Album: Born To Run (1975)

Charted: 16 23

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• In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
  At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
  Sprung from cages out on highway nine,
  Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line
  Oh, baby this town rips the bones from your back
  It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
  We gotta get out while we're young
  'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
  
  Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
  I want to guard your dreams and visions
  Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
  And strap your hands 'cross my engines
  Together we could break this trap
  We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
  Oh, will you walk with me out on the wire
  Girl I'm just a scared and lonely rider
  I gotta find out how it feels
  I want to know if love is wild
  I want to know if love is real
  
  Oh can you show me?
  
  Beyond the palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
  Girls comb their hair in rear view mirrors
  Boys try to look so hard
  The amusement park rises bold and stark
  Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
  I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
  In an everlasting kiss
  
  One, two, three
  
  Highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
  Everybody's out on the run tonight
  But there's no place left to hide
  Together wendy we can live with the sadness
  I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
  Oh, someday girl I don't know when
  We're gonna get to that place
  Where we really wanna go
  We'll walk in the sun
  But till then tramps like us
  Baby we were born to run
  
  Tramps like us baby we were born to run
  Tramps like us baby we were born to run
  
  (Oh oh oh oh) Writer/s: Bruce Springsteen
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 62

• Dez From The North from On"Mansions of glory" - for religious types, it represents the spiritual "heaven", or the physical "cathedrals, or temples". For the capitalist, mansions of glory are the skyscraping monuments that they build along Main St. in honour of their business dollar. When the young, hot-rodding punk finishes his sweaty, day job, working for the man, he busts out in his vehicle, his suicide machine, and struts his fuel-injected stuff down Main St., parading by those capitalist buildings while riding in his own little piece of heaven - his temple - his car.
• Poking Fun from New JerseyFunny lyric and an oft-quoted line that makes people laugh: “The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on s last chance power drive” conjures up an image of a long-haired chump with a mullet and his blue-jeaned skank girlfriend in a car filled with their personal junk hightailing it to some place where “we’re gonna make it there, man, I swear.” Nothing wrong with people making a break to improve their lives, but we have to laugh!
• True Fan from Down The Shore, New Jerseythis song is one of the greatest love songs ever written. I’m surprise no one has described it as such in these comments
• Katy from StlWas this the song played on CBS with the eye logo in the 80’s??
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyIf you check out Allan Clarke's version of "Born To Run" on You Tube; you will notice that the song was actually composed by Bruce Springtein...
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn October 27th 1975, Time & Newsweek magazines hit the newstands; and on the cover of both magazines was Bruce!!!
  At the time his Billboard's Hot Top 100 debut record, "Born To Run", was at #23 and that would be its peak position, it would stay on the Top 100 for 11 weeks.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 28th 1976, Elvis' covered version of Timi Yuro's 1961 #4 hit, "Hurt", was at #42 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart...
  And on that very same day Bruce Springsteen climbed over a fence at Graceland and knocked on the mansion's front door hoping to meet the King...
  He was advised that Elvis was in Nevada preparing for an April 30th concert in Lake Tahoe, the Boss walked away disappointed and never did meet Elvis.
• Gary from Port Charlotte, FlThe opening G-B-C-B-C-D-F#-G riff and his transition to the bridge do somewhat mirror the structure of "Norwegian Wood" moved down to the fifth and sixth strings, but his use of a ringing G-D-G-D played on the first and second strings is a device more common to Phil Spector. This double-fingering of the G chord is common to many of the songs that followed "Born to Run."
• Zach from Atlanta, GaThere is so much that can be said about this song!!!
• Jon from London, United KingdomThe lyrics Bruce sings after the first "born to run" @ 56 secs in are.....yes girl we could.
• Brian from Boston, MaI read somewhere that the inspiration for the opening riff of this song came from Norwegian wood from the Beatles. Bruce had been listening to this song for awhile prior to writing Born to run. I realize these songs seem worlds apart but if you listen to the beginning of both they sound similar the way they are constructed.Anyway I think this song is way too overplayed and I'm just not as big a fan of it as I once was.Born to run the album though is Bruce at his best it is an Incredible album songs like thunder road and jungleland are perfect. To those that are not fimiliar with the album I urge you to listen to it it is one of the best albums of all time
• Michael from Staten Island, NyIn the radio station I listen to (Q 104.3) they have an annual Top 1043 Songs of All Time. In 2009 it was #3 on the list, rigt behind "Hey Jude" and "Stairway to Heaven". I still have no idea how this guy counts as classic rock tho. More like jazz.
• Aaron from Heights, TxGreat!
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyI guess this is a good place to post the following; how many old time fans are like me in this respect: Having 'Greetings' to 'Nebraska' in LP, cassette, & CD format; from 'Born USA" to 'Tunnel' in cassette & CD, then everything after 'Chimes of Freedom' in just CD. Most of his works are now on my i-pod. I'm now is the process of starting a DVD collection... {Please no new formats}!!!
• Sara from Eckerty, InMike from Dallas Tx. you made me laugh, and think of something new. I do not like this live version very much.
• Jason from Southlake, TxIm 15 too this song is awesome Springteen went all out. Totally could be an anthem
• Drew from B'ham, AlThe intro to this song is quite similar to that of "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart. Well, part of it. Only thing, this one is in 4/4 time & "Forever Young" is in 2/2 time. Since this is about gettin' *out* of NJ, it's fully compatible w/ "Sweet Home Alabama". It would be excellent humor to throw that in w/ "Born to Run".
• Paris from Cardiff, United Kingdomokay, so i am only 15, but i LOVE The Boss! not as much as i love The Killers, but he is immense! and i love this song :D
• Derek from Shrewsbury, Mastephen melbourn i sat there for like half an hour replaying that and i ccouldnt make heads or tails of it i think it was just a power grunt/yell that springsteen is famous for
• Stephen from Melbourne, Australiaplease please pretty please Can anyone decipher the phrase which bruce shouts out just before the saxophone starts playing? it's about 1 minute and 50 seconds into the song.
  Thanks
• Stephen from Melbourne, AustraliaI think what he says after the first corus after the first verse is not yes girl we were
  but more like : yes, born to run, I wish we could ask ole bruce about that, but he probably won't remember since this all took place over 30 years ago.
  He does tend to mumble a bit throughout the song though.
  
• Paige from Sea Girt, NjI just want to say as someone from Jersey not far from red bank...in fact my sister went to High School with his son...he is from Central Jersey...because their is such a place
• Annabelle from Eugene, OrI wonder if Bruce may have known a girl in New Jersey named Wendy. And, by the way, Bruce still lives in New Jersey. He and his wife, Patty live in Rumson, which I believe is in Southern New Jersey?
• Jason from Denver, CoMy sister and I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band live like three days after we saw KISS on the farewell tour. Needless to say my voice was shot for damn near a month after that from screaming so loud. When Bruce and the band played born to run I went NUCKING FUTS. I remember they turned the house light up for that song which was cool because I could see EVERYONE ELSE screaming as well as me. One of the BEST concerts I ever attenended!!!!!!
• John from Hendersonville, NcIf this became New Jersey's state song, I would move to New Jersey.
• Anthony from West Chester, PaI agree that this song is about getting out, but I don't agree thats its about getting out of Freehold or South Jersey or Jersey specifically(although since Route 9 is mentioned it could be argued that it is NJ)....I think that it's about getting out of a small, blue collar town and (unlike the rest of the people there) trying to make something of your life. Really not a state anthem because of the idea of leaving, but a great song none the less.
• Suzy from Louisville, KyI loved this song from the first time I heard it, when I was 12, although I could barely make out the words. to John, of Monvtille, NJ: I've always sung after the first "baby, we were born to run," as,"yes, girl we were." Maybe not accurate, but it fits for me.
  The song resonated for me because I grew up in a very rural community, where drag-racing on the two-lane blacktop that in a 1/4 mile straight stretch that started at the end of our gravel drive was a common activity for teens. My best friend and I always wanted to get out of our "town full of losers."
  Because I am ancient, I recall reading something before the internet that stated that Springsteen wrote this song looking at a movie poster for "Peter Pan" -- "Wendy, let me in, I wanna be your friend, I wanna guard your dreams and visions."
  
  
• Doug from Holland, OhOne of the greatest rock songs ever written...Jersey wanted to use this song as an anthem, but quickly realized it was about "running from Jersey." We'll never be sure how much Bruce writes romance vs. politics, but the greatness of this song captures both aspects!
• Nick from New York, NyHow can yo not like Springsteen. You can't say more people in NJ hate him then love him. Your nuts, the guy is goin on 60 and still sells out all over the country, slides all across the stage, and plays for 3 hours. Not many guys do that anymore. Jersey pride. Bruce is a great person also, met him at the Starland Ballroom one night at the bar, real down to earth cool dude
• John from Monvtille, NjDoes anyone know what Bruce says after the first "Baby we were born to run?" It's at about 56 seconds. I never feel like I can sing it completely because I don't know what he says at that part! It kills me.
• Andy from Halesowen, West Midlands, United KingdomTrue classics transcend geographical boundaries. I'm from England, and although a lot of the imagery from this song is not familiar to me, I just love it as a great song, and I think that everyone, everywhere can identify with wanting to escape at sometime in their life, some obviously more often than others! For me, Bruce put NJ on the map, before him I had heard very little about it. (The Sopranos have probably done the same thing for a new generation!!)
  
• Diane from Orlando, FlI remember bing at Rutgers University in New Jersey when this song was playing on a local radio. I was walking across campus and it seemed to be blasting from every dorm room window. Loved it then, love it now. The conflict about the song being about leaving yet having for the state song, well all I can say is if your from Jersey you get it. Everybody dumps on NJ and of course you think about leaving if you live there but The Boss made us proud to have someone who understood it all and prouldy sung about it, in absolutely GREAT song. By the way I moved to Florida...lol
• Paul from Athens, GreeceWhich live version of Born To Run do you prefer ?
• Mike from Dallas, TxI usually think of great football running backs when I hear this song.
• Mike from Hueytown , AlA masterpiece. One of the greatest rock songs of alltime. This song can compete with anybody !
• Mark from Austin, Tx'Born To Run' is mentioned a lot in Koushun Takami's Battle Royale. (The book, not the movie.) He really pegged the meaning behind the song and rock and roll in general. Leave it to someone who didn't grow up around rock music to really understand it.
• Street Strategist from Hong Kong, Hong Kong"Born to Run" is number 1 in the list called "Sounds at the Speed of Music: 50 Rock Anthems at 100 kph"
• Dave from New Orleans, LaStephen from Canada, if you listen very closely to the song, you can hear references to Canada, hosers, and hockey. Born to Run's sub theme was about staying away from flying pucks.
• Ben from Sydney, Australiaeverytime i listen to this song actually any bruce song, just reminds me of how much i love my girlfriend... But what a great song.. am i wrong?? No.
• Stephen from Kamloops, CanadaWhy can't Americans be more like Canadians. Use your own brain, and not listen and believe the junk you hear. The song is not denegrading to New Jersey in the least. It's just about two young lovers running away. Where they are from is only important as lyrical imagery, and this song is a beautiful example of that, and yes a classic. A state song, sure! New Jersians are proud of their native son.
• Ray from Stockton, NjI agree that this should be New Jersey's state song. Everyone hates New Jersey, I mean i went on vacation to the western US and they just hated me. They knew i wasnt from around their so they asked where i was from. I told them and they just kind of laughed, didn't you have a gay governor? they said. It was embarassing and I have to say Bruce Springsteen made a lot of people proud to be from New Jersey.
• Malicious Matt from SquatneyI love the irony of New Jersey wanting this as their state anthem, when the song is about getting the hell out! lol Its similar to the irony of Reagan wanting to use "Born in the USA" as some kind of campaign theme tune, when its so obviously (if you read the lyric sheet) closer to a protest song than a patriotic song! People really dont listen to lyrics, do they!
• Caitlin from Upper Township, NjMy parents are HUGE Bruce Springsteen fans ( go figure. we're from south jersey). Anytime this song comes on the radio, my mom calls me on my cell and tells me to put on whatever radio station. I think it's a great song with a lively beat, and Bruce ROCKS anyway!
• Nathan from From The Country Of, Canadathe greatest is seeing other artists trying to cover this song live and attempt at putting all the numerous insturments together and fail miserably, but Bruce does it every single time, great song.
• Theodore from Newark, NjEveryone thinks people in New Jersey LOVE Springsteen, but that's not true, especially in northern New Jersey. There are two Jerseys, ever since colonial times, one dominated by NYC, the other by Philadelphia. North and South in general and to this day, do not like one another that much. Springsteen is from "south" Jersey, sings about the values down there, the cars, the highways, the dull, dead lives of the natives looking to get out, especially in his first few albums. I think more people here dislike him, then like him, but those who DO like him frankly ADORE the guy. Go figure.
• Alberto from Carpi, Italy"A 24 yr. old kid aimin' at 'The greatest rock 'n roll record ever.'", wrote Bruce. And I say, mission accomplished. Everything I wrote about Thunder Road could probably fit to this song too. There's everything in it: mad love, escape, freedom, sweat, passion. The last stanza is one of the most beautiful declaration of love I know.
• Katie from Bridgewater, Njthe guy from Grand Forks is right. As much as I love bruce springsteen and his anthems about the promised land and struggling with youth in new jersey.. it is about leaving. its about being ready to leave a pointless existance to find meaning in life. it was supposed to be the youth anthem for NJ, but thats an oxi-moron then.
• Dave from Pittsburgh, PaI love this entire album! I play it everytime I get the chance, and it always gives me a rush!!
• Marshall from Sacramento, CaAccording to the documentary on the 30th anniversary package of the album, the song was once done with a glossy female chorus.
• Corey from Woodstock, Vtmy new favorite song. Love the chords after "I was born to ruuuuuuuun!
• Matt from Wilkes-barre, PaI love the acoustic version of this song. Bruce said Born to Run was about a guy and girl who "kept on running!!!"
• Sheldon from Toronto, CanadaBy his Bruce's own admission, the meaning of Born to Run has changed over time from being an escapism song about two people trying to find their way in life to a song about two people simply trying to find their way home. It has kept good company on my journey!!
• Ross from Independence, MoThis was #21 in Rolling Stone's list of 500 greatest songs
• Michael from Cincinnati, OhChelsea and Kyle are both right. It is about getting out of NJ, which is why it should be the state song. I am a Jersey native (Bergen County), whose been gone nearly 25 years now. Springsteen's music always made me pine for New Jersey until I went back as an adult. Once I learned to drive and realized how much I paid in taxes, returning to New Jersey lost all appeal.
• Chelsea from Freehold, Njhey, kids. read the lyrics. born to run is about getting the hell out of new jersey. i mean, who the hell wants to live in freehold their whole lives. i sure as hell dont.
• Matt from Windsor, CanadaWithout doubt the best song ever made in all of the history of song making.
  Bruce is the man! (or Boss)
• Anastasia from Anaheim, Caokay, this may sound corny, but evreytime i hear that song, it seriously gives me goosebumps; evreytime!!! i remember the sesame street episode!!! does anyone else?? maybe i'm the only one..oh well...
• Kyle from Freehold, Njthis song SHOULD be our state song! One of the best songs ever written.
• Lee from London , EnglandThis song sends shivers up my spine!I first heard it live at Wembley Arena London in 1981 and Bruce opened his first night with this his most famous song.I went 3 times in 6 nights and each night was better than the night before.I've seen the boss another 7 times since and he is just awesome.If you never see another concert go to see Bruce!
• Matt from Middletown , NjAs part of yet another Asbury Park revitalization project, the Palace was recently torn down (Spring '04) despite a fierce battle.
• Jon from Grand Forks, NdI hate to have to add this, but The Boss himself chided NJ for wanting this to be the state anthem. You see, he said the song was written abouot getting OUT of NJ. Sorry
• Ralph from Hawthorne, NjThis should be New Jerseys official state song.
  It really is the best song ever written!!!!

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