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Thunder Road Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road

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Perhaps the quintessential Bruce number, this anthemic 1975 song contains many of the lyrical and musical hallmarks that make the band from E Street so justly famous. It is the first song on the first side of Springsteen’s breakthrough album, Born to Run.

Born to Run was the final installment of Springsteen’s first record deal with Columbia. The preceding albums, Greetings from Asbury Park and The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, had not been commercial successes. The third album would be critical in determining the viability of his future in music. Facing that do-or-die pressure to compose a life-defining last-ditch effort, he leads off with a song about life-defining last-ditch efforts.

In his 2005 VH1 Storytellers interview, Springsteen shares that Thunder Road is more than an invitation to the album, it’s an invitation to a bigger life. In his own words, “The music sounds like an invitation. Something is opening up to you… What I hoped it would be when I wrote this song is what I got out of rock and roll music – which is a sense of a larger life, greater experience, hopefully more and better sex, a sense of fun – more fun, a sense of personal exploration, your possibilities… the idea that it is all lying somewhere inside of you… just on the edge of town.”

Another song on Born to Run that took almost a year to complete. In February-March 1975, it was performed live as “Wings For Wheels”. In late March, Bruce decided to take the music from another song, “Walking In the Street”, and use it to replace the instrumental outro (ending) of the song. He also revised the lyrics, renaming it “Thunder Road”, based on a poster he had seen in a movie theater lobby. Thunder Road was first recorded at the Record Plant, NY on April 18, 1975, and it was finished on July 16, 1975.

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Perhaps *the* quintessential Bruce number, this anthemic 1975 song contains many of the lyrical and musical hallmarks that make the band from E Street so justly famous. It is the first song on the first side of Springsteen's breakthrough album, *Born to Run*.

*Born to Run* was the final installment of Springsteen's first record deal with Columbia. The preceding albums, *Greetings from Asbury Park* and *The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle*, had not been commercial successes. The third album would be critical in determining the viability of his future in music. Facing that do-or-die pressure to compose a life-defining last-ditch effort, he leads off with a song about life-defining last-ditch efforts.

In his [2005 VH1 Storytellers interview,](http://www.mtv.com/artists/bruce-springsteen/video-interviews/) Springsteen shares that Thunder Road is more than an invitation to the album, it's an invitation to a bigger life. In his own words, "The music sounds like an invitation. Something is opening up to you… What I hoped it would be when I wrote this song is what I got out of rock and roll music - which is a sense of a larger life, greater experience, hopefully more and better sex, a sense of fun - more fun, a sense of personal exploration, your possibilities… the idea that it is all lying somewhere inside of you… just on the edge of town."

Another song on Born to Run that took almost a year to complete. In February-March 1975, it was performed live as "Wings For Wheels". In late March, Bruce decided to take the music from another song, "Walking In the Street", and use it to replace the instrumental outro (ending) of the song. He also revised the lyrics, renaming it "Thunder Road", based on a poster he had seen in a movie theater lobby. Thunder Road was first recorded at the Record Plant, NY on April 18, 1975, and it was finished on July 16, 1975.

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Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road

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In a 2005 interview with writer Nick Hornby, Springsteen elaborated on the concept of “home” in his work of this period:

When I go back and play ‘Thunder Road’ or something, I can sing very comfortably from my vantage point because a lot of the music was about a loss of innocence, there’s innocence contained in you but there’s also innocence in the process of being lost [laughs]…

There was so much familiarity in the music that for a lot of people it felt like home; it touched either your real memories or just your imaginary home, the place that you think of when you think of your home town, or who you were, or who you might have been. And the music collected those things, so there was an element that made you feel comfortable. And yet at the same time we were in the process of moving some place else, and that was acknowledged in my music also, and that’s why I think people felt deeply about it

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[Chorus] Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.

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The end of this song features a long coda, but the engineer on that session, Toby Scott, recalled that it was originally even longer:

I’d gotten a good cue mix for everybody, so they all could hear it, and the takes were like 10 minutes long. On the final cut there’s a rather long ride-out, but it was even longer and we cut it down by three or four minutes. The band just kept playing. There were eight takes of the song, take six was the master — thanks to Max perfecting his bass-drum pattern — and when the band members came into the control room after the first couple of takes and heard the track, they too were going, ‘My God, we’ve never heard anything like this before!’ It was totally, revolutionarily different-sounding to anything else at that time.

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Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A. now Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.

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The “born in the U.S.A.” idea came from movie director Paul Schrader – a.k.a. the dude who wrote Taxi Driver. As the story goes:

It was in 1981 that writer-director Paul Schrader asked Bruce Springsteen to write the title track for a movie about a blue-collar bar band. This had the working title Born In The USA, and Springsteen came up with the song of the same name while working on a track called ‘Vietnam’. Schrader would eventually rename his film Light Of Day after Springsteen, who turned down the lead role that subsequently went to Michael J Fox, provided him with a replacement song in the form of ‘(Just Around The Corner To The) Light Of Day’, recorded by Joan Jett

“Born in the U.S.A.” is often misunderstood as a patriotic anthem to the United States. In 1984 Ronald Reagan used it as his campaign song. Springsteen promptly asked the campaign to stop.

Bruce Springsteen never let his music be used in ads to sell products. He once turned down $12 million dollars from Chrysler and they used the song “The Pride is Back” by Kenny Rogers.

This line in many ways is a plea: to the VA man, his old boss and all the others who mistreat him. It is an exclamation of frustration, pain, and suffering from someone who fought for, lost friends for, and most importantly was simply born in, the USA. He was born in the USA, but it’s not home to him anymore; he’s “got nowhere to go.” This is what makes Reagan’s use of this song so viscerally wrong; actions like his 500 million dollar cut to the VA are precisely what led to the painful experience of abandonment and alienation this song so perfectly describes. Men like him were the ones who abandoned these brave soldiers right when they needed the help the most.

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The "born in the U.S.A." idea came from movie director [Paul Schrader](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Schrader) -- a.k.a. the dude who wrote *Taxi Driver*.  [As the story goes](http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar10/articles/classictracks_0310.htm):

>It was in 1981 that writer-director Paul Schrader asked Bruce Springsteen to write the title track for a movie about a blue-collar bar band. This had the working title Born In The USA, and Springsteen came up with the song of the same name while working on a track called ‘Vietnam’. Schrader would eventually rename his film Light Of Day after Springsteen, who turned down the lead role that subsequently went to Michael J Fox, provided him with a replacement song in the form of [‘(Just Around The Corner To The) Light Of Day’](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I0Aa4czyLs), recorded by Joan Jett

"Born in the U.S.A." is often misunderstood as a patriotic anthem to the United States. In 1984 Ronald Reagan used it as his campaign song. Springsteen promptly asked the campaign to stop.

Bruce Springsteen never let his music be used in ads to sell products. He once turned down $12 million dollars from Chrysler and they used the song "The Pride is Back" by Kenny Rogers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNui40gTsq4

This line in many ways is a plea: to the VA man, his old boss and all the others who mistreat him. It is an exclamation of frustration, pain, and suffering from someone who fought for, lost friends for, and most importantly was simply born in, the USA. He was born in the USA, but it's not home to him anymore; he's "got nowhere to go." This is what makes Reagan's use of this song so viscerally wrong; actions like his 500 million dollar cut to the VA are precisely what led to the painful experience of abandonment and alienation this song so perfectly describes. Men like him were the ones who abandoned these brave soldiers right when they needed the help the most.

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2 years

“Like a Rock” was written and performed by Bob Seger.

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Karen Spence

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2 years

His song, Like a Rock, was used in a Chevy pickup truck commercial back in the 80s.

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4 years

I think that it can also mean that he didn’t do anything to be forced into warfare other than be born in the USA.

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We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road

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Trading (angel) wings for wheels : Bruce is inviting Mary to leave behind her adolescent innocence to ride out with him into the night, to taste the excitement of the adult world.

This idea of “trad[ing] wings for wheels” was central to earlier drafts of this song. One early version was even called “Wings for Wheels”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRRQVfQZnZQ

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Oh-oh Thunder Road oh Thunder Road oh Thunder Road Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road

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The title of this song comes from the 1958 film Thunder Road. Oddly, Bruce never actually saw the movie:

There was this Robert Mitchum movie… it was about these moonshine runners down South… I never saw the movie, I only saw the poster in the lobby in the theatre… I took the title and I wrote this song

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Come back home to the refinery
Hirin' man says, “Son, if it was up to me” Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.

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The veteran bitterly characterizes the hiring man’s blame-shifting “soft rejection.”

Unemployment among returning Vietnam vets was astronomically high, as were the rates of divorce, arrest, and suicide.

The line also shows a little about where Springsteen comes from. Springsteen grew up in New Jersey, a state known for its refineries, which offered well-paid, blue collar jobs. However, these jobs were hard to get, often requiring some inside connection to obtain.

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145

3 years

Has come home from Vietnam and like many other Vietnam vets is treated unfairly and this impacts on him being unable to get a job

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[Chorus] Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.

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One of the people who misinterpreted the nature of the song based on its anthemic chorus was conservative columnist George Will, who saw Springsteen perform in September 1984 and wrote:

I have not got a clue about Springsteen’s politics, if any, but flags get waved at his concerts while he sings songs about hard times. He is no whiner, and the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: ‘Born in the U.S.A.!’

Will had ties to the re-election campaign of then-President Ronald Reagan, who, shortly afterwards, added a short homage to Springsteen during a campaign stop in New Jersey:

America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about

Springsteen, no fan of Reagan’s (but unwilling to officially endorse his opponent), responded in concert two days later. As Wikipedia says:

Springsteen responded negatively by introducing his song “Johnny 99”, a song about an unemployed auto worker who turns to murder, “The President was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don’t think it was the Nebraska album. I don’t think he’s been listening to this one”

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One of the people who misinterpreted the nature of the song based on its anthemic chorus was conservative columnist George Will, who saw Springsteen perform in September 1984 and [wrote:][1]

>  I have not got a clue about Springsteen's politics, if any, but flags get waved at his concerts while he sings songs about hard times. He is no whiner, and the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: 'Born in the U.S.A.!'

Will had ties to the re-election campaign of then-President Ronald Reagan, who, shortly afterwards, added a short homage to Springsteen during a campaign stop in New Jersey:

>  America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about

Springsteen, no fan of Reagan's (but unwilling to officially endorse his opponent), responded in concert two days later.  As Wikipedia says:

>  Springsteen responded negatively by introducing his song ["Johnny 99"][2], a song about an unemployed auto worker who turns to murder, "The President was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one"

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_U.S.A._(song)#Political_reactions

[2]:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_99_(song)

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Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.

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There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that judges during the Vietnam era would insist that a young offender enlist in the Army or head to jail. There is also documentary evidence in the form of a 1972 newspaper article that talks about the Army’s attempts to end the practice.

President Johnson spoke of the military’s need for more boys to fight in Vietnam. He was adamant that he would get what he requested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HO06__Z_So

The practice is now forbidden by all branches of the U.S. military. The Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines have specific sections of their recruiting regulations prohibiting enlistment in lieu of jail, fines, or other legal punishment. The Navy doesn’t have a regulation on the books, but recruiters will turn away such applicants.

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There's a lot of [anecdotal evidence](http://ask.metafilter.com/170578/How-did-the-Vietnam-draft-work-pre1970) that judges during the Vietnam era would insist that a young offender enlist in the Army or head to jail. There is also [documentary evidence](http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AXkfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=N1MEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3892%2C4612363) in the form of a 1972 newspaper article that talks about the Army's attempts to end the practice.

President Johnson spoke of the military's need for more boys to fight in Vietnam. He was adamant that he would get what he requested. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HO06__Z_So

[The practice is now forbidden by all branches of the U.S. military.](http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joiningthemilitary/a/joinprison.htm)  The Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines have specific sections of their recruiting regulations prohibiting enlistment in lieu of jail, fines, or other legal punishment.  The Navy doesn't have a regulation on the books, but recruiters will turn away such applicants.

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I'm ten years burnin' down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.

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The song was first recorded in 1982 and released in 1984, a little less than ten years after the end of the Vietnam War, which lasted until 1975. Nine years after the war’s end he feels trapped.

“Nowhere to run” is possibly a reference to his 1975 breakout album and song Born to Run. It also suggests that the protagonist can’t escape his dead end future. He needs this job after meeting so many excuses and roadblocks since coming home.

Springsteen could also be giving a hat tip to Motown by referring to Nowhere to Run by Martha and the Vandellas – a song popular during the Vietnam War era.

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Ethan Harwood

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2 years

It is likely also a reference to the high level of homelessness in vets

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