Reflection on Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

              I try to stay away from political and historical autobiographies because I always want the “real” story, but for whatever reason I picked this book up and really liked it even though I would only call myself a very casual Springsteen fan. To be honest I wanted to read a book about the Beatles, but when I failed to download one, I got this instead and I really liked it. Springsteen is a great writer and his personality really comes through the pages. I found the book to be a good source of information on his childhood and life, perspective on the Rock and Roll world, and wisdom to remember.

               One thing that sets the young Bruce apart from others is how he responds to failure (at least in the realm of music). When his band blows it at his first show, he decides to work harder, practice more, and get better. When he moves to California and realizes he’s not as good as he thought, he goes back to the East Coast and keeps honing his skills. A good lesson in any field is that once you give up, its over. To be great at anything you do, you have to push through failures and use them as inspiration.

               Bruce holds a weird place in music history. While he was definitely caught up in the hippie movement (growing long hair and moving to Greenwich Village), he was always an outsider there. He still came from a conservative, blue-collar home and stayed true to those roots. He never experimented with drugs and only took his first drink at 22 years old, scared due to his father’s alcoholism. His music definitely reflected that. When he made it big in the 70’s, he consciously chose not to follow the experimental and progressive rockers like Bowie into newer genres, but to revive the 1950’s style, country music, and folk tunes. His musical revolution, in my eyes, was a counter-revolution.

               Early on, Bruce decided to take charge. After the failure of “The Castiles,” his first band, Bruce tries to be the leaders and run things like an autocracy instead of a democracy. As a result he ended up with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, a move he later regretted for creating a grey zone between band members, where they were kind-of stars, but not number one. Bruce reveals a side of him in the book that is a leader and a manager of people, an ambitious side where Bruce comes first. Something I didn’t like was that whenever somebody got cut from a band, Bruce often made the decision or contributed to it, but as far as I can see in the book, never broke the bad news. One nice thing though is that he doesn’t seem to hold grudges. This is a truly happy guy who does not stay angry at anybody for a long time. Forgive and forget. When he wrongs someone else, he tries to repent, so I can really respect that he owns up to being wrong.

               All in all, this is a really cool book that anybody who likes a few Springsteen songs will enjoy. If you’re a big fan, you absolutely have to read it. I’ve never read a musical biography or autobiography before and this was an awesome introduction to the genre.