Born To Run

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen



I've never been asked what the most American song of all time is, but let's pretend.

Mag: What is the most American song of all time?

Me: That's not tough. It's Springsteen's "Born to Run". It's completely over the top. Despite coming out of the gate with it's engines roaring, the song still some how manages to build up over time. There is a saxophone solo, which is quite amazing when you think about it, since in a weird way this rock song weaves jazz into itself.

The lyrics are not only in your face and completely unapologetic about it, but they aren't all that sophisticated either. And it tells a brash story of two young lovers who hit the road or want to hit the road, I've never really figured that out, but either way it doesn't get more American than the road.

And Springsteen sings the song so urgently that by the last verse you actually sort of want to run off with your lover. You want to escape whatever it is your doing and hit the road... so even when Bruce sings "Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims/And strap your hands across my engines" you can't help but smile even though they might be two of the cheesiest lines in music history. I mean, everything about this song screams tacky: the sax solo to the piano and the bridge and then finally the lyrics "Tramps like us baby we were born to run"... and in many ways America is tacky. Everyone on Manhattan and the morons in D.C. always forget this—but America is unbelievably tacky. We're loud, brash, careless, big, and unsophisticated; but Americans are also not idiots. We're comfortable with our fast food and simple plot lines.

But in the end, this song is the American Dream. For Springsteen the song was a last ditch, all-or-nothing shot at the big time, which is probably why he sings it so well. The song is really about him and his last chance of getting out of Middle-of-nowhere, New Jersey. If this song doesn't make it, then he's forever stuck. So it's all or nothing for Bruce. It's the American Dream in one 270 second song.

Bruce Springsteen may be cheesy and bizarrely pretentious, but he's also livin' the American Dream and that's the whole point of America isn't it?

Mag: Come on, of all the Springsteen songs, let along all the songs ever written about America, "Born to Run"?

Me: Yes. I dream of the day where I'm driving a Ford F-150 down some road in London or Paris or Moscow with the windows down and "Born to Run" blasting from the stereo. How great would that be? And that's my point... the greatest American song has to be something that combines the American Dream, tackiness, and, in the end, a fuck you to the rest of the world. Bruce Springsteen did this. We should give him more credit for that accomplishment.