In the day we sweat it out on the streets
Of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory
In suicide machines
Sprung from cages on highway nine
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin' out over the line
Oh, 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
Yes, girl we were
Wendy let me in, I wanna be your friend
I wanna guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
And strap your hands 'cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run 'til we drop, baby, we'll never go back
Oh, 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 want to know if love is wild
Babe, I want to know if love is real
Oh, can you show me
Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones
Scream down the boulevard
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 street tonight in an everlasting kiss
Ha
One, two, three, four
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
Oh, someday girl, I don't know when
We're gonna get to that place where we really wanna go
And we'll walk in the sun
But 'til then, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run
Oh honey, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run
Come on with me, tramps like us
Baby, we were born to run
Run, mmm
Baby, run
Run, run, run, run
Mmm
Woah-woah
Woah-woah
Run, run, run, run
About This Song
"Born To Run" is Springsteen's epic anthem of youthful desperation and romantic escape, capturing the suffocating claustrophobia of small-town America and the burning need to break free before life's opportunities slip away. The song presents a vivid portrait of working-class teenagers trapped in an industrial wasteland, where the "runaway American dream" has become a nightmare of dead-end jobs and broken promises. Springsteen transforms cars into symbols of liberation-"suicide machines" that represent both the danger and exhilaration of escape, while the highway becomes a mythical pathway to redemption. The lyrics blend romantic yearning with existential urgency, as the narrator pleads with Wendy to flee with him before their town "rips the bones from your back," suggesting that staying means spiritual and physical destruction. Musically, the track builds like a Phil Spector wall of sound, with layers of guitars, piano, and saxophone creating a cinematic grandeur that matches the song's epic scope and emotional intensity. The production captures both the gritty realism of blue-collar life and the soaring romanticism of rock and roll dreams, with Clarence Clemons' saxophone solo serving as a transcendent moment of pure emotion. The song resonated because it articulated a universal feeling-the sense that life is slipping away and that dramatic action is needed to claim one's destiny. "Born To Run" became an anthem for anyone who ever felt trapped by circumstances and dreamed of something greater, establishing Springsteen as the poet laureate of American working-class dreams and struggles.
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