An Analysis Of Springsteen's 'Born To Run'

“The withering of the economic dimensions of class, the destruction and demoralization of the politics of place, the betrayal of institutions designed to protect workers, and the amplification and mobilization of cultural nationalism…” and when comparing the electric version to the acoustic, “the artistic decision to juxtapose the song’s two contrasting dimensions ought to be central to any approach to understanding the essence of ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ The heart of the song rests at the intersection, not the selection, of its internal oppositions.” (Cowie & Boehm, 2011)
One can argue that the emotional impact of the musical delivery may have much more impact on an audience than the original message Springsteen hoped to portray through his

‘Greetings from Ashbury Park’ right through to ‘Born to Run’ contain certain romanticism and make great use of a dramatic monologue, a willingness to succeed. As Rauch describes in the song Born to Run, “Springsteen's first "great" hit, "Born to Run", in which the speaker asks "Wendy" to run with him, is in every sense a dramatic monologue.” (Rauch, 1988) Most of the early records narrated a story of chasing a dream. It wasn’t until ‘The River’’ album that Springsteen’s style began to take a more tragic, pessimistic outlook. As Sellnow and Sellnow quote, “If one is to identify an album where a definite shift from romantic idealism (i.e. dramatic illusion focused in comic rhythm) toward realism (dramatic or poetic illusion focused in tragic rhythm) occurs, "The River" is that collection.” (Sellnow., 1990) Springsteen started to wrestle with themes regarding life after success such as alienation and for the first time, his songs began to take their first journey towards a social commentary. Nebraska witnesses Springsteen’s at his most isolated and pessimistic. Tragic songs, which display very little hope and provide sparse arrangements, many of the songs are simply acoustic. This record reveals a complete juxtaposition with its successor ‘Born in the USA’ from which many of its songs come from the same isolation as Nebraska. Dolan summarises the shift in musical style, “ In ‘Thunder Road’, written when he was twenty five, Springsteen had tried to imagine middle age, but these new songs were the sort that only an artist in his mid- thirties could produce. Unlike ‘Blinded by the Light’, these new songs emerged from the awareness that maybe everything isn’t going to be alright, but that it’s good to go down fighting.” (Dolan,