The Heart of Rock and Soul by Dave Marsh 24 BORN TO RUN, Bruce Springsteen Produced by Bruce Springsteen and Mike Appel: written by Bruce Springsteen Columbia 10209 1975 Billboard: #23 Springsteen once said that after he'd come up with this maelstrom, he walked around for the next few days wondering where he'd stolen it from. Which makes sense because "Born to Run" has the audible ambition of recapitulating the first twenty-some years of rock and roll's public history, fusing a seven-layer Duane Eddy guitar lick with Dylanesque lyrics, Roy Orbison vocal histrionics, Spectorian production effects, Stones-style rhythm section, King Curtis sax break, and subterranean references to half-forgotten one-shot hits from "Little Star" to "Mountain of Love." Critic Greil Marcus once described it as "a '57 Chevy running on melted-down Crystals records," and only the part about the car was metaphor. Celebrated as Springsteen is for his lyrics, it's the music that makes "Born to Run. " The lyrics are still remarkable, sketching a philosophy of determined outward rebellion, a desire to move, a sense of goals and purpose that skirt the edges of the larger-than-life. But this hopeful abandon is tempered by an equally powerful melancholy; the future seems so bright largely because the present's so dismal. Truth to tell, Springsteen seems most vibrant when depicting the kids cruising the Jersey strip: "The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors and the boys try to look so hard . Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist." From bar to bar. this old crate may need a tune-up, and its pre-determined destination isn't necessarily where you want to live. But once in a while, you at least ought to spend the night and see the sights. Created: September 29, 2021 at 1.54 am at http://www.lexjansen.com with FPDF 1.81 Page 1.