Running Music: Bruce Springsteen 'Born To Run'

See the list so far here

Next up:

Bruce Springsteen ‘Born to Run’

So I’ve reached the halfway point of my list of 20 songs which vaguely relate to running, or the London Marathon.

Following The Clash, Arcade Fire, Iron Maiden, Canned Heat, Tom Petty, Spencer Davis Group, All American Rejects, Lindisfarne and Thin Lizzy, this week we come to the previously advertised obvious song on the list.

In summer 2003, Bruce Springsteen was playing Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester, a relatively short train journey from Leeds, where I was living at the time.

I seriously considered going, but, for once, was a responsible student and gave it a miss. One of my final exams was to be the following morning, and Bruce would come back.

Having still never seen Bruce Springsteen live, and not having found my degree to be a massive amount of use since, I do sometimes wonder if I should have gone. I mean, how difficult would the exam have been with only marginally less sleep than I imagine I got anyway?

Apparently ‘Born To Run’ came out at a point when Springsteen was at something of an all or nothing stage in his career. His previous work hadn’t seen him enjoy quite the success which early critical acclaim suggested he should. It was Springsteen’s first world-wide single release in August 1975, although it made little impact outside the US, where it reached number 23 on the Billboard Chart.