Editing Born to Run (section)

==Music and lyrics==
The music on ''Born to Run'' includes styles such as [[rock and roll]], [[pop rock]], [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]], and [[folk rock]].{{sfn|Regev|2013|p=67: pop rock}}{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=69–70: rock and roll, R&B, and folk-rock}} The author [[Peter Ames Carlin]] states that the album captures "the essence of fifties rock 'n' roll and the [[beatnik]] poetry of sixties folk-rock, projected onto the battered spirit of mid-seventies America".{{sfn|Carlin|2012|pp=200–201}} Springsteen wrote most of the songs on piano,{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=69–70}}<ref name="CRR" /> which Kirkpatrick felt gave them "a particular melodic feel".{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=36}} Springsteen later said Bittan's piano "really defined the sound" of the album.<ref name="Zimny" /> The record's production is similar to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound,{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=69–70}}<ref name="Ruhlmann" /> in which layers of instruments and complex arrangements are combined to make each song resemble a symphony.{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=43–44}} Springsteen said that he wanted ''Born to Run'' to sound like "[[Roy Orbison]] singing [[Bob Dylan]], produced by Spector".<ref name="Fricke2009">{{cite web |first=David |last=Fricke |author-link=David Fricke |title=The Band on Bruce: Their Springsteen |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25556603/the_band_on_bruce_their_springsteen/print |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=January 21, 2009 |access-date=February 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401080648/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/25556603/the_band_on_bruce_their_springsteen |archive-date=April 1, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He used Orbison's style for his vocal delivery and [[Duane Eddy]] as inspiration for his guitar parts.{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=43–44}}{{sfn|Carlin|2012|p=201}} The writer Frank Rose emphasized Springsteen's homage to girl groups from the 1960s, such as [[the Shirelles]], [[the Ronettes]], and [[the Shangri-Las]], ones who embellished themes of heartbreak and [[doo-wop]] sounds produced by Spector.{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=128: Frank Rose}} The songs feature musical introductions that set the tone and scene for each.<ref name="Zimny">{{cite video|people=Zimny, Thom (director)|title=Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run|medium=film|date=2005|publisher=Thrill Hill Productions}}</ref><ref name="Fricke2009" />

{{quote box|quote=Lyrically, I was entrenched in classic rock and roll images, and I wanted to find a way to use those images without their feeling anachronistic.{{nbsp}}... [''Born to Run''] was the album where I left behind my adolescent definitions of love and freedom{{nbsp}}... [it] was the dividing {{no wrap|line.{{sfn|Springsteen|2003|pp=43–47}}}}|source=—Bruce Springsteen, ''Songs'', 2003|width=25em|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
Springsteen envisioned the album's songs as taking place during one summer day and night.<ref name="CRR" />{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=114}}<ref name="CoS45Reasons" /> According to the writer [[Louis Masur]], the album is centrally driven by "loneliness and the search for companionship".{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=65}} The characters are regular people{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=116}} who are lost{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=41}} and feel trapped in their lives; different places, such as streets and roads, offer a way out but are not ideal places.{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=110}} Described by ''Treble''{{'s}} Hubert Vigilla as a "four corners approach" to album sequencing,<ref name="Treble" /> both sides of the original LP began with songs that were optimistic and promised hope and ended with songs of betrayal and pessimism.{{sfn|Dolan|2012|p=123}}<ref name="CoS45Reasons" /> Across the album's eight songs,{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=72}} Springsteen writes about the night and the city ("Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Backstreets", and "Meeting Across the River"); an irresistible real or imaginary woman ("She's the One"); the enslavement of the working class ("Night"); and the highway as a means of escape and coming-of-age journey ("Thunder Road", "Born to Run", and "Jungleland").{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=68–69}} The journalist Veronika Hermann noted the album is mostly driven by actions such as running, meeting, hiding, and driving.<ref name="Hermann" />

''Born to Run'' was written during a time when the idea of the American Dream was unobtainable to many Americans in the aftermath of the [[Vietnam War]], [[Watergate scandal]], and the [[1973 oil crisis]].{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=68–69}} Carlin writes that Springsteen's hopeful songs, containing ideals such as that a road can take you anywhere, were "stunning" during a period marked by assassinations, war, political corruption, and collapse of the [[hippie]] subculture.{{sfn|Carlin|2012|pp=200–201}} Hermann analyzed the lyrics as experiments in [[nostalgia]], arguing that the "heroes and heroines of ''Born to Run'' are facing the loss of security and stability, [and] facing the consequences of a lost war," leading to the choice to run away from the "American dream".<ref name="Hermann">{{cite journal|last=Hermann|first=Veronika|title=Runaway American Dream: Nostalgia, Figurative Memory, and Autofiction in Stories of ''Born to Run''|year=2019|journal=Interdisciplinary Literary Studies|volume=21|issue=1|pages=42–56|location=[[Penn State University Park]]|publisher=[[Penn State University Press]]|jstor=10.5325/intelitestud.21.1.0042|doi=10.5325/intelitestud.21.1.0042|s2cid=194349341}}</ref> Springsteen worked a "very, very long" time writing the lyrics because he wanted to avoid tropes of "classic rock 'n' roll clichés", turning them instead into fully developed and emotional characters: "It was the beginning of the creation of a certain world that all my others would refer back to, resonate off of, for the next 20 or 30 years."<ref name="Zimny" /> 

The songs are largely autobiographical, inspired by the [[film noir|noir]]-like [[B movie]]s Springsteen enjoyed at the time;{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=36}} he wanted to experience and capture new ideals based on his life experiences at the time.<ref name="Zimny" />{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=68–69}} Like his first two albums, ''Born to Run'' includes religious imagery, specifically the idea of "searching",{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=115}} although it is undercut by a darker, apocalyptic landscape.{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=41}} Unlike ''Greetings'' and ''Wild'', however, most of the songs on ''Born to Run'' are not specifically tied to New Jersey and New York, instead shifting to all of the United States in an attempt to be more accessible to a wider audience.<ref name="CRR" />{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=68–69}}<ref name="Pitchfork" />{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=109}} Springsteen has said that "most of the songs are about being nowhere".{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=100}}

===Side one===
"Thunder Road" is an invitation to travel on a long journey,{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=76–78}} taking inspiration from the 1958 [[Thunder Road (1958 film)|film of the same name]].<ref name="UCRGuide">{{cite web |last=Lifton |first=Dave |title=Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run': A Track-by-Track Guide |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bruce-springsteen-born-to-run-songs/ |website=[[Ultimate Classic Rock]] |access-date=August 10, 2023 |date=August 22, 2020 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232707/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bruce-springsteen-born-to-run-songs/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The song's narrator pleads with a romantic partner to join him in leaving their life behind to start anew,<ref name="AMBack" /> believing there is no time to wait and they must act now.{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=66}} Masur argues the song "lays out hopes and dreams, and the remainder of the album is an investigation into whether, and in what ways, they can be realized".{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=70}} Kirkpatrick believes the track to be a rewritten version of ''Wild''{{'s}} "[[Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)]]" with a "less innocent, more realistic perspective".{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=42}} Described by ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''{{'s}} Kenneth Partridge as a "five-minute pop opera",<ref name="BBGuide" /> the music builds throughout the runtime;<ref name="AMTR" /> the instruments join in as the narrator's vision solidifies.{{sfn|Dolan|2012|p=120}} [[AllMusic]]'s James Gerard characterizes the tone as more melancholic than uplifting.<ref name="AMTR">{{cite web |last=Gerard |first=James |title='Thunder Road' – Bruce Springsteen Song Review |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/thunder-road-mt0006380023 |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-date=August 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813200135/https://www.allmusic.com/song/thunder-road-mt0006380023 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Miami Steve Van Zandt 2 (51412969777).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|alt=A man on stage holding a guitar|[[Steven Van Zandt]], pictured in 1983, composed the horn arrangement for "[[Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out]]" on the spot in the studio, and joined the [[E Street Band]] shortly thereafter.]]
"Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" follows a character named Bad Scooter who is "searching for his groove" and "a place to fit in".{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=71}} Part autobiographical and part mythological,<ref name="BBGuide">{{cite magazine |last=Partridge |first=Kenneth |title=Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' Turns 40: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/bruce-springsteen-born-to-run-anniversary-track-by-track-review-6671433/ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=August 10, 2023 |date=August 25, 2015 |archive-date=April 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401143654/https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/bruce-springsteen-born-to-run-anniversary-track-by-track-review-6671433/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the song tells Springsteen and the E Street Band's story as they struggle to find commercial success up to that point; they find success after the "Big Man" (Clemons on saxophone) joins the band in the third verse.<ref name="UCRGuide" />{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=80–81}}<ref name="AMBack" /><ref name="AMFreeze" /> Musically, it is a funky R&B song led by brass horns;{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=80–81}}<ref name="AMFreeze">{{cite web |last=Ruhlmann |first=William |title='Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out' – Bruce Springsteen Song Review |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/tenth-avenue-freeze-out-mt0006134132 |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-date=August 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813200135/https://www.allmusic.com/song/tenth-avenue-freeze-out-mt0006134132 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=43}} the authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon compared it to the sound of a [[Stax Records|Stax]] record.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=80–81}} In his 2003 book ''Songs'', Springsteen described "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" as a "band bio and block party".{{sfn|Springsteen|2003|pp=43–47}}

"Night", the shortest song on the album,<ref name="UCRGuide" /><ref name="BBGuide" /> follows a man who is a slave to the working life. He dreads working his nine-to-five job, but his love for drag racing motivates him to work so he can live for the night.{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=43}}{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=76}} Similar to other album tracks, it uses the highway as a means for escape.{{efn|Springsteen further explored the themes of "Night" on ''Darkness on the Edge of Town''.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=82–83}}}}{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=82–83}} Musically, the song contains various minor and major [[Key (music)|key]] shifts in the music; Masur argues the minor key "condemns the monotonous world of daytime work" and the major key "offers the possibilities of screeching off into the night".{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=75}} Margotin and Guesdon highlight the wall of sound production and compare its rock-and-roll sound to [[Chuck Berry]].{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=82–83}}

"Backstreets" features a long piano-led intro.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=84–85}} Described by Masur as "operatic and theatrical",{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=78}} the band took inspiration from various Dylan and Orbison songs for the instrumental parts.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=84–85}} The song tells the story of the narrator's friendship with an individual named Terry, using both realistic and poetic imagery. The two become close until their relationship is broken after Terry leaves the narrator for someone else, after which the narrator "reflects that he and Terry did not turn out to be the heroes 'we thought we had to be{{'}}". Terry's gender is unclear, leading some reviewers to interpret the relationship as homosexual.{{efn|The writer William Ruhlmann has argued that Springsteen later explored a platonic but powerful friendship between two men in the ''[[Born in the U.S.A.]]'' track "[[Bobby Jean]]" (1984).<ref name="AMBack" />}}{{efn|Masur argues that live performances of the song in the late 1970s clarify that Terry is a woman.{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=80}}}}<ref name="AMBack">{{cite web |last=Ruhlmann |first=William |title='Backstreets' – Bruce Springsteen Song Review |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/backstreets-mt0006342674 |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-date=August 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813200135/https://www.allmusic.com/song/backstreets-mt0006342674 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="BBGuide" /><ref name="Treble" /> The song contains autobiographical elements related to Springsteen's youth, with cinematic references.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=84–85}}

===Side two===
{{Listen
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|title="Born to Run"
|description="Born to Run" combines a Wall of Sound production with anthemic lyrics about escaping from a depressing life.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=86–89}}
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"Born to Run" uses the automobile as a means to escape from a depressing life.{{sfn|Gaar|2016|pp=48–49}} The characters, described as "tramps",{{sfn|Masur|2010|p=83}} include the narrator and a girl named Wendy. The former works a dreary job, "sweating out" the "runaway American dream", and joins a car community at night.{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=43}} He tells Wendy the town they live in is a "death trap" and they need to leave "while [they're] young" because "tramps like us{{nbsp}}... were born to run".{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=86–89}} Reviewers have analyzed the song's anthemic message as containing both an "underlying sadness"{{sfn|Gaar|2016|pp=48–49}} and "a feeling of desperation",{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=43}} as the narrator promises Wendy they will one day reach the promised land, but he does not know when. He simply wants to run away with her to  "help him discover if his youthful notions of love are real", and "pledges his desire to die with her in the street" and love her "with all the madness in [his] soul".{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=43}} The song's music combines rock and roll and hard rock with rockabilly, jazz, and Tin Pan Alley,{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=33}} complete with a Wall of Sound production.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=86–89}} AllMusic's Jason Ankeny described the song as "a celebration of the rock & roll spirit, capturing the music's youthful abandon, delirious passion, and extraordinary promise with cinematic exhilaration".<ref name="AnkenyBorn">{{cite web |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |title='Born to Run' – Bruce Springsteen Song Review |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/born-to-run-mt0006207588 |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-date=May 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527211254/https://www.allmusic.com/song/born-to-run-mt0006207588 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Richard Davis.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|alt=A man playing a double bass|[[Richard Davis (bassist)|Richard Davis]], pictured in 1987, played [[double bass]] on "[[Meeting Across the River]]".]]
"She's the One" is about the narrator's complete obsession for a girl.{{sfn|Carlin|2012|p=202}}{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=87–88}} The girl, however, is a liar and bad for him, yet he keeps returning to her.<ref name="UCRGuide" />{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|p=42}} Springsteen never revealed the song's inspiration, although Margotin and Guesdon suggest it was Karen Darvin, Springsteen's girlfriend at the time.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=90–91}} The song musically incorporates a [[Bo Diddley beat]].{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=90–91}}<ref name="BBGuide" />{{sfn|Carlin|2012|p=202}}{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=87–88}} The jazzy<ref name="UCRGuide" /> "Meeting Across the River" musically and lyrically departs from the previous songs,{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=89–90}} utilizing piano and trumpet to create what Margotin and Guesdon describe as a "film noir jazz ambience" that "clashes with the other tracks".{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=92–93}} In it, the narrator and his partner Eddie are small-time gangsters who plan an illegal deal across the [[Hudson River]], striving for a big score that will earn him a large amount of money to impress his girlfriend.<ref name="UCRGuide" />{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=92–93}}<ref name="BBGuide" />{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|pp=43–44}} With themes of despair and hopelessness, the song ends before a narrative resolution, leaving whether or not the gangsters succeeded ambiguous.{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=89–90}}

"Jungleland" takes place in the titular location, where a meeting between gang members at midnight is interrupted by the police.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=94–97}}{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=91–93}} With a dark atmosphere,{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=94–97}} the track observes a New Jersey gang member known as the Magic Rat, who escapes law enforcement in [[Harlem]] with his unnamed partner referred to as the "barefoot girl". Towards the end, the Rat and the girl's relationship has broken apart; she leaves him, and he is killed in the streets.{{sfn|Kirkpatrick|2007|pp=44–45}} The Rat is gunned down by his "own dream", symbolizing, in Masur's words, that "the runaway American dream will kill us in the end, and the dream of escape is just another version that entraps us".{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=91–93}} Following his demise, destruction continues across the streets until they are left in complete devastation.{{sfn|Carlin|2012|pp=202–203}} Over nine minutes in length,<ref name="FarOut" /> the track is led by Springsteen's vocal, Bittan's piano, and Suki Lahav's violin,{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2020|pp=94–97}} and features an extended saxophone solo from Clemons that lasts for over two minutes.{{sfn|Masur|2010|pp=91–93}}
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