Born to Run
Published on 27. September 2016
528 pages
978-1-5011-4153-9 (ISBN)
Description
The revealing, wildly entertaining, and bestselling memoir from the legendary Bruce Springsteen, one of the greatest songwriters and performers of any era. Born to Run is the greatest rock 'n' roll story ever told.
Essential reading for the 50th anniversary of Springsteen's seminal album Born to Run, the long-awaited release of Nebraska '82, and a companion to the acclaimed film Deliver Me from Nowhere, starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong, about the writing and recording of Springsteen's classic Nebraska record.
Following his 2009 Super Bowl halftime performance, Bruce Springsteen privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life. The result is "an utterly unique, endlessly exhilarating, last-chance-power-drive of a memoir" (Rolling Stone) that offers the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.
He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as "The Big Bang": seeing Elvis Presley's debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work.
Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs ("Thunder Road," "Badlands," "Darkness on the Edge of Town," "The River" "Born in the USA," "The Rising," and "The Ghost of Tom Joad," to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen's autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences.
"Both an entertaining account of Springsteen's marathon race to the top and a reminder that the one thing you can't run away from is yourself" (Entertainment Weekly), Born to Run is much more than a legendary rock star's memoir. This book is a "a virtuoso performance, the 508-page equivalent to one of Springsteen and the E Street Band's famous four-hour concerts: Nothing is left onstage, and diehard fans and first-timers alike depart for home sated and yet somehow already aching for more" (NPR).
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Person
Bruce Springsteen has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of twenty Grammy Awards, the Academy Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors. He lives in New Jersey with his family. His latest work, together with Barack Obama, is Renegades: Born in the USA, a candid and entertaining collection of conversations that expand on their groundbreaking Higher Ground podcast.
Content
- Intro
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Book One: Growin' Up
- 1. My Street
- 2. My House
- 3. The Church
- 4. The Italians
- 5. The Irish
- 6. My Mother
- 7. The Big Bang (Have You Heard the News . . .)
- 8. Radio Days
- 9. The Second Coming
- 10. The Show Man (Lord of the Dance)
- 11. Workingman's Blues
- 12. Where the Bands Are
- 13. The Castiles
- 14. Once There Was a Little Steven
- 15. Earth
- 16. The Upstage Club
- 17. Tinker (Surfin' Safari)
- 18. Steel Mill
- 19. Homecoming
- 20. Endless Summer
- 21. Beatnik Deluxe
- 22. California Dreamin' (Take Two)
- 23. It's a Bar, You Idiots
- 24. Onward and Upward
- 25. Losing My Religion
- 26. Road Work
- 27. 'The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle'
- 28. The Satellite Lounge
- Book Two: Born To Run
- 29. 'Born to Run'
- 30. Jon Landau
- 31. Thunder Road
- 32. Jackpot
- 33. The E Street Band
- 34. Clarence Clemons
- 35. New Contracts
- 36. Living with the Law
- 37. 'Darkness on the Edge of Town'
- 38. The Drop
- 39. Downtime
- 40. 'The River'
- 41. Hitsville
- 42. Hello Walls
- 43. 'Nebraska'
- 44. Deliver Me from Nowhere
- 45. California
- 46. 'Born in the USA'
- 47. 'Buona Fortuna, Fratello Mio'
- 48. The Big Big Time
- 49. Going Home
- 50. 'Regresar a México'
- 51. 'Tunnel of Love'
- 52. Goin' Cali
- Book Three: Living Proof
- 53. Living Proof
- 54. Redheaded Revolution
- 55. Changes
- 56. LA Burning
- 57. Going to the Chapel
- 58. Earthquake Sam
- 59. "Streets of Philadelphia"
- 60. 'The Ghost of Tom Joad'
- 61. Western Man
- 62. Eastern Woman
- 63. King of New Jersey (Hollywood Days)
- 64. Bringing It All Back Home
- 65. Revival
- 66. 'The Rising'
- 67. Wild East
- 68. The Seeger Sessions
- 69. 'Magic'
- 70. Super Bowl Sunday
- 71. Moving On
- 72. 'Wrecking Ball'
- 73. Losing the Rain
- 74. The 'Wrecking Ball' Tour
- 75. Zero to Sixty in Nothing Flat
- 76. Garage Land
- 77. 'High Hopes'
- 78. Home Front
- 79. Long Time Comin'
- Epilogue
- Photographs
- Acknowledgments
- Photo Credits
- About the Author
- Copyright
