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You want to hear the real story behind the rock artists, the albums and the songs that have become the soundtrack of your life. Straight from the legends who lit them. I'm Adam Reeder, the Professor of Rock and on the professor of Rock podcast we go deep, deep into the heart of the music that defines us and our greatest memories. Exclusive interviews, behind the scenes moments and the untold truths of rock's greatest hits told by the artists themselves. Stories you won't find anywhere else. If music moves you, this is your backstage pass. Subscribe now to the professor of Rock Podcast.

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Welcome to the behind the Song podcast, taking you deeper into classic rock's most timeless tunes. Here's your host, Janda.

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When Bruce Springsteen was just 24 years old, he wrote the lyrics to Born To Run. He was a kid living in Long Branch, New Jersey, already a band leader, already referred to as the Boss by his band and and having already released two albums, Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey and the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, albums that gave him critical love but didn't really scratch the surface of real commercial success. For album number three on his recording contract, he had one last chance to make a mark or else face the music, so to speak, about his career. Born to Run came along just in time to change everything. A deeply poetic song from the heart, it became his first top 40 hit in 1975 when it peaked at number 23, the title track to his third album. Let's get into the story in this episode of the behind the Song podcast. If you like it, give it a thumbs up and hit. Subscribe and let us know in the comments. While Born in the USA is Springsteen's biggest chart topping album, Born to Run was the song and the album that put him on the international map after its release in 1975. Springsteen must have known he had lightning in a bottle with the song, because when he played it at a gig opening for Bonnie Raitt shortly after writing it, rock critic John Landau was in the audience and famously wrote I saw Rock and Roll's future and its name is Bruce Springsteen. Landau Obviously believed the words he wrote, of course, because he would go on to become Springsteen's manager. The song is about the American dream, what you think that dream will look like when you're young, and the excitement and the fear of chasing it. It's something that any kid who ever left home or dreamed of leaving home can relate to. A specific brand of American rebellion lives in these lines. The music behind Springsteen's lyrics, in this song and in so many of his songs, backs up his poetic take on things to create a kind of rock and roll ecstasy when you see it played live. Much to the credit of the powerful bond he and the long standing members of the E Street Band have musically and as lifelong friends. The big man, the late Clarence Clemens, was on hand to provide the killer sax solo that's one of the signatures of the song. And Stephen Van Zandt officially joined the band around the time this album and song were recorded, having played with Springsteen around New Jersey and elsewhere for years before that. When Born to Run was written, Springsteen was at a crossroads. Professionally. He could have continued as a touring bar band probably forever, but he had higher aspirations than that. He wanted more. And to really understand what drove him and what some of these lyrics have their root in, we have to look no further than his father. Springsteen named his 2016 memoir after this song and this album. And in that memoir, he breaks down the troubled relationship he had with his dad, who, who unhappily worked a series of blue collar jobs to support the family. Everything from a mechanic to a prison guard. He describes his father as a distant, angry man who was later diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic. Springsteen admits to battling depression his entire life in his memoir as well, and who doesn't want to escape depression? That escape is at the root of what would become a signature song for for Springsteen. Born to Run starts like this. In the day we sweated 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 9, chrome wheeled, fuel injected and stepping out over the line. Highway 9 in New Jersey would make appearances in other Springsteen songs like the Promise. It runs north and south, connecting to New York and Delaware. It is that unremarkable blue collar factory working area around Freehold, New Jersey that Springsteen is singing about here, riding through the rich parts of town in cars with souped up engines, the pleasure of doing that, broke kids raising hell in town, and the realization that at some point you have to get out to get on with your life. When he sings the next part. 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. It's a lyrical hats off to the oddballs in the world, uncomfortable with the life they were born into. For Springsteen, it was totally autobiographical. The song goes on with the appearance of a girl in the lyrics. Wendy, let me in I want to be your friend I want to guard your dreams and visions Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims and strap your hands across my engines Together we could break this trap we'll run till we drop Baby, we'll never go back Will you walk with me out on the wire? Cause baby, I'm just a scared and lonely rider But I gotta know how it feels I wanna know if love is wild I wanna know if love is real. Springsteen has said that Wendy is not just one girl, but a composite of different girls he knew when he was writing the song. The lyrics here touch on his vulnerability. When he sings, I'm just a scared and lonely writer, but I gotta know how it feels. He admits to the fact that he doesn't in fact know where to run to, just that he and they gotta get out. Because any place is better than the proverbial there. It's powerful stuff. Romeo and Juliet in Levi's and a biker jacket. And take it from me, these are the kinds of things you say to a girl if you really want her to understand your intention. I want to be your friend I want to guard your dreams and visions is a line that any Wendy would be hard pressed to turn down. And the song goes on. Beyond the palace, Hemi powered drones scream down the boulevard Girls comb their hair in rear view mirrors and the boys try to look so hard the amusement park rises bold and stark Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist I want to die with you Wendy on the street tonight in an everlasting kiss In a few lines he describes the fullness of the scene he was in and the recklessness of living for the moment. I want to die with you Wendy on the street tonight in an everlasting kiss wow. Muscle cars with hemi engines revving up and down the boulevard on the Jersey shore it's summer, they're young and there is both magic and gasoline in the air mixed with the salt from the sea and the burnt asphalt from the street. He goes on and really steps on the gas, so to speak, with the next lines Counting it down to the e Street Band. 1, 2, 3, 4. The 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 again Here Springsteen underlines that they're a pack of last chancers. He, Wendy and everybody else is on the run and there's nowhere else to go but on the road and out or else stay there and die. Two choices stay the course, get a job, settle down or leave now to something ahead down the road he's running on and then we get to the final lines of the song, the part that admits there is much to lose by leaving home, saying goodbye to family and friends, and setting off to parts unknown together, Wendy we can live with the sadness I'll love you with all the madness in my soul Someday girl I don't know when we're going to get to that place where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun but till then tramps like us baby we were born to run it's about as poetic a rock song as you can get, a snapshot of young American hopes that hasn't changed too much since those rite of passage feelings stay pretty much the same. A page of these lyrics, written in a blue ink pen on a notepad, sold at a New York auction in 2013 for over $197,000. In his memoir, in contrast to his father, Springsteen describes his mother as having instilled a strong work ethic in him. Pride in the work and the importance of living life vibrantly and all that hard work has paid off. Of course. Grammys, Oscars, the honors, the accolades and of course the commercial success came to Springsteen. The Born to Run album went to number three on the Billboard album chart and is seven times platinum in the US Alone. And it set Springsteen up for all the successes that followed, including the huge Born in the USA album. Springsteen's incredible rise with the struggles he faced while trying to make it as a musician are depicted in the biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere starring Jeremy Allen White, set in the period around when he was writing the Nebraska album and hitting theaters over 40 years after that album was released. His story is inspirational because of the struggles, the self doubt feelings we all face as we try to make it through our lives. It's the gift of a songwriter to take those feelings and make magic. And Born to Run will always be one of his signature songs because it puts the tangled poetry of wishing and dreaming to song and then just kept on rocking and gave folks who felt a little out of place a feeling of belonging in between the lines. Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run. So what other songs about escaping come to mind? Something to think about. Until next time. I'm Janda and this has been behind the song. If you like this episode, give it a like and subscribe to the channel. Special thanks as always to Christian Lane for the music you hear on these podcast episodes. You can find me on the air at 97.1 FM the Drive in Chicago and at wdrv.com on the way. Much more classic rock and roll.