Born to Run

Lyrics are the poetry of music and without them, music just becomes two dimensional for me. True there are some very good instrumental pieces of music from the big classical pieces all the way through to some of the catchier TV themes but I like to hear the story of a song as told by the writer/ singer.

As a songwriter myself I really absorb lyrics and like nothing more than listening to a song with a lyrical theme which grabs my attention and then leads me on a journey throughout the song.

My favourite kind of lyrics fall into two categories. The anti-establishment lyrics of people like Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer whose words are rife with angry political and social commentary, and those of people like Paul Weller and Bruce Springsteen which usually tell a story that centres around characters that the listener can identify with on some level by the end of the song.

Some of my favourite lyrics include 'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight' by The Jam, 'White Man in Hammersmith Palais' by The Clash and 'Like a Rolling Stone' by Bob Dylan which was actually developed from a short story that Dylan wrote prior to converting it into a song.

My favourite set of lyrics though are 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen. The song was written in 1974 and was Springsteen's self confessed 'last ditch attempt' to make it big. Although he had garnered critical praise and amassed a small fan base up to this point, he had not enjoyed a runaway commercial success and this song which deals with adolescence desperation was his last shot at cracking the charts.

It is written in the first person and is actually a love letter to a girl named Wendy. It charts the angst and desire of being in love pitted against the burning desire to break free from where the protagonist lives. The themes within the song, although very American in places, have a universal appeal which echo situations and emotions most people have felt at one time or another.

A lot of Springsteen's lyrics conjure up images of middle America, run down towns that time has forgot, industrialised wastelands full of factories spewing out smoke long into the night and blue collar workers, united in their quest for true love and friendship. For those of you who are unfamiliar with his lyrics think of films such as 'The Deer Hunter', 'An Officer and a Gentleman' and 'All The Right Moves' with their backdrop of small town politics, poverty stricken characters and the all important factory or mine where it seems the entire town is employed. For an example closer to home, 'The Full Monty' picks up on exactly the same themes and the story arc of it's characters could have come straight from the pen of Springsteen.

His lyrics set out the characters very quickly and then start to tell the tale of their lives, dragging you into the story and forcing you to care about these people. They give hope and despair in equal measures but there is nearly always a bittersweet tinge of optimism about his stories - that his characters might just make it and achieve their dreams.

The last verse to Born to Run is fantastic in my opinion.

The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybodys out on the run tonight but theres no place left to hide
Together wendy well live with the sadness
Ill love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I dont know when were gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and well walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run

There is a message of hope and the promise of better things to come which really touches a nerve with me. I want these guys to walk in the sun, to stop running and find the place they want to escape to.

And this to me, is the genius of these lyrics.