Born To Run was a Christmas Gift from my daughter Lauren!
I am nowhere near a Springsteen Diehard. But I have always liked Bruce’s music as he always came across as a Hard Working Blue Collar Rock Guy. Listen to Downbound Train from 1984’s Born In The USA album for a reference point in the lyrics of the song as Bruce sings about losing your job/losing the girl and hearing that whistle whine on the Downbound Train! Many of his songs are just about Life and for that I can totally can relate to Bruce as he writes about any one of us…
So when it was announced that he was putting out his own memoir I was intrigued right off the hop! When Bruce was mega popular especially in 1984-85 I was 17 going on 18 and you had to hand it to the guy as he kept his nose clean. Sure there he was in the Tabloids at one point(more on that later) but he wasn’t ever the Meathead who was drunk driving or starting brawls he was just Bruce!
This 528 page read(outside of that cool throwback front cover pic of Bruce the pics are at the back of the book)) is right from Bruce’s own mouth. As you read it has not been smooth sailing for Bruce as he admits freely how is and was dealing with depression and medication to help through which started when he was teased in school with name “Blinky” due to a fluttering eyelid. His depression lasted right up before the release of Born In The USA album as him told his lifelong manager Jon Landu about what was going on.
His father was a heavy drinker and Bruce never felt appreciated by him as he just wanted acceptance from his Dad. So in regards to the book Bruce is human but a lot of us see it as since he’s played hundreds of shows(pushing anywhere from 3-4 hour performances)sold millions of records,graced a ton of magazine covers. You would think all is well right? Well wrong….Bruce is Human! Perhaps his 1992 album Human Survival had more to do than just being a simple name of an album.
Born To Run deals a lot with relationships especially with members of his E Street Band. You read on what went down between Bruce and Miami Steve on why Steve left during the recording of Born In The USA. Bruce describes in full why he canned the E Street Band after the Tunnel of Love Tour back in 1988. How he has dealt with the passing of two key components of his E Street band. ( Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons or ‘C’ as Bruce calls him). Bruce discusses when he was plastered in the Tabloids when he married and divorced Julianne Phillips due to his involvement with an E Street member Patti Scialfa.
Bruce always kept a lid on it for the most part! Private is Private! So you gotta hand it to him. Bruce though pulls no punches that he is indeed running the show in regards to the E Street’s. His moniker “The Boss” is not mentioned once in the 500 plus pages. He’s not a big fan of that so-called nick name as well from what I gather.
A great story is when Bruce describes Jake Clemons (Clarence’s Nephew) audition and the Young Jake shows up unrehearsed! Let’s just say ‘Don’t ever do that!” Haha…I am of course putting it mildly.
I could go on of course with many stories from this book.
As I had mentioned at the start of this review I am not the biggest Springsteen Fanboy out there(If you’re wondering Tunnel of Love is my favourite Bruce album) but it was a Fantastic read as this Book was stuffed with ton’s of fact’s. It’s like Bruce is talking to you.
Get This…..
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