There's a barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain. In every Springsteen song, there's a story or a scene or a character who's fully drawn with just a few words. Springsteen describes himself as not very popular in high school, and the guy hasn't forgotten. Loneliness is a big theme on Born to Run. He says his father would turn on the gas jets in the kitchen below his bedroom in an attempt to smoke him out. Springsteen used to tell stories during his concerts about growing up, about how his mother scrimped to get him his first guitar and how much his father hated hearing him play. His father held a series of blue-collar jobs and, by all accounts, was a bitter man. He grew up in Freehold, a gritty town near the Jersey Shore. The songs on the album are about getting out, and Springsteen had a lot to get away from. Springsteen called Born to Run the dividing line between adolescence and adulthood. His label had been thinking about dropping him after his first two records, but Born to Run landed the scruffy guy from New Jersey on the cover of Newsweek and Time magazine the same week. He describes it as his shot at the title: a 24-year-old kid aiming to write the greatest rock 'n' roll song ever.

The song took Springsteen six months to write. It takes you right back to high school and that desperate need to go somewhere, anywhere. I bet most people enjoy the song 'Born to Run' for the same reason. And they're going to mean something different to everyone.' He said, 'People should just enjoy them for what they are.' These songs meant one thing to me when I wrote them they mean something different to me now. He said, 'Hey, look, don't confuse the artist with the art. In a TV interview, Springsteen was asked how his songs related to his personal life. Journalists aren't really supposed to have heroes, but Bruce Springsteen is mine.

Born to run album cover