It's no surprise that rock legend Bruce Springsteen has a way with words, thoroughly demonstrated in his autobiography, Born to Run. That's not my normal genre, so I can't say whether he uses "the standard moves" of biographies/autobiographies. Nor am I a major Springsteen fan. Sometimes when reading details about a particular song, I'd stop reading and ask Alexa to play it. I heard some good (new to me) music that way.
I was surprised by the obvious care Springsteen uses when talking about fallouts with people in his past. Far from a "tell-all," this book showcases relationships that worked and those that foundered during his early life and his career to this point. When relationships have succeeded, he gives heartfelt, specific praise. When they've broken or ended, by death or circumstances, he tempers his praise with acknowledgment of his own role in the problems the relationship suffered, and often with regret. Rather than tiptoeing around the truth, Springsteen sounds like someone willing to leave out the gory details, place responsibility, and own his contributions to a difficult situation.
I was surprised by Springsteen's introspection. I'd never thought about his inner life, and I suppose I assumed that someone who performs in public would be extroverted and egocentric. He's candid about his bouts of depression. He's also candid about his extended time in therapy. It sure seems like it's helped him.
I was surprised by how driven Springsteen is. He's up-front about his relentless desire to pursue music, to make money at it, to improve his songwriting, to retain control, and to select good people to join him in his pursuit. He's definitely sacrificed to be where he is today. A theme of "we had to make rent, so we talked X into letting us play at his local bar for $1 per person" runs through the early years. Ditto themes of "I knew that in my next band I would need the final say in all decisions" and "to offer something of value I had to work on my songwriting because my voice isn't that great." From where he started to where he is now, I'd say he's worked as hard and as strategically as any Fortune 500 CEO. It's no wonder they call him The Boss.
Excerpt:
Youth and death have always been an intoxicating combination for the myth makers left amongst the living. And dangerous, even violent, self-loathing has long been an essential ingredient in the fires of transformation. When the "new self" burns to life, the twins of great control and recklessness are immutably linked. It's what makes life interesting. The high tension between these two forces often makes a performer fascinating and fun to watch, but also a white-cross highway marker. Here, many who've come this way have burned out hard or died. The rock death cult is well loved and chronicled in literature and music, but in practice, there ain't much in it for the singer and his song, except a good life unlived, lovers and children left behind, and a six-foot-deep hole in the ground. The exit in a blaze of glory is bullshit.
Now, if you're not one of the handful of musical revolutionaries -- and I was not -- you naturally set your sights on something different. In a transient field, I was suited for the long haul. I had years of study behind me; I was physically built to endure and by disposition was not an edge dweller. I was interested in what I might accomplish over a lifetime of music making, so assumption number one is you are going to keep breathing. In my business, the above case studies prove, no matter who you are, that's not as easy as it sounds.
Note: This book counts toward the Mount TBR Reading Challenge and the Color Coded Reading Challenge.
