My route to full appreciation of Bruce Springsteen's iconic album “Born to Run” was a bit unusual, but once that tape spoke to me there was no turning back…
The Likeable Guy on MTV
I was newly a 5 years old when Bruce Springsteen's game-changing “Born to Run” album was released this day in 1975. I was not old enough to know anything about Bruce or to ask for that record for my 5th birthday. In fact, my journey down the Springsteen rabbit hole wouldn't take place until the mid-90s when I was already a working musician.
When I was 14, I found the guy in those MTV videos likeable and I appreciated his leaning into his Jersey roots at a time our state was so often a punchline in movies and TV. But it was a fictitious Jersey Shore band that sparked my imagination - Eddie and the Cruisers (actually voiced by Rhode Island's John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band). In a style reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen's late-70s sound, but set in the 60s - as a band ahead of its time, the protagonists were larger than life on my TV screen, with the piano's delicate arpeggios ushering in jangly guitars and wailing saxophone hooks - stuff I hadn't yet associated with Springsteen in the 80s.
Close Encounters with the Jersey Sound
In my college years, standing in the festival audience for north Jersey artist Jim Kilby for the first time as he helmed his band Kilby Taylor gave me this feeling all over again. Jim was the north Jersey rock-n-roll poet that I connected to my experiences watching Eddie and the Cruisers and becoming gradually more aware of Springsteen. But instead of telling stories of the shore, he told stories from the mountains in northwest NJ. What I didn't know at the time is that 4 years later I'd join forces with Jim as the keyboardist playing those delicate arpeggios I loved so much as a young teen.
While in Jim's band, a longtime fan of Jim's lent me her cassette copies of “Born to Run” along with Bruce's subsequent album “Darkness on the Edge of Town" and his Live 1975-1985 collection to listen to on my often long car rides to practices and gigs. In these moments, Bruce became more than the likeable guy in those MTV videos. He was a poet, a storyteller. Roy Bittan's piano parts gave off those delicate arpeggios and much more - big double-octave melodic riffs, and insistent, pounding percussive rhythms that would find their way into my keyboard and guitar styles. So would Danny Federici's instantly recognizable themes on organ and glockenspiel.
Opening for E Street bandmember Nils Lofgren on the Jersey Shore added to my growing excitement for all things Bruce - especially the rumors swirling through the club that The Boss may join Nils for a few numbers. We later learned that Bruce and his wife/backup singer Patti were in the club's parking lot, but ended up going home. It also got back to us that Nils really liked our set. We also closed a show at the same venue for Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers on New Year's Eve. Bruce had produced an album for these Pittsburgh-based working class heroes.
I'd come to accompany Jim on “Thunder Road” at a few of his acoustic gigs - him on guitar, me on piano, as my appreciation for Bruce deepened. After our band had run its course, Springsteen brought his E Street Band back together and played a run of 15 sold-out shows at Meadowlands Arena. I was in the audience at one of those shows for the first time. It was a master class in showmanship, onstage camaraderie and storytelling.
Around that time I was learning to cover “Thunder Road” as a solo acoustic performance. Here I am performing it at Just Jake's in Montclair, NJ just 3 days ago at the time of this writing. The video capture begins partway through the first verse.
My licensed version of “Thunder Road” also appears on my 2022 album “It's a Jersey Thing.” I feel emotionally connected to this song, as I find the protagonist's vulnerability relatable, even as he tries to mask it with bravado and a sense of humor. The strong connection I have with the song's intent makes it one of my favorite songs to cover.
My Evolving Relationship with “Born to Run”
“Born to Run” has taken on so many layers since my introduction to it, as I've since learned that it was really Bruce's dad who felt like Freehold, NJ was closing in on him, that he had to get out. As Bruce remarked in his autobiography, “Mr. Born to Run currently lives 10 minutes away from where he grew up.” Of course, he was restless in another way - relentlessly pursuing his ideal way to express himself and the way his influences landed with him. I'm getting that from the audiobook “Tonight in Jungleland” by Peter Carlin, a deep dive into the making of the “Born to Run” album. My wife and I continue listening to this book in progress; I highly recommend it in either print or audio form.
Adding to my connection with the “Born to Run” album, my family and I indulged in the Rock & Roll Tour of the Jersey Shore with Stan Goldstein on our summer getaway to the Asbury Park earlier this month. This is a photo of the little house Bruce was renting where he wrote the songs for the album (complete with the screen door that slammed at the beginning of Thunder Road).
Another great, more recent thrill took place at Bruce's 2023 MetLife Stadium concert, when my then-12-year-old daughter and her close friend were air drumming to the Bo-Diddley beat of “She's the One.” That moment alone was worth the price of admission for me. This reinforced for me that the material of “Born to Run” remains timelessly vibrant.
It's hard for me to believe that The Boss would have listened back to the test pressing of this amazing record and promptly tossed it into the motel swimming pool in disgust, as legend has it. My life is certainly richer for having “Born to Run” in my life.
Impact on My Songwriting and Production
Though my musical influences range from Van Halen to Billy Joel, Elvis Costello to Bob Marley, the center of gravity for me is with this Born to Run era of Bruce Springsteen. You can hear that most clearly on my 2020 single “Salt and Sand,” which expresses hope through looking forward to a return to the beach on a summer day while struggling with an icy north Jersey winter. Here, you'll find me playing most of the instruments you'd find on an E Street Band record around this time: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, glockenspiel, saxophone, bass and drums.
This later became the title track of my 2022 album “Salt and Sand: Rock Songs to Heal the Mind.”