Born to Run (1975)

Thunder Road

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
Darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide `neath your covers 
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain 
For a saviour to rise from these streets
Well now I'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now?
Except roll down the window 
And let the wind blow 
Back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
Riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh-oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road
Oh Thunder Road,
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh Thunder Road, sit tight take hold 
Thunder Road

Well I got this guitar 
And I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back 
If you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And I know you're lonely 
For words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes 
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers 
And I'm pulling out of here to win


Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

Tear drops on the city
Bad Scooter searching for his groove
Seem like the whole world walking pretty
And you can't find the room to move
Well everybody better move over, that's all
'Cause I'm running on the bad side
And I got my back to the wall
Tenth Avenue freeze-out, Tenth Avenue freeze-out

Well I was stranded in the jungle
Trying to take in all the heat they was giving
The night is dark but the sidewalk's bright
And lined with the light of the living
From a tenement window a transistor blasts
Turn around the corner things got real quiet real fast
She hit me with a Tenth Avenue freeze-out
Tenth Avenue freeze-out
And I'm all alone, I'm all alone
And kid you better get the picture
And I'm on my own, I'm on my own
And I can't go home

When the change was made uptown
And the Big Man joined the band
From the coastline to the city
All the little pretties raise their hands
I'm gonna sit back right easy and laugh

When Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half
With a Tenth Avenue freeze-out, Tenth Avenue freeze-out
Tenth Avenue freeze-out...


Night

You get up every morning at the sound of the bell
You get to work late and the boss man's giving you hell
Till you're out on a midnight run
Losing your heart to a beautiful one
And it feels right 
As you lock up the house
Turn out the lights 
And step out into the night

And the world is busting at its seams
And you're just a prisoner of your dreams
Holding on for your life 
`Cause you work all day
To blow `em away in the night

The rat traps filled with soul crusaders
The circuits lined and jammed with chromed invaders
And she's so pretty that you're lost in the stars
As you jockey your way through the cars

And sit at the light, as it changes to green
With your faith in your machine 
Off you scream into the night

And you're in love with all the wonder it brings
And every muscle in your body sings 
As the highway ignites
You work nine to five 
And somehow you survive 
Till the night
Hell all day they're busting you on the outside
But tonight you're gonna break on through to the inside
And it'll be right, it'll be right 
And it'll be tonight

And you know she will be waiting there
And you'll find her somehow you swear
Somewhere tonight 
You run sad and free
Until all you can see is the night


Backstreets

One soft infested summer 
Me and Terry became friends
Trying in vain to breathe 
The fire we was born in
Catching rides to the outskirts 
Tying faith between our teeth
Sleeping in that old abandoned beach house 
Getting wasted in the heat
And hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets
With a love so hard and filled with defeat
Running for our lives at night on them backstreets
   
Slow dancing in the dark 
On the beach at Stockton's Wing
Where desperate lovers park 
We sat with the last of the Duke Street Kings
Huddled in our cars 
Waiting for the bells that ring
In the deep heart of the night 
We let loose of everything
To go running on the backstreets
Running on the backstreets
Terry you swore we'd live forever 
Taking it on them backstreets together
    
Endless juke joints and Valentino drag 
Where famous dancers scraped the tears
Up off the street dressed down in rags 
Running into the darkness
Some hurt bad some really dying 
At night sometimes it seemed
You could hear the whole damn city crying 
Blame it on the lies that killed us
Blame it on the truth that ran us down 
You can blame it all on me Terry
It don't matter to me now
When the breakdown hit at midnight 
There was nothing left to say
But I hated him 
And I hated you when you went away

Laying here in the dark 
You're like an angel on my chest
Just another tramp of hearts 
Crying tears of faithlessness
Remember all the movies, Terry
We'd go see
Trying to learn how to walk like heroes 
We thought we had to be
Well after all this time 
To find we're just like all the rest
Stranded in the park 
And forced to confess
To hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets
Where we swore forever friends 
On the backstreets until the end
Hiding on the backstreets
Hiding on the backstreets...


Born to Run

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway 
	American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide 
	machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected 
And steppin' out over the line
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 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 find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Girl I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered* drones scream down 
	the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview 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 wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

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
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 gonna 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

* Visit the Site Allpar to know something more about Hemi Power.


She's the One

With her killer graces 
And her secret places
That no boy can fill 
With her hands on her hips
Oh and that smile on her lips
Because she knows that it kills me
With her soft french cream
Standing in that doorway like a dream
I wish she'd just leave me alone
Because french cream won't soften them boots
And french kisses will not break that heart of stone
With her long hair falling
And her eyes that shine like a midnight sun
Oh-o she's the one, she's the one

That Thunder in your heart
At night when you're kneeling in the dark
It says you're never gonna leave her
But there's this angel in her eyes
That tells such desperate lies
And all you want to do is believe her
And tonight you'll try 
Just one more time
To leave it all behind 
And to break on through
Oh she can take you
But if she wants to break you
She's gonna find out that ain't so easy to do
And no matter where you sleep 
Tonight or how far you run
Oh-o she's the one, she's the one

Oh-o and just one kiss
She'd fill them long summer nights
With her tenderness 
That secret pact you made
Back when her love could save you 
From the bitterness
Oh she's the one, oh she's the one
Oh she's the one, oh she's the one
Oh she's the one, oh she's the one


Meeting Across the River

Hey, Eddie, can you lend me a few bucks
And tonight can you get us a ride
Gotta make it through the tunnel
Got a meeting with a man on the other side

Hey Eddie, this guy, he's the real thing
So if you want to come along
You gotta promise you won't say anything
`Cause this guy don't dance
And the word's been passed this is our last chance

We gotta stay cool tonight, Eddie
`Cause man, we got ourselves out on that line
And if we blow this one
They ain't gonna be looking for just me this time

And all we gotta do is hold up our end
Here stuff this in your pocket
It'll look like you're carrying a friend
And remember, just don't smile
Change your shirt, `cause tonight we got style

Well Cherry says she's gonna walk
`Cause she found out I took her radio and hocked it
But Eddie, man, she don't understand
That two grand's practically sitting here in my pocket

And tonight's gonna be everything that I said
And when I walk through that door
I'm just gonna throw that money on the bed
She'll see this time I wasn't just talking
Then I'm gonna go out walking

Hey Eddie, can you catch us a ride?


Jungleland

The rangers had a homecoming 
In Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine 
Over the Jersey state line
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance 
And disappear down Flamingo Lane

Well the Maximum Lawman run down Flamingo 
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl
And the kids round here look just like shadows 
Always quiet, holding hands
From the churches to the jails 
Tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand 
Down in Jungleland

The midnight gang's assembled 
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They'll meet `neath that giant Exxon sign 
That brings this fair city light
Man there's an opera out on the Turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cops
Cherry TopsrRips this holy night
The street's alive 
As secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they vanished unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switch-blades 
Hustling for the record machine
The hungry and the hunted 
Explode into rock'n'roll bands
That face off against each other out in the street 
Down in Jungleland

In the parking lot the visionaries 
Dress in the latest rage
Inside the backstreet girls are dancing 
To the records that the DJ plays
Lonely-hearted lovers
Struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on
Just a look 
And a whisper, and they're gone

Beneath the city two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender 
In a bedroom locked
In whispers of soft refusal 
And then surrender 
In the tunnels uptown
The Rat's own dream guns him down 
As shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light

Outside the street's on fire 
In a real death waltz
Between flesh and what's fantasy 
And the poets down here
Don't write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night 
They reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand 
But they wind up wounded
Not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland


NOTES

All songs written and arranged by Bruce Springsteen
All selections © 1975 Laurel Canyon Music Ltd.
(ASCAP) except "Born To Run," © 1974 Laurel Canyon
Music Ltd. (ASCAP).
Used by permission. All rights reseved.

Produced by Bruce Springsteen, 
Jon Landau, and Mike Appel

Recorded, mixed, and mastered at Record Plant 
Studio, New York, N.Y.

Engineered and mixed by Jimmy Iovine
Assisted by Thom Panunzio, Corky Stasiak, Dave Thoener,
Ricke Delena, Angie Arcuri, Andy Abrams
Maintenance: Paul Prestopino

*Produced by Bruce Springsteen and Mike Appel 
Recorded al 914 Sound Studio, Blauvelt, N.Y. 
Engineered by Louis Lahav

Very special thanks for their patience and help 
to Roy Cicala and Susan Palmer at Record Plant, N.Y., 
Columbia Records and Sam McKeith, 
William Morris Agency

Cover photographs by Eric Meola