Thunder Road 

The logo for my new music group. As you can see, it's heavily influenced by Thunder Road & Born To Run. See it in full size - OR see it in motion!

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Bruce Springsteen song lyrics 

Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust 

Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust review by Rolling Stone 

Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust review by Rolling Stone (continued) 

Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and American Song 

The Boss 

The Rising 

The Rising is available of the following album: 

The Facts: 

• Springsteen wrote this in response to the September 11 attacks on America. The entire album deals with it in some way, often from the point of view of the victims.
• This song deals with the tragedy faced by a FDNY ladder company. "On my back's a sixty pound stone" refers to the oxygen tank;
  "On my shoulder a half mile of line" refers to the fire hose;
  "Wearin' the cross of my calling" - the fireman's cross;
  "On wheels of fire I come rollin' down here" - a fire truck.
• Many of the songs that came out soon after September 11, 2001 in the US were calls for revenge and dripped with patriotism (Charlie Daniels' This Ain't No Rag, It's A Flag), but this is a much more introspective look at the events, as Springsteen attempts to reflect the many different emotions caused by the tragedy. In addition to anger, many Americans felt grief, frustration, and bewilderment in their efforts to deal with it.
• This was the first album of original material by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band since 1984, when they released Born In The U.S.A.
• This won Grammys for Best Rock Song and Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, while the album won for Best Rock Album. All of the awards were given away before the show, but Springsteen got plenty of time on the telecast. He and The E Street Band performed this during the show, and near the end of the show, Bruce and Little Steven were part of a tribute to Joe Strummer, playing The Clash classic London Calling along with Dave Grohl and Elvis Costello. Strummer died of a heart attack in 2002.

Springsteen 2008 

Thunder Road 

Thunder Road is available on the following albums: 

The Facts: 

• This was the first track on Born To Run, a crucial album for Springsteen. His first 2 albums sold poorly, and he was in danger of losing his record deal if he did not produce a hit. With songs like this one about escaping to the open road, he connected with an audience that proved extremely loyal.
• Springsteen took the title from a 1958 Robert Mitchum movie. He did not see the film, but got the idea from a poster for it in a theater lobby.
• The vocal sound was inspired by Roy Orbison. Springsteen pays homage to him with the line: "The radio plays Roy Orbison singing for the lonely" - a reference to Orbison's 1960 hit, "Only The Lonely".
• The name of the girl mentioned at the beginning was changed several times. It had been Angelina and Chrissie before Springsteen settled on "Mary's dress waves".
• The original title was "Wings For Wheels". It began as an outtake called "Glory Road"
• Cars were very important growing up in New Jersey and show up in many of Springsteen songs. Bruce's first car was a '57 Chevy with orange flames painted on the hood.
• This is a concert favorite that Springsteen has performed at many of his shows over the years.
• At one point, Born To Run was going to be a concept album spanning the course of a day, with an acoustic version of this starting the album and the full band version closing it.
• Springsteen's friend and future manager, Jon Landau, convinced him to record this at The Record Plant in New York instead of the low-budget studio he was using. Springsteen's current manager, Mike Appel, resented Landau's influence and would file a lawsuit that kept Springsteen from recording for 3 years.
• Since the band didn't know the song very well, Springsteen used a version with just him at the piano to open a series of shows at The Bottom Line in New York City in 1975. Sponsored by a New York radio station, the disc jockey, Dave Herman, apologized on the air for not playing enough Springsteen the morning after the first show.
• On November 3, 1980, Springsteen kicked off his tour to support the album in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For the encore, Bob Seger, who is to Michigan what Springsteen is to New Jersey, joined him onstage to perform this.
• Has been performed live many different ways: with the full band, solo with guitar, solo with piano, slowed down, etc. The version on Live 1975-1985 features Springsteen singing over Roy Bittan's piano.
• Bruce taped a performance of this that was played at the funeral of James Berger, a worker in the World Trade Center who helped people get out before he was killed when it collapsed. He was a big Springsteen fan and this was his favorite song. Bruce dedicated it to his sons.

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American Land 

American Land is available on the following album: 

The Facts: 

• There are no facts yet regarding this song.

Hungry Heart 

Hungry Heart is available on the following album: 

The Facts: 

• This was Springsteen's first top 10 hit.
• When Springsteen met Joey Ramone in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Ramone asked Bruce to write a song for his band, The Ramones. Springsteen wrote Hungry Heart that night but decided to keep it on the advice of his producer and manager, Jon Landau.
• Springsteen's voice was slightly sped up on the recording, producing a higher vocal. Bob Dylan did the same thing on Lay Lady Lay.
• This was used in the Tom Cruise movie Risky Business. It was the first time a Springsteen song was used in a film.
• In the 1981 Rolling Stone reader's poll, this was voted best single. Springsteen also won for Best Artist, Album, and Male Singer.
• Bruce has the audience sing the first verse and chorus when he performs this live.

Election 2008 

Streets Of Philadelphia 

Streets Of Philadelphia is available on the following album: 

The Facts: 

• Director Jonathan Demme used this to open his movie Philadelphia. Starring Tom Hanks, it was about a lawyer dying of AIDS. Demme met Springsteen in 1985 on the video shoot for Sun City, but had not seen him since. Demme first cut the title sequence of Philadelphia to Southern Man and asked Neil Young to write a song like it for the movie. Young gave him Philadelphia, which he used at the end of the film. Still needing a song for the open, he called Springsteen.
• Demme asked Springsteen for a rock song to open his movie. Bruce started writing it based on lyrics he had previously written about the death of one of his friends, but it did not work over a rock beat. Springsteen sent what he came up with to Demme, considering it an unfinished demo. Demme loved it and felt it was perfect for his movie just as it was.
• Springsteen recorded this in his home studio in New Jersey, where he did the entire Nebraska album.
• This was the first of 5 previously unreleased songs included on Springsteen's 1995 Greatest Hits album.
• Philadelphia was the highest charting Springsteen song in England.
• This won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1993, beating out Neil Young's Philadelphia, which was also written for the movie. Tom Hanks won his first Best Actor Oscar for his role in the movie.
• Demme wanted people not familiar with AIDS issues to see his film. He felt Springsteen and Young would bring an audience that would not ordinarily see a movie about a gay man dying of AIDS. The movie and the song did a great deal to increase AIDS awareness and take some of the stigma off the disease.
• This won Grammys for Song Of The Year, Best Rock Song, Best Male Vocal, and Best Song Written For a Motion Picture or Television. Springsteen opened the show in 1995 performing this.
• This was the first song Springsteen wrote specifically for a movie. He gave Paul Schrader Light Of Day for the 1987 movie, but did not write it specifically for him.

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Dancing In The Dark 

Dancing In The Dark is available on the following album: 

The Facts: 

• Dancing In The Dark won Springsteen his first Grammy. In 1985, it got the award for Best Male Vocal.
• This Springsteen video featured Courtney Cox as an adoring fan who gets to dance on stage with Bruce. She landed a role on the sitcom Family Ties soon after.
• In the 1985 Rolling Stone reader's poll, this was voted Single of the Year.
• Springsteen wrote this about his difficulty writing a hit single and his frustration trying to write songs that will please people. Ironically, it was a hit single.
• Springsteen wrote this after his manager, Jon Landau, demanded a hit single from the album. After a brief altercation, he complied and wrote this that same night. Springsteen had over 70 songs written for Born In The U.S.A., but his manager, Jon Landau, wanted a guaranteed hit to ensure superstar status for Springsteen.
• The video was filmed at the St. Paul Civic Center in Minnesota on June 26, 1984. It was directed by Brian DePalma, the director of now hugely popular violent gangster movie Scarface.
• Due to its catchy beat, the somewhat depressing lyrics were lost on most listeners. Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A. had the same thing happen, as the message was lost in the music.
• The video was Springsteen's first to get heavy airplay on MTV, introducing him to a new, mostly younger audience.
• This was the first of 7 top 10 singles on Born In the U.S.A. and the only one released before the album.

Start Earning Money 

Springsteen Books 

Blinded By The Light 

Blinded By The Light (NOT BY SPRINGSTEEN!) 

Blinded By The Light is available on the following album: 

The Facts: 

• Blinded By The Light was Springsteen's first single. It was released only in the US, where it flopped.
• This was a #1 hit for Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1976. Their version was much more elaborately produced, and Springsteen hated it at first.
• Manfred Mann's version replaces the line Cut loose like a deuce with Wrapped up like a deuce. In their version, Deuce was commonly misheard as Douche. Springsteen's original line makes a lot more sense - a deuce is a 1932 Ford hotrod.
• Springsteen wrote this after Columbia Records rejected his first attempt at an album, telling him to make some songs that could be played on the radio. He came up with this and Spirit In The Night.
• After 8 years playing in bars where audiences usually didn't listen to or couldn't hear the words, Springsteen used his first album to unload a ton of lyrics. All these lyrics helped earn Springsteen the tag "The New Dylan." Singer-songwriters like James Taylor and Kris Kristofferson also shared the comparison, and Bruce went out of his way to shed the tag by making his next album a true rock record.
• This was the first song on Springsteen's first album. Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. featured a postcard on the cover that fans would look for any time they were near the town.
• Along with Spirit In The Night, this was one of 2 songs on the album featuring Clarence Clemons on saxophone. The E Street Band became a much bigger part of Springsteen's songs on his next album.
• Springsteen wrote the lyrics first and filled in the music later. The only time he wrote this way was on his first album.
• The working title was "Madman's Bummers," taken from words in the first line.
• This was one of the songs that prompted Columbia Records to market the album by claiming "This man puts more thoughts, more ideas and images into one song than most people put into an album".
• Manfred Mann's cover is so far the only Bruce Springsteen song to top the American charts. Near misses for Bruce have been Dancing In The Dark (#2 in 1984) and The Pointer Sisters version of Fire (#2 in 1979).
• On VH1 Storytellers, Springsteen said (in a jesting manner) that the only reason Manfred Mann's version went #1 was because they said douche instead of deuce.

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'Cos tramps like us, baby, we were Born To Run 

Born To Run lyrics 

Born To Run is available on the following albums: 

The Facts: 

• Springsteen played this for the first time on May 9, 1974 when he opened for Bonnie Raitt at Harvard Square. Rock critic Jon Landau was at the show and wrote in Boston's Real Paper: "I saw rock and roll's future - and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Landau eventually became Springsteen's manager.
• Allan Clarke from The Hollies released a cover version a year before Springsteen released his.
• This was the first song Springsteen wrote for a studio production, rather than a live performance. After recording 4 versions (one with a female chorus) at the low-budget studio where he recorded his first 2 albums, he moved to a higher end studio to finish it, refusing to release it until it was just right.
• This was a last minute addition to his 2001 Live In New York City album. Springsteen felt this was the missing ingredient on the CD, but the liner notes were already printed. The song had to be included as a hidden bonus track at the end of the first disc.
• In the liner notes to his Greatest Hits album, Springsteen wrote: "My shot at the title. A 24 year old kid aimin' at 'The greatest rock n'roll record ever'".
• There was a movement to make this the official state song of New Jersey.
• Springsteen chose this as the album title after rejecting several other names, including War And Roses, The Hungry and The Hunted, American Summer and Sometimes At Night.
• Highway 9 refers to Route 9 in New Jersey, which went through Springsteen's hometown of Freehold. Springsteen sang about another Jersey road, Route 88, in Spirit In The Night.
• Bruce performed a slowed-down version on his 1988 tour, changing the lyrics so the couple in the song were now married. This is the version that charted in England.
• This is the only Springsteen track that drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter played on. He left to play in a Jazz band with E Street piano player David Sancious after spending 9 months with Bruce.
• This came at the crossroads of Springsteen's career. His first 2 albums sold poorly, and Columbia Records might have dropped him if he did not produce a hit.
• In the line
  
  hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard,
  
  a hemi is the 426 Hemi engine made famous by Chrysler muscle cars. Drones in this context are automatons, the young men driving their cars up and down the strip without a thought to the future.

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Born In The U.S.A. 

Born In The U.S.A. is available on the following albums: 

The Facts: 

• Springsteen wrote this about the problems Vietnam veterans encountered when they returned to America. Vietnam was the first war the US didn't win, and while veterans of other wars received a hero's welcome, those who fought in Vietnam were mostly ignored when they returned to the states.
• The original title was Vietnam. Director Paul Schrader sent Springsteen a script for a movie called Born In The U.S.A., giving Bruce the idea for the new title. Schrader's movie became Light Of Day in 1987, when Springsteen wrote the title track for him.
• This is one of the most misinterpreted songs ever. Most people thought it was a patriotic song about American pride, when it actually cast a shameful eye on how America treated its Vietnam veterans. Springsteen considers it one of his best songs, but it bothers him that it is so widely misinterpreted. With the rollicking rhythm, enthusiastic chorus, and patriotic album cover, it is easy to think this has more to do with American pride than Vietnam shame.
• This is the first song and title track to one of the most popular albums ever - Born In The U.S.A. sold over 18 million copies. The single was released in England as a double A-side with I'm On Fire.
• Born In The U.S.A. was the first song Springsteen wrote for the album. He first recorded it on January 3, 1982 on the tape that became his album Nebraska later that year.
• Chrysler offered Springsteen $12 million to use this in an ad campaign with Bruce. Springsteen turned them down so they used The Pride Is Back by Kenny Rogers instead. Springsteen has never let his music be used to sell products.
• This song inspired the famous Annie Leibowitz photo of Springsteen's butt against the backdrop of an American flag. Bruce had to be convinced to use it as the album's cover. Some people thought it depicted Springsteen urinating on the flag.
• The drum solo towards the end of the song was completely improvised. Drummer Max Weinberg said that the band was recording in an oval-shaped studio, with the musicians separated into different parts. Springsteen, at the front, suddenly turned towards Weinberg (at the back) after singing and waved his hands in the air frantically to signal drumming. Weinberg then nailed it.
• Eight minutes were cut from the song, which Max Weinberg said went on into a psychedelic jam.
• Bruce performed solo, acoustic versions on his tours in 1996 and 1999. He wanted to make sure the audience understood the song.
• Springsteen allowed notorious rap group The 2 Live Crew to sample this for their song Banned In The U.S.A. in 1990, after the group was arrested for performing songs with obscene lyrics. Bruce felt they had a constitutional right to say whatever they wanted in their songs.
• This was recorded live in the studio in 3 takes.

The Promised Land 

The Promised Land is available on the following albums: 

The Facts: 

• The title came from a 1965 Chuck Berry song of the same name. Springsteen admired Berry's songwriting and his ability to relate to an audience.
• This could be about feeling powerless:
  
  Blow away the dreams that tear you apart,
  blow away the dreams that break your heart,
  blow away the dreams that leave you
  nothing but lost and broken hearted
  
  When Springsteen says he believes in a Promised Land he's almost being sarcastic - oftentimes reality is different than dreams.
• Springsteen had the chorus written long before filling out the lyrics.
• This was recorded relatively quickly. While most songs on Darkness On The Edge Of Town took 20 or more takes, this was done in 5.
• Bono of U2 sang some of the lyrics when they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2005 by Springsteen himself.

Why the coolest bands in pop are bowing down before Bruce Springsteen 

taken from The Independant

Why the coolest bands in pop are bowing down before Bruce Springsteen (continued) 

Why the coolest bands in pop are bowing down before Bruce Springsteen (continued) 

Why the coolest bands in pop are bowing down before Bruce Springsteen (continued) 

Why the coolest bands in pop are bowing down before Bruce Springsteen (continued) 

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Now I know we all here were Born To Run, but damn, gimme some feedback first =D 

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