Born to Run“Writing about yourself is a funny business…But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.” —Bruce Springsteen, from the pages of Born to Run In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began. Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs. He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang”: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run” reveals more than we previously realized. Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll. Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs (“Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “The River,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “The Rising,” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 75
Page 5
... told our town's first church service and first funeral were held in our living room. We live here beneath the lingering eyes of my father's older sister, my aunt Virginia, dead at five, killed by a truck while riding her tricycle past ...
... told our town's first church service and first funeral were held in our living room. We live here beneath the lingering eyes of my father's older sister, my aunt Virginia, dead at five, killed by a truck while riding her tricycle past ...
Page 10
... told me neighbors from up and down the block would stop by to see the new miracle, to watch Milton Berle, Kate Smith and Your Hit Parade. To see wrestlers like Bruno Sammartino face off against Haystacks Calhoun. By the time I was six I ...
... told me neighbors from up and down the block would stop by to see the new miracle, to watch Milton Berle, Kate Smith and Your Hit Parade. To see wrestlers like Bruno Sammartino face off against Haystacks Calhoun. By the time I was six I ...
Page 16
... told this is where I belonged. All business as usual in Catholic school in the fifties. Still, it left a mean taste in my mouth and estranged me from my religion for good. Back in school, even if you remained physically untouched ...
... told this is where I belonged. All business as usual in Catholic school in the fifties. Still, it left a mean taste in my mouth and estranged me from my religion for good. Back in school, even if you remained physically untouched ...
Page 18
... told. The bride and her hero are whisked away in their long black limousine, the one that drops you off at the beginning of your life. The other one is just around the corner waiting for another day to bring the tears and take you on ...
... told. The bride and her hero are whisked away in their long black limousine, the one that drops you off at the beginning of your life. The other one is just around the corner waiting for another day to bring the tears and take you on ...
Page 20
... told me, “Daddy wanted three boys but he got three girls instead, so he raised us tough like men.” That, I suppose, explains some of it. As a child, I would return from dinner at my aunt Dora's house exhausted, my ears ringing. Anything ...
... told me, “Daddy wanted three boys but he got three girls instead, so he raised us tough like men.” That, I suppose, explains some of it. As a child, I would return from dinner at my aunt Dora's house exhausted, my ears ringing. Anything ...
Contents
3 | |
8 | |
13 | |
19 | |
25 | |
33 | |
38 | |
44 | |
Nebraska | 298 |
Deliver Me from Nowhere | 301 |
California | 308 |
Born in the USA | 313 |
Buona Fortuna Fratello Mio | 318 |
The Big Big Time | 321 |
Going Home | 338 |
Regresara México | 342 |
48 | |
The Show Man Lord of the Dance | 54 |
Workingmans Blues | 58 |
Where the Bands Are | 61 |
The Castiles | 68 |
Once There Was a Little Steven | 88 |
Earth | 96 |
The Upstage Club | 104 |
Tinker Surfin Safari | 114 |
Steel Mill | 121 |
Homecoming | 139 |
Endless Summer | 147 |
Beatnik Deluxe | 153 |
California Dreamin Take Two | 159 |
Its a Bar You Idiots | 165 |
Onward and Upward | 170 |
Losing My Religion | 179 |
Road Work | 185 |
The Wild the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle | 190 |
The Satellite Lounge | 200 |
BOOK | 205 |
BORN TO RUN 29 Born to Run | 207 |
Jon Landau | 212 |
Thunder Road | 219 |
Jackpot | 223 |
The E Street Band | 234 |
Clarence Clemons | 241 |
New Contracts | 246 |
Living with the Law | 254 |
Darkness on the Edge of Town | 260 |
The Drop | 268 |
Downtime | 271 |
The River | 275 |
Hitsville | 286 |
Hello Walls | 295 |
Tunnel of Love | 348 |
Goin Cali | 358 |
BOOK THREE | 365 |
LIVING PROOF 53 Living Proof | 367 |
Redheaded Revolution | 370 |
Changes | 374 |
LA Burning | 377 |
Going to the Chapel | 379 |
Earthquake Sam | 387 |
Streets of Philadelphia | 396 |
The Ghost of Tom Joad | 400 |
Western Man | 406 |
Eastern Woman | 415 |
King of New Jersey Hollywood Days | 418 |
Bringing It All Back Home | 421 |
Revival | 423 |
The Rising | 437 |
Wild East | 444 |
The Seeger Sessions | 449 |
Magic | 455 |
Super Bowl Sunday | 460 |
Moving On | 465 |
Wrecking Ball | 468 |
Losing the Rain | 471 |
The Wrecking Ball Tour | 476 |
Zero to Sixty in Nothing Flat | 484 |
Garage Land | 488 |
High Hopes | 491 |
Home Front | 497 |
Long Time Comin | 502 |
Epilogue | 506 |
Acknowledgments | 509 |
Photo Credits | 511 |
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Common terms and phrases
afternoon album Asbury Park audience beach Beatles beautiful blues Bob Dylan Born to Run Bruce Springsteen Clarence Clarence Clemons Clarence’s club Columbia Records couldn’t crowd dance Danny Danny Federici dark didn’t door dream E Street fans father feel felt Freehold front fuck Garry Tallent girl going guitar hard he’d head heart highway it’d Jake Jersey Jon Landau kids knew live looked Mike Mike Appel Mike’s mother musicians needed never night onstage Patti played pulled record road rock rock music roll singer singing sister solo songs soul sound Springsteen stage Steve Steve Van Zandt stood stop story Street Band studio there’s thing Tinker told took tour town Vini voice walked wanted watched we’d who’d would’ve young