This one’s for the history books.
A two-song performance of “Thunder Road” and “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band capped the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music’s “Born to Run” 50th anniversary main event Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Pollak Theatre on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch.
It was historic, as pre-1975 E Street Band members David Sancious on keyboards and Ernest “Boom” Carter on drums joined in for the performance. They played along with Max Weinberg, drums; Steven Van Zandt, guitar; Garry Tallent, bass; Roy Bittan, piano; and Eddie Manion, sax.
The performance was a suitable ending for a magical day of memories, revelations and laughs with multiple panels. Springsteen participated in three. Especially revealing was Springsteen and Bob Santelli, founding executive director of the Springsteen Archives, discussing the writing of the song “Born to Run.”
Eddie Manion (L-R), Max Weinberg, Garry Tallent, Ernest ‘Boom’ Carter, David Sancious, Steve Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen and Roy Bittan at the Springsteen Archives “Born to Run” 50th anniversary main event Saturday, Sept. 6 at the Pollak Theatre.
Springsteen wrote the song a few blocks way from the Pollak Theatre in a bungalow on West End Court in the West End section of Long Branch.
Below are five revelations from Saturday’s “Born to Run” panel with Springsteen and Santelli.
1. Wendy Reveled
Who was Wendy from “Born to Run?” Springsteen chose the name Wendy because he had a Peter Pan poster with Wendy on it at his West End Court house.
“Yeah, I’m not sure how it speaks to my adult life,” said Springsteen to laughter. “Actually, it explains quite a bit about that but I had it up right over my bed and I was writing the song and I said ‘Oh, Wendy!”
Springsteen added that he still has the Wendy poster in his Colts Neck home.
2. New York City subway connection to ‘Born to Run’
Springsteen found the inspiration for “Born to Run” in a record store located in the New York City subway.
“There was a subway shop that sold repressed singles,” Springsteen said. “Duane Eddy, Phil Spector, I love the Beach Boys — I wanted to write about the basic subjects of rock ‘n’ roll, which were cars and girls. I wanted to tackle those subjects but I don’t want to sound like a retro act so I have to invest in something that’s purely mine and it speaks to the times.”
The beginning of “Born to Run” was inspired by the beginning of Little Eva’s 1962 hit “The Loco-Motion,” Springsteen said.
3. The ‘dread’ factor
Springsteen wanted the song “Born to Run” to have roots in the classics, but he also wanted to contemporize the setting. This was the time of Vietnam, Watergate, gas lines and a shaky economy.
“I know I got to put my characters in the car but I got to put all these things in the car with them — loss of innocence, cynicism and a lot of dread, a lot of dread,” Springsteen said. “That was the way I took those subjects and shaped them to the times.”
4. Origin of phrase ‘Born to Run’ still a mystery
“The phrase Born to Run came into my head,” Springsteen said. “It must have been a movie or I’d seen it on a car going around the Circuit (in Asbury Park) or something and I picked it up. I still don’t know where it came from.”
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music’s “Born to Run” 50th anniversary main event Saturday, Sept. 6 at the Pollak Theatre on the campus of Monmouth University in West Long Branch.
5. The cinematic origins of ‘Born to Run’
Both “Born to Run” the song and album have a cinematic quality, and that was the intentional, Springsteen said.
“As a kid, from the time I was very young, my mother would take us (to the movies) and if you were 13 you had to pay a dollar. If you were 12 you had to pay 35 cents,” Springsteen said. “My mother said ‘Get down, get down!’ and I had to slump way down. How old are you son? Twelve! Twelve!”
“Born to Run” was released Aug. 25, 1975.
A “Born to Run” academic conference on Sunday, Sept. 7 in Monmouth’s Pozycki Hall will conclude the week. Footage of the week’s programs, including Saturday’s main event, will be available to view when the Springsteen Archives move into its permanent location on the Long Branch section of the campus in the spring.
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Who’s Wendy: 5 Springsteen ‘Born to Run’ revelations from main event
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