#9 Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

#9 Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

If you know me at all, dear reader, you know that I am a long-time Springsteen fan. My love of the Boss goes back to my teenage years when I bought one of my first pieces of piano sheet music. In 1980 Hungry Heart was tearing up the charts.  It was a melancholy song but had a light, breezy sound that I loved.  My love of his music was further fueled a few years later on a high school band trip where I met a guy.  It’s always a guy, right? Anyway, Gordie Wright loved all things music and could spout off trivia about any song or LP; names of producers, sound mixers, even the cover photographer.  You name it, he knew it.  His knowledge of Bruce was especially vast and we carried on our friendship/crush long-distance for years with him sending me mixed tapes containing some of my favorite songs by Bruce. Check out “New York City Serenade” on the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle LP.  To this day it is still one of my all-time favorite Springsteen tunes.

This is a comprehensive memoir covering the life of Bruce Springsteen.  Beginning with his childhood and family history, it is an in-depth look at the life of a rock legend. The stories of his early interest in music, guitar purchases and early performances is often humorous and self-deprecating while local gigs at coffee shops, church basements and clubs with his many early bands playing shows up and down the coast of Jersey reveal a musical education that was hard fought.

Springsteen shares from his heart throughout his memoir and the sections in which he makes human connections or shares a particularly difficult time are rich in language and emotion, just like his music. His poetic lyrics, stories of the American working class and sometimes political sentiments are all centered around his distinctive voice and musical sound honed throughout years of old fashioned hard work. As he unfolds the story of his life, he introduces us to the other characters in, the people that helped shape him into the musician and man he is today: Clarence Clemons, Little Stevie Van Zandt, Jon Landau and his wife Patti Scialfa.  He shares openly the difficulties growing up with his father, struggles with members of his band and the trials of becoming a world famous musician creating many albums that were released to critical success but not successful commercially and about his lifetime trouble with depression. 

Bruce Springsteen is the type of famous guy you could sit down with at a local bar and have a drink, shoot some pool and enjoy a great conversation. He’s as down to earth as I thought he was before reading this book and I highly recommend it for musicians and non-musicians alike.  Even if you’re not the Springsteen fan that I am, you will still enjoy reading about a man of humble beginnings, his humanitarian efforts and insights into life, love and friendship. And of course, the music. Long live BRUUUCE! Until next time…have you read a book today?

Julie