Several years ago, I ran across a great best-of list called
Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” and a review of that list
showed me that I hadn’t listed to many of the albums considered to be the
finest ever produced. One album in particular caught my eye – Bruce Springsteen’s
“Born to Run” – and I put it on my “bucket list” a short time later. On Sun.,
Nov. 20, I finally got the chance to listen to it from start to finish and
officially cross it off my list of albums to listen to.
Released on Aug. 25, 1975, this album was Springsteen’s
third studio album, and if I had been left to guess, I wouldn’t have guess that
it was released before I was born. Compared to most albums it’s relatively
short, with a run time of 39 minutes and 26 seconds. In all, there are eight
songs on the album, including the song “Born to Run.”
Other songs on the album include “Thunder Road,” “Tenth
Avenue Freeze-Out,” “Night,” “Backstreets,” “She’s the One,” “Meeting Across
the River” and “Jungleland.” The longest song on the album by far is “Jungleland,”
which is nine minutes and 34 seconds long. The shortest is “Night,” which is
just three minutes long.
To pick a favorite would be difficult, but I’d have to go
with “Born to Run.” I also liked “Thunder Road” and “Jungleland.” As you might
have imagined for an album that’s so well-regarded, it’s hard to pick an
absolute favorite.
Not surprisingly, you’ll find this album on many “best of”
lists. As mentioned, “Born to Run” was highly ranked on Rolling Stone’s list of
“500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” It was ranked No. 18 on that list between
No. 17 “Nevermind’ by Nirvana and No. 19 “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison.
“Born to Run” was one of eight Bruce Springsteen albums on
this famous “best of” list. The others include “Born In The U.S.A.” (No. 86), “The
Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle” (No. 133), “Darkness on the Edge
of Town” (No. 150), “Nebraska” (No. 226), “The River” (No. 253), “The Rising”
(No. 424) and “Tunnel of Love” (No. 467). To the best of my knowledge, the only
one of these that I know that I’ve listened to from start to finish is “Born In
The U.S.A.”
I have to admit that I had a hard time finding a copy of “Born
to Run.” I looked in all the normal places, but didn’t have any lucking finding
it on CD. For that reason, after much searching, I went to YouTube and searched
for “Born to Run complete version.” The search results provided me with a
version that matched the album’s run time, so I listened to it and followed
along with the lyrics from another site at the same time.
In the end, how many of you have listed to Springsteen’s “Born
to Run” from start to finish? What did you think about it? What other albums
would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.
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