsteen’s 1984 album, Born in the USA, arguably an unparalleled platform for the exploration of Springsteen’s portrayal of America in the 1980s. By drawing heavily on the lyrical and musical elements of Springsteen’s most commercially successful album, it is possible to determine the authenticity of its subject material.

The album’s images of post-industrial, blue-collar workers provided Springsteen with the opportunity to directly address many of the ideas behind his own thoughts on the American dream, yet has often been misunderstood by listeners and critics, dismissed as a deliberate attempt at American patriotism. Released a decade earlier, Springsteen’s breakthrough album, Born to Run, will form the focus of ‘Part Two’. Whilst Born in the USA focuses largely on images of working-class Americans, jaded, disillusioned and discontented by the social polarisation occurring in 1980s America, Born to Run is a more optimistic and youthful portrayal of the American dream, where the possibilities of success, excitement and fulfilment are still within reach. By exploring all of the aforementioned points and by presenting the views of critics, scholars, biographers, along with exploring the cultural context of America in the 1970s and 1980s, a greater understanding and a wider appreciation of an artist whose public persona is intrinsically linked with the American tradition can be achieved.

PART ONE “I work down at the carwash” Officially released to the record-buying public on June 4th 1984, Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA remains the artist’s highest-charting, and most commercially successful album. Selling more than 30 million copies worldwide, the album spawned seven top-ten hit singles, five music videos and a worldwide tour that, in 1984, was simply the largest the world had ever seen. It handed Springsteen an unparalleled degree of fame and popularity – albeit a success that Bruce himself was often uncomfortable with – and remains to this day the most recognised of all of Springsteen’s records. The album’s title, its cover, its focus on ordinary American people, its depiction of working life, its sense of nostalgia; all of these elements contributed to the success and cultural resonance of Born in the USA. The cultural context of America in the 1980s is a complex and multifaceted one. The burgeoning climate of high-finance, widespread materialism and an escalating social rat-race, along with an unprecedented amount of cultural polarisation, led to a focus on the individual, promoting the American dream through the opportunistic faces of Wall Street financiers.

As Norton (2010, p.824) notes “A growing class of affluent Americans seemed a society apart from the urban poor, whom sociologists and journalists began calling the underclass.” Whilst the likes of Donald Trump rose to an unparalleled level of wealth, the majority of America was left to rely on credit and borrowing to feed a growing level of materialism. In America in the 1980s, bigger was better. A former movie star had become president, technology advanced at a rapid rate and, after the previous two decades, a degree of prosperity and national enthusiasm established itself in America. It should come as little surprise then that, in the summer of 1984, one of the most respected and revered artists in the music industry should release an album entitled Born in the USA. For many yet to listen to the album’s twelve tracks, the theme appeared instantly immediate; a universal championing of American values, successes and ideals, in a decade that promoted such profound patriotism. The album’s iconic cover image, as a jean-clad figure stood in front of the red and white stripes of the American flag, seemed to reinforce this sentiment.

A quick glance at the song titles – ‘Darlington County’, ‘Working on the Highway’, ‘Glory Days’, ‘My Hometown’ – seemed also to suggest that here was an album of celebratory salutes to the most powerful country in the world. Yet, Born in the USA is an album that is nowhere near as clear-cut as the simple championing of American ideals. The characters found on the album, along with the stories they tell, offer a much more complex representation of American working-class life. Before embarking on an exploration of the music found on Born in the USA it is worth briefly returning to the cover of the album. The image of Springsteen, outfitted in faded denims and workingman’s shirt, with a worn red baseball cap protruding from his back pocket, is a deliberate representation of the traditional blue-collar worker of America.

It echoes a number of characters from Springsteen’s earlier albums – most notably the narrator of Springsteen’s 1980 song ‘The River’, who “got a job working construction,” and the narrator of ‘Out in the Street’, who “works five days a week, loading crates out on the dock.” The cover’s formation, however, sheds light on the concerns and sensibilities of an artist very much aware of the power of such an image. The original idea, to have Springsteen pose in full, in front of a gigantic American flag was quickly dismissed by Bruce. As official Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh (1987, p.208) comments: “He [Springsteen] must have understood the risk in linking his most commercial and accessible album to patriotic iconography; he needed something that worked against the mood of jingoism created in the Carter and Reagan years but didn’t push him into anything superficially ‘rebellious’”. The original idea was scrapped then, in favour of a close-up shot of an unidentified male in traditional work attire. The problem here, however, is that even without seeing the figure’s face he is still unmistakably Bruce Springsteen.

Marsh (1987, p.208) quotes Springsteen’s attempts to shift the focus away from the iconic cover: “We took a lot of pictures, and in the end, the picture of my ass looked better than the one of my face, so that’s what went on the cover. It didn’t have any secret message.” Springsteen also commented on the power of using the American flag as an image: “We had the flag on the cover because the first song is called ‘Born in the USA,’ and the theme of the record kind of follows […] but the flag is a powerful image, and when you set that stuff loose, you don’t know what’s gonna be done with it.” (Marsh, 1987, p.208). If the message behind the cover of Born in the USA was a strangely contentious issue for listeners and critics alike, then the album’s title track was even more so. Of all the songs in Bruce Springsteen’s vast canon, ‘Born in the USA’ stands alone as the single most misinterpreted and misappropriated.

Immediately adopted by attention-seeking patriots as an unofficial anthem –even President Reagan enquired as to whether the song could be used during the 1984 election campaign – ‘Born in the USA’ came to be widely associated with the unnecessary patriotism that Springsteen had been so careful to avoid in the past. The song has little to do with championing the spirit of America and instead, acts as a reflective condemnation of the Vietnam War and the state’s treatment of Vietnam veterans. Through the eyes of an American-born working class man, Springsteen reflects on the fate of the many Vietnam veterans who, on returning to America, found a country that was both alien and unfamiliar to them. The narrator’s tough upbringing is demonstrated in the opening verse of the song: “Born down in a dead man’s town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much Till you spend half your life just covering up”. Springsteen successfully evokes the feeling and frustrations of the youth of America that is relevant to both the narrator’s childhood, and the youth of the 1980s.

When Springsteen goes on to chant the song’s anthemic title, it no longer seems to form a celebratory chant of patriotism, but rather an ironic statement of discontent. The song’s second verse details the young man’s inscription into the army where, owing to his participation in a “little hometown jam”, the youth is sent off to a foreign land with a rifle and one simple instruction: “go and kill the yellow man”. While ‘Born in the USA’ successfully conveys a sense of frustration and discontent, along with the almost frivolous government motives behind the Vietnam War, the song’s third verse is the key to understanding the song’s meaning: “Come back home to the refinery Hiring man says “Son if it was up to me…” Went down to see my V.A. man He said “Son don’t you understand now…””. The lack of support and interest that is afforded to veterans of the Vietnam War is what Springsteen is really addressing in ‘Born in the USA’.

As Cullen (1998, p.96) states: “If the army was not a happy experience, neither was returning home, where the veteran of ‘Born in the USA’ finds little in the way of endlessly invoked American opportunity […] the folks back home mean well, but they lack the power to finish their sentences in credible ways […]” Springsteen seems to be questioning the nature of a country that prides itself on opportunity, yet offers no help and guidance to the many men who fought in an unpopular war. The narrator’s final resignation that he is “Ten years further down the road/Nowhere to run, ain’t nowhere to go,” brings the issue forward to the materialist society of 1980s America, attempting to address a question that has long gone unanswered. Springsteen’s condemnation of the Vietnam War is therefore purely from an American stance; although the tone and mood of the lyrics seem to suggest a condemnation of the war itself, Springsteen focuses on the way in which it has affected Americans in America, and not simply the vast amount of lives lost overseas.

However, the power of Born in the USA’s title track emerges not only from the lyrical and thematic qualities of the song, but also out of its superb production and musical execution. The opening syncopated snare-shots of Weinberg’s drum kit; the swirling anthemic fanfare of Bittan’s synthesizer; Springsteen’s defiant vocal that growls, shouts and echoes throughout – all underline a sense of urgency and desire that is present in many protest songs, and help to colour and embellish a song that is already rich in significance and meaning. Born in the USA is an album that offers varying representations of American society, but little of them are optimistic or celebratory. Whilst the cover of the album, its captivating musical performances, along with its expansive production, suggest an air of joyous optimism towards America, thematically the album is both sombre and resigned. The narrator of ‘Downbound Train’ who “had something going, mister, in this world,” until he “got laid off down at the lumberyard,” is a reference to growing unemployment and its effects on the workforce of America.

‘Glory Days’, the album’s fifth single is as much about looking back to a more productive and fulfilling time, than it is about enjoying the glory days of 1980s America. ‘Bobby Jean’, reportedly written for guitarist Steven Van Zandt who departed from the E Street Band around this time, is a song that dwells heavily on loss and regret, as Springsteen sings: “I wish I could have talked to you/Just to say good-bye, Bobby Jean.” The album’s other songs similarly possess a slightly nostalgic and unyielding quality. As Marsh (1987, p.198) comments: “Nevertheless, the subject matter of these songs is grim […] those who heard only party songs and sentimental farewells were swimming in the ocean but ignoring the tides.” Yet, the album remains Springsteen’s most commercially successful, and many listeners and critics did simply hear a celebration of America and Americans. This may be an indication of the record-buying public and the musical press of the 1980s; nullified by MTV and the synthesiser, the decade has long been maligned as the nadir of artistic expression in music.

Alternatively, the success of Born in the USA may simply be a product of the cultural context of America in the 1980s. Many Americans saw Springsteen as an icon; an image of America that told the story of how a working class boy could grow to be a megastar, yet retain a sense of connection and closeness to the working class of America. Springsteen would certainly have been aware of this and in the music videos for ‘I’m on Fire’ and ‘Glory Days’ he even appears in character as a working class mechanic or construction worker. Born in the USA is a championing of some sorts, but not in the way it came to be associated with; instead, it is a more complex and personal look at how historical events, cultural factors and societal attitudes combine to nullify and disillusion the working classes of America. It is therefore not a championing of America, but one of the American working class who refuse to give in to the stifling American system. The album is also an examination of masculinity; Springsteen’s inflated muscle-man appearance on the subsequent tour of the album was in stark contrast with the slight ragamuffin of earlier days.

Cullen (1998, p.124) comments on this: “In the months that followed, the handsome, youthfully thirty-something Springsteen came to represent a vibrant, working-class, white male heterosexuality in pop music. At a time when Michael Jackson’s sexual identity was unclear, Prince’s eroticism boldly crossed gender boundaries, and Madonna turned femininity into a series of disposable images, Springsteen represented the vital center […]” In his examination of the spirit of working class America, Springsteen promotes the American tradition through the experiences of the people with whom he grew up. As Lewis (2010, p.64) notes: “The songs’ narrators tend to be alienated, post-industrial men, suffering a crisis in masculinity, angry at the injustices wrought by corporate greed and government mismanagement.

They are nostalgic for a mythic America but abundantly aware that such a place never existed.” Yet the album came to represent a paradoxical problem for Springsteen; in championing working class heroes such as the Vietnam veteran in ‘Born in the USA’, or the roadside worker in ‘Working on the Highway’, Springsteen achieved a level of success, fame and wealth that stood in stark opposition with the subject material he was singing and writing about. Perhaps it is for this reason that, in the years following the album’s release, only a select few, if any, of the twelve cuts on the album made themselves into Springsteen’s live shows; ‘Born in the USA’ resurfaced as an acoustic, twelve-string solo piece in the reunion shows of 2001, but lost a great deal of power and immediacy as a result. Born in the USA is an album that works on a variety of levels. Whether taken as a championing of America in the 1980s, a sombre reflection on a lost America, or an exploration of the working class heroes who receive little in support and recognition from the American system, the album is a testament to Springsteen’s complex and ever-changing philosophy on what constitutes being ‘American’.

Its portrayal of American life is as complex and as multifaceted as anything Springsteen had attempted before but nevertheless, resonates as an engaging presentation of the many social and cultural problems that existed in America at the time. However, Springsteen wasn’t always as jaded. Bruce’s 1975 breakthrough album, Born to Run is a youthful, optimistic and wildly hopeful album where the American landscape offers promise and potential, and fortune is very much in the hands of the individual, rather than the establishment. Rewind then, if you will, nine years, to the summer of 1975… PART TWO “Beneath that giant Exxon sign” If Born in the USA is to be regarded as the album that took Bruce Springsteen and transformed him into one of the most recognised and celebrated American icons since Elvis Presley, then Springsteen’s third album, Born to Run, provided the foundations on which the success of Born in the USA stood. Its optimistic portrayal of life, love, loss and regret, along with its romantic presentation of the American landscape, demonstrates the work of an artist on the brink of success. Born to Run is about hope and potential, anxiety and possibilities, and all wrapped up in the promise of America.

Springsteen does reflect on the difficulty of obtaining and fulfilling such optimism, but questions neither its existence nor its power The cultural climate of America in the 1970s is far from an optimistic one, however. As Carroll (2000, p.xxi) comments: “The seventies rest uneasy on the national conscious […] This sense of despair reflected the obvious disappointments of the era – the frustration of the apocalyptic dreams of the sixties, the failure of government and business to stabilise the economic order, the decline of American leadership in the world, the belief that major social problems remained forever insoluble.” Furthermore, with the Civil Rights Movement still a relatively recent occurrence, a collective feeling of instability and rebellion permeated throughout the country. Richard Nixon and Watergate were also fresh in the mind, both leading to a deep distrust of American government. The shadow of the Vietnam War and its subsequent news reports meant that graphic images of violence and barbarity found their way into the houses of many Americans on a regular basis.

A new wave of experimental filmmakers such as Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper were making small, independent films such as The Last House on the Left (Craven, 1972) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Hooper, 1974), where the inherent feeling of fear, unease and violence found a celluloid home. America was in the middle of a decade of confusion, isolation and fear. It needed a bright new star to look towards. In a scruffy, fresh-faced musician from Long Branch, New Jersey, America found one. Born to Run was officially released on August 25th, 1975 to generally positive reviews. The writing, recording and mixing of the album was an unusually tortuous one for Springsteen and the E Street Band who, on Bruce’s previous releases – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle – had relied predominantly on an improvisatory atmosphere.

This time, however, Springsteen was intent on making a finely-crafted and delicately honed record and, with the help of an excellent batch of songs, a motivated and musically focused E Street Band, and a significantly streamlined sound, succeeded in doing so. As McKay (2010, p.28) notes: “For Born to Run, the stakes were higher. The hype was wearing thin and this was Springsteen’s last chance to live up to it […] he wanted to be great. And that sense of urgency and direction infects every note.” Just as Springsteen would do nine years later when, amidst a decade of relative prosperity he released Born in the USA, an album that centres on bleak social commentary and collective disillusionment, Springsteen chose to release a collection of songs that went very much against the grain. Whilst Born to Run is more complex than a simple celebration of America, it is nonetheless an album that is alive with optimism and possibility. In 1975, Americans were very much in need of hope and Springsteen, whose white, working class image appealed to the majority of record buyers, fitted the bill exactly.

It led Jon Landau, the contributing editor of Rolling Stone and later, the manager of Bruce Springsteen, to famously quote, “I saw the future of rock and roll and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” It also enabled Springsteen to achieve success and recognition as an emerging beacon of American hope and optimism. The album’s opening track, ‘Thunder Road’ is indicative of the optimism found throughout Born to Run. The solitary pairing of harmonica and piano lend the introduction of the song a feeling of melancholy; the lack of any formulaic time structure for the opening fifteen seconds enhances this feeling and promotes an air of freedom and spontaneity. Suddenly Roy Bittan’s piano steps up a gear and the listener starts to determine a sense of time and rhythm – one can almost imagine Springsteen’s foot beginning to tap here as he stands in a cramped recording booth, anticipating the entrance of his vocal. When Springsteen does begin to sing, it seems to be focused on a specific individual, his lyrics adopting a narrative approach: “The screen door slams Like a vision she dances across the porch As the radio plays” Bruce’s vocal is tight, crisp and restrained.

He is telling the listener a story, and framed with Bittan’s delicate piano, we cannot help but listen. It may be autobiographical, it may not; in the scheme of things this is not important. He continues: “Roy Orbinson singing for the lonely Hey that’s me and I want you only Don’t turn me home again I just can’t face myself alone again” The singer is acknowledging of his failings, yet convinced of his own ability to confront them. Our narrator goes on: “Don’t you run back inside Darling you know just what I’m here for So you scared and you’re thinking That maybe we ain’t that young anymore” As Bittan’s piano gradually becomes more insistent, so does Bruce’s vocal. He implores Mary not to retreat back inside, but instead to make a stand with him, even if she remains scared and consciously aware of being too old for such revolution. And then, for the first time in the song, amidst a pounding of piano keys, Springsteen utters the words that make up the cornerstone of what Born to Run is about.

When Springsteen removes any reservation from his vocal, expressively imploring Mary to “show a little faith, there’s magic in the night,” he is singing it to America as a whole. The open-ended possibilities present in America are summed up by the narrator of ‘Thunder Road’ in one, tellingly optimistic line. He admits that Mary may not be a ‘beauty’, but, to a man in the grip of possibility, it is not a problem. Suddenly the arrival of Steven Van Zandt’s electric guitar, Garry Tallent’s bass, and Max Weinberg’s drum-kit seem to propel the song forward, as if the engine of the narrator’s ’57 Chevy has been started, the clutch popped, and the handbrake released. The opening verses of ‘Thunder Road’ are extremely important in understanding Born to Run as a whole. Springsteen (2005) comments on its importance in an in-depth discussion on the song for VH1’s Storytellers programme, claiming: “What’s it about? It’s really an invitation.

The opening of Born to Run was my big invitation […] what I hoped it would be when I wrote the song was what I got out of rock music, which was a sense of a larger life, a greater experience […] a sense of personal exploration and possibility; the idea that it was all lying somewhere inside of you.” The opening lines of ‘Thunder Road’ are, of course, the first words we hear on listening to the album and, in a sense, foreshadow much of what is to come. The song continues in optimistic fashion, mixing images of freedom and possibility with reflections on working class society. When the narrator reflects “all the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood,” he is not lamenting the fact but rather celebrating the simplicity of working class life. Springsteen also uses his narrator to comment on the landscape of America, using it as a metaphorical device to promote personal and spiritual discovery, exclaiming: “this night’s busting open, these two lanes can take us anywhere.” Springsteen evokes Whitman, Kerouac and many other literary icons of America in championing freedom, individuality and self-expression over conformity.

The song is an extremely successful way to open an album, and has remained a core staple of Springsteen’s live shows throughout his career; its universal message appearing relevant in any decade, among any society. The ability of ‘Thunder Road’ to use American imagery in promoting a feeling of optimism and possibility is similarly reflected in a number of other songs from Born to Run. ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’, a soul-injected, hip-shaking glide through a constructed American urban landscape, is again clear in its depiction of the possibilities of American life: “Well I was stranded in the jungle Trying to take in all the heat they was giving The night is dark but the sidewalk’s bright And lined with the light of the living” Springsteen reflects on the confusion present in many large cities of America but, although the night may be dark, the sidewalk is alive with the potential for human interaction. It would be easy to assume that Springsteen is describing his feelings on growing up and living on the New Jersey shoreline but, throughout Born to Run, there is a feeling that something much larger is being addressed.

Unlike Springsteen’s previous two albums which focused heavily on the stories and characters of the New Jersey bars, clubs and streets the artist often frequented, Born to Run seems to romanticise the American city into a fantastical, all-encompassing representation of America as a whole. Similar to Edward Hopper’s paintings of New York, where the painter depicts the famous city through representations of anonymous storefronts and generic offices, Born to Run appears translatable to any city in America. The sheer multitude of angles from which Springsteen views the American city on Born to Run are too numerous to fully explore. The optimistic promise of ‘Thunder Road’ and the open-faced possibilities of ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’ are laid side by side with the powerful dangers of the unknown in ‘Backstreets’.

As Symynkywicz (2008, p.34) notes: “The song, ‘Backstreets’ also reminds that […] to find enlightenment and passion again, we must escape the world and head for the desert, for the outskirts, for that place away – in this song, an ‘old abandoned beach house’.” When Springsteen sings “hiding on the backstreets/with a love so hard and filled with defeat,” one may be justified in feeling a slight twinge of negativity. However, when he concludes “running for our lives at night/on them backstreets,” any sense of negativity disappears. The simple fact that the narrator feels his life is worth running for, dispels any sense of defeat; the backstreets may be dangerous, but at least they offer the potential for excitement and spontaneity. An examination of Born to Run would not be complete without some analysis of the title track. ‘Born to Run’ is adept at portraying and amalgamating a number of already mentioned themes.

The optimistic promise of ‘Thunder Road’, the possibilities of ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’ and the alluring dangers of ‘Backstreets’ are there in four and a half minutes of chest-beating heartland rock. The opening lines of ‘Born to Run’ are important in understanding the song’s complex look at youth, independence and ultimately, individual freedom: “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” The mundane existence of daily routine is instantly addressed in the song’s first line, and a feeling of conformity is established; the American dream has a life of its own, becoming derailed amidst a tide of conformity and conventionality. However, with the night comes the potential for expression and individuality, where ‘mansions of glory’ can be traversed in ‘suicide machines’, with little thought for personal safety or preservation. As the narrator insists “together we could break this trap/we’ll run till we drop, baby, we’ll never go back,” the feeling of personal expression becomes more rebellious.

After Clarence Clemons’ smouldering saxophone solo and one of Springsteen’s trademark false endings – perhaps only Neil Young can hold a candle to Springsteen as the master of deliberately misleading false endings in live performance – the song returns with even more defiance, as Springsteen growls: “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” The air of personal rebellion and collective optimism in charting one’s own fortune is complete as the song closes with the narrator’s telling admission that “tramps like us, baby we were born to run.” As Gutterman (2005, p.96) reflects: “There’s no evidence that any of these good things will actually happen; there’s overwhelming evidence that the singer believes they will and that belief is contagious.” ‘Born to Run’ is a song that is very much Springsteen’s own version of the American dream. Its youthful defiance of conformity, its insistence on self-discovery and its romantic visions of America as a land of mythic heroes are all given weight and clarity by the focused playing of the E Street Band.

The song’s meaning has been the source of much contention in the past, with Springsteen fans and musical critics all appearing to have their own views. Kirkpatrick (2007, p.43) focuses more on the harsh, unsavoury characters found in the song: “The characters of ‘Born to Run’ – the title itself invoking the 1970s punk motto ‘born to lose’ – are ‘tramps’. Their lives, we’re told, are marked by ‘sadness’, and although the singer promises Wendy they will one day reach a romantic promised land, he can’t tell her when.” The ‘correct’ meaning of any form of art or expression nearly always comes down to individual opinion, and there is enough evidence in the song to suggest that both interpretations are correct. Whilst Springsteen’s vision of America would undergo a vast number of changes in the following years, the song stands as one of the finest in Springsteen’s large canon, and an important example of Springsteen’s early view on American society. As an album, Born to Run is the product of an artist very much still in development.

Springsteen’s songs are yet to be affected by age; this begins to surface on 1982’s Nebraska and is explored more fully on 1984’s Born in the USA. The album is a 40-minute examination of optimism and hope, in the midst of a decade rife with fear and unease. Its success provided the basis for Springsteen to launch himself into the homes of millions of people worldwide, and remains one of his most alluring and engaging pieces of work. CONCLUSION “Meet me in a land of hope and dreams” Returning to that eventful July evening in Madison Square Garden, Springsteen’s complex vision of America was never so evident. Seventeen years on from the bleak social realism of Born in the USA, and over two and a half decades on from the wide-eyed optimism of Born to Run, Springsteen’s view of America has shifted considerably, from celebration to condemnation, resignation to defiance, contempt to adoration. Born in the USA may have catapulted Bruce Springsteen into mega-stardom, but its bleak representations of post-industrial workers, collective disillusionment, loss and regret should not have found such an easy home on an album released during a period of relative prosperity in the United States.

In a similar juxtaposition, Springsteen’s breakthrough album, Born to Run flew in the face of America’s collective unease and anxiety; its optimistic sketches of spontaneous road trips, personal defiance and one large, all-encompassing American city proved a welcome escape for the American public of the 1970s. Throughout the reunion shows in Madison Square Garden, one song stood out as the epitome of Springsteen’s vision of America. Amongst the legendary anthems Springsteen and the E Street Band would perform night after night, it was a new composition that proved to be the highlight of these shows. ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ came to embody the artist’s representation of what it meant to be American, and is a useful song to draw this piece to a close. Its lyrics combine the promise and potential of Born to Run with the realist sensibilities of Born in the USA. Its length often exceeded ten minutes, but its message was not lost.

Its mantra-like refrain held the key to the song’s message: “This train, carries saints and sinners/this train, carries losers and winners This train, carries whores and gamblers/this train, carries lost souls This train, dreams will not be thwarted/this train, faith will be rewarded This train, hear the steel wheels singin’/this train, bells of freedom ringin’ This train, carries broken-hearted/this train, thieves and sweet souls departed This train, carries fools and kings/this train, all aboard.” Springsteen’s portrayal of America through his music is one that seems to be constantly evolving. However, in the exclamatory refrain that echoed throughout Madison Square Garden on those ten shows, Springsteen offers up a collective embracing of the American spirit that comes close to portraying what it really means to be ‘Born in the USA’. BIBLIOGRAPHY I am indebted to a vast amount of material for shaping, honing and clarifying my appreciation and understanding of the music of Bruce Springsteen. However, the number of interviews, documentaries, magazine articles, internet material, and fanzines are simply too numerous to list here.

I have, however, included a comprehensive list of the published books and articles that I have quoted from, or found particularly enlightening. All images used are provided by Google Images, and the Bruce Springsteen Discography is courtesy of the high-quality Bruce magazine, Backstreets. Carroll, P. N. (2000) It Seemed Like Nothing Happened: America in the 1970s. 3rd edition. United States: Rutgers University Press. Cullen, J. (1998) Born in the USA: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition. London: Helter Skelter Publishing. Derkins, S. (2002) Bruce Springsteen. United States: The Rosen Publishing Group. Edelman, H. (1995) ‘Bruce Springsteen and the Story of Us’, The Iowa Review, 25 (3), pp. 137-153 JSTOR [Online]. Available at: (Accessed: 19th February 2010). Gutterman, J. (2005) Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. United States: Da Capo Press. Kirkpatrick, R.

(2007) The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen. United States: Praeger Publishers. Lewis, J. (2010) ‘Born in the USA’ in Uncut Ultimate Music Guide: Bruce Springsteen. Issue 2, Spring 2010. Marsh, D. (1981) Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story. London: Omnibus Press. Marsh, D. (1988) Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s. London: Arrow Books. Marsh, D. (2004) Bruce Springsteen: Two Hearts: The Definitive Biography, 1972-2003. London: Routledge. McKay, A. (2010) ‘Born to Run’, in Uncut Ultimate Music Guide: Bruce Springsteen. Issue 2, Spring 2010. Moss, P. (1992) ‘Where is the Promised Land?: Class and Gender in Bruce Springsteen’s Rock Lyrics’, Geografiska Annaler Series B, Human Geography, 74 (3), pp. 167-187 JSTOR [Online].

Available at: (Accessed: 19th February 2010). Norton, M. B. (2010) A People and a Nation: A History of the United States Since 1865. United States: Wadsworth. Oppenheim, I. (1982) ‘Rocking the American Dream: Elvis Presley and Bruce Springsteen’, The Threepenny Review, (9), pp. 22-23 JSTOR [Online]. Available at: (Accessed: 19th February 2010). Springsteen, B. (2001) Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. [DVD]. Sony/BMG. Springsteen, B. (2005) Bruce Springsteen VH1 Storytellers. [DVD]. Sony/BMG. Symynkywicz, J. B.(2008) The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption, from Asbury Park to Magic. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Cullen, J. (1998) Born in the USA: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition.

London: Helter Skelter Publishing. As the title suggests, Jim Cullen’s excellent exploration of Bruce Springsteen focuses heavily on the artist’s links with the American tradition. The book draws on cultural icons, historical events and social ideals to examine and present Springsteen as an artist very much indebted to America’s culturally rich past. Cullen’s chapter entitled, ‘Model Man’, is particularly insightful in its examination of masculinity in the songs of Bruce Springsteen, colouring and embellishing much of what went into my analysis of Born in the USA. Gutterman, J. (2005) Runaway American Dream: Listening to Bruce Springsteen. United States: Da Capo Press. Jimmy Gutterman’s exploration of Springsteen focuses predominantly on the artist’s songs. Favouring individual interpretation over cultural context, the text lacks an objectivity and grounding present in other works on Springsteen, but is nevertheless an insightful and thought-provoking examination of Bruce’s music through the lyrics of his songs. Although at times, rather condescending towards other Springsteen theorists, it did help clarify and enlighten much of the events surrounding the reunion tour of 2001. Kirkpatrick, R.

(2007) The Words and Music of Bruce Springsteen. United States: Praeger Publishers. Rob Kirkpatrick’s examination of Bruce Springsteen is similar to Gutterman’s in Runaway American Dream as its focus is very much on the music and lyrics of the artist, rather than the constructed image of Springsteen or the cultural context of his music. It is also similar in a lack of objectivity; its strangely didactic tone seems to assert meaning upon the reader rather than offer the potential for alternative opinion. In ironic fashion however, Kirkpatrick’s study was helpful to me in offering up an interpretation of ‘Born to Run’ that stood contrastingly against my own view of the song, yet was no less justified. Marsh, D. (1988) Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s. London: Arrow Books. Dave Marsh found his way into my reading and exploring of Springsteen’s work more often than any other author. As official biographer for Bruce, his work on the artist is unrivalled, if only in sheer volume. Glory Days is an in-depth portrayal of Bruce Springsteen from a multitude of standpoints.

Fortunate in his ability to obtain regular input from Bruce himself, Marsh’s study exudes authenticity and, although at times a little hyperbolic, helped provide a number of the finer details of my piece – most notably album sales figures, release dates, public reaction etc. Springsteen, B. (2005) Bruce Springsteen VH1 Storytellers. [DVD]. Sony/BMG. Bruce’s appearance on VH1’s Storytellers show proved invaluable in enhancing my appreciation of the artist’s work. The show is a remarkably focused performance, with Springsteen appearing solo with a simple acoustic guitar or at a piano. He presents a collection of songs from a varied range of albums in sparse, underdeveloped form, commenting on and deconstructing their lyrical complexity and musical development in intelligent reflections to the audience. The DVD was particularly helpful in Bruce’s deconstruction of ‘Thunder Road’, and, as a result, helped to shape my examination of the song. Symynkywicz, J. B.(2008) The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Redemption, from Asbury Park to Magic. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press.

Symynkywicz’s book provides a useful exploration of the spiritual overtones of Springsteen’s music – a feature that is often overlooked and regularly dismissed by fans and critics. While the focus of my work on Springsteen was not centred on this, Symynkywicz’s study did open up previously unexplored avenues of discussion surrounding Born to Run’s vision of a constructed, romanticised America and proved useful in highlighting the redemptive qualities of ‘Backstreets’. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN DISCOGRAPHY The vast amount of bootleg recordings, unofficial live releases and compilations make a comprehensive discography of Springsteen almost impossible. Perhaps only the music of Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead eclipse the sheer amount of Springsteen material out there. As a formality, however, here is a list of official studio and live albums, complete with their chart positions on US Billboard 200 chart. 1973 – Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

(–) 1973 – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (–) 1975 – Born to Run (#3) 1978 – Darkness on the Edge of Town (#5) 1980 – The River (#1) 1984 – Born in the U.S.A. (#1) 1986 – Live/1975-85 (#1) 1987 – Tunnel of Love (#1) 1992 – Human Touch (#2)

Question: What is the next in this series: "Born to Run", "Darkness on the Edge of Town", "The River", "Nebraska", "Born in the USA", "Tunnel of Love" ... ?
Answer: Human Touch