Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (autobiography)

It all started in 2009 when Bruce Springsteen wanted to put into words what he felt when he sang with the E Street Band at halftime of the Super Bowl. Twelve intense minutes that he was keen to put into words. And then he said he would tell his life, his career, the chance he has been able to do the job he always wanted to do : to be a musician. Without pity or glory. Just tell. Tell his truth to him.

It begins with his childhood, the school where he does not feel at ease, his humiliations, his parents, his sisters. Then the discovery of Elvis, the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show (as Richie Sambora). We have the right to the story of his first guitar and the purchase by his mother to his first electric guitar. His first bands, Earth, Steel Mill, the Bruce Springsteen Band. Until the day he says he wants to be the one to decide his music, his choices. The democracy's band has a limit. So he auditioned as a solo artist. He is signed and history can begin. The legend of the Boss was born.

In fact, to me, the most moving and personal passages are those where he tells himself, his father, his mother. Many pages are devoted to his father, this schizophrenic with paranoid tendency. His mother ran the house, her marriage, her family while Douglas Springsteen haunted the bars and sat in the family kitchen in the dark brooding and drinking beers.

Of course he tells about his records, his hits, his concerts, his love for his fans. To tour and record is to be in a kind of parallel life, far from reality. Do not think. Especially do not think. Not to sink.

Sink, he did several times. He spent half his life in therapy. Hence the parallel with his father who returned to his son on the twilight of his life. We believe that the life of stars are easy, well no. They suffer like everyone else.

In 620 pages, he delivered once the word Boss. This means that he has never really liked this term. He did not even tell why we began using this term about him. In fact, it was rather like reading a novel. The writing is fine, beautiful, addusred but fragile and delicate. Bruce Springsteen never gets ahead, he tells his truth. His fear of being an interplanetary star after the huge success of Born in the USA, his fear of being on drugs, the first time he has been drinking, his motorcycle trips, necessary to forget, to become another. Oh of course, he knows that he wrote good songs, he knows he is good at it but he does not forget his idols. The Stones, Elvis, the Beatles, his immoderate admiration for James Brown.

And the E Street Band. The genesis, the encounter with the legendary Clarence Clemons, his adventures with Danny Federici aka the ghost. He knows that without them, it would have been different, they wrote the most beautiful pages in the history of rock'n'roll.

As in his concerts, one gets the impression of being alone with him in the room while it is for millions of people. With him, we have this joy of being unique. Which is not wrong. For Bruce Springsteen, his fans are unique. We feel strong, we love life, we want to shout loudly that we are happy to live. This feeling makes us different beings.

Each new chapter of the book, each bad moment of life, as his divorce, the deaths of his father, Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons, it feels like a Springsteen must move forward because he has to. Writing, composing music, concert four hours concerts are necessary. Why ? To move forward and not to think?

He tells all his love for his wife Patti Scialfa, who seems to save his life every day, his pride for his children and he has no regrets.

We feel all these emotions from reading this breathless autobiography, Born to Run, from the title of his masterpiece album of 1975 and his favorite song. One that speaks about him. An autobiography built as one of its concerts. To put us knock out and that never recover. You won the bet Mr. Springsteen, Mr. Boss, the greatest artist of all time. For sure.

At the end of the book there are photos chosen with sensitivity and respect for the reader. Pictures of his life, his family and his career, very personal. Looking at them, it seems that they are a bit the same as ours. As Bruce Springsteen's foremost human and despite his star status (he hates that) he lived the same things as us. I obviously recommend this Born to Run to any fan of Springsteen but also to all those who want to read a nice book written with honesty and respect.

Bruce Springsteen, a soul man.