Born to Run
Ratings18
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings18
Average rating4.3
"Att skriva om sig själv är märkligt ... Men i ett sådant här projekt har författaren avgett ett enda löfte, och det är att visa läsaren sitt inre. På de här sidorna har jag försökt göra det." Bruce Springsteen År 2009 stod Bruce Springsteen och E Street Band för underhållningen på Super Bowl. Upplevelsen var så omvälvande att Bruce bestämde sig för att skriva om den. Det var så denna personliga självbiografi tog sin början. Under de senaste sju åren har Bruce Springsteen i hemlighet ägnat sig åt att skriva berättelsen om sitt liv och bjuder här på samma ärlighet, humor och originalitet som utmärker hans låtar. Han beskriver den katolska uppväxten i Freehold i New Jersey, som väckte hans drömmar och ledde fram till ögonblicket han kallar Big Bang: att se Elvis Presleys debut på Ed Sullivan Show. Här skildrar han på ett levande sätt sin drivkraft att bli musiker, sina tidiga år som barbandskung i Asbury Park och E Street Bands tillkomst. Med stor öppenhet berättar han för första gången om de personliga motgångar som inspirerat hans främsta verk, och visar varför låten Born to Run har en djupare innebörd än de flesta känner till. Born to run är en ögonöppnare för alla som någonsin gillat Bruce Springsteen, men boken är mer än en legendarisk rockstjärnas memoarer. Det är en bok för knegare och drömmare, älskare och ensamvargar, konstnärer, galningar och alla som någonsin velat döpas i det heliga vatten vi kallar rock’n’roll. Sällan har en artist berättat sin historia med en sådan kraft och spännvidd. I likhet med hans låtar - Thunder Road, Badlands, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Born in the USA, för att nämna några - är Bruce Springsteens självbiografi skriven med en unik låtskrivares poetiska skärpa och en reflekterande människas livserfarenhet. Bruce Springsteen slog igenom 1975 med albumet Born to Run. Han har blivit invald i Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame och New Jersey Hall of Fame. Han har till delats tjugo Grammy Award, en Oscar och Kennedy Center Honors. Han bor i New Jersey med sin familj. Översättning av Erik MacQueen Omslagsfoto © Frank Stefanko
Reviews with the most likes.
As a faithful follower of the Church of The E Street Band, it's no wonder that I loved this book. Bruce Springsteen wrote and honest and open account of his life and shared insight into his artistry. I'm rushing to go through my Bruce Springsteen music catalog.
Probably not as interesting if your not a Springsteen superfan such as myself; but for me this book was fantastic. It really illuminated the parts of Springsteen's life and career that you would hear about but never got the full story on.
This audiobook, narrated by Springsteen himself, is one of the most enjoyable book-listening experiences I've ever had. First, his writing is excellent (which I should have expected, but didn't). Second, to hear him tell his own story is pretty incredible. And third, despite being a rock superstar, he comes across as being thoroughly human. I'll be listening to his albums in an entirely different light from now on. He does occasionally go overboard on the self-reflection, but that's a minor quibble. (I also checked the book out of the library so I could look at the collection of photos at the back of the book.)
Bruce Springsteen is an American icon and this book, his own story in his own words, lays bare the man behind the songs. Bruce knows how to write and the pages are filled with the kind of imagery that fills his lyrics, but at the service of telling his own truth, not that of one of his characters.
Springsteen's songs can be open to misinterpretation (certainly by those who fails to listen to the lyrics) but they are always honest and that is a quality that runs throughout this book. From hard working class beginnings in Jersey, Springsteen reveals a man driven to write, play, sing and perform. A man bitten by the rock ‘n' roll bug who sought to emulate his heroes: Dylan, Hendrix, The Stones, The Beatles, and in the process created the last great Rock ‘n' Roll band - The E Street Band.
He speaks openly of his emotionally distant father (subject and subtext of many of his songs) and, most surprising and revealing, his own battles with depression and emotional unavailability. This was a side of Springsteen I knew nothing about, but he talks about it with great candour. Therapy and medication, as well as the love of a good woman and a stable family life, have helped him through.
The first half of the book are the most fascinating, as Springsteen finds his music, what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. The creation of his band, the legal battles with his first manager and his growing confidence as an artist until the commercial breakthrough of Born in The USA propels him into the superstar stratosphere, it's all told with honesty and humour.
Springsteen the man isn't without faults and was no stranger to the “rock ‘n' roll” lifestyle, but his uptight, buttoned down nature saved him from the worst excesses. To him the music came first and foremost, but that brought its own problems.
Springsteen gives great insight into his thought processes with regard to songwriting, the shifts in focus as the years progress, the striving for a voice to reflect the lives of his fans, the blue-collar, working classes that America was built on.
The latter half of the book, once he's a settled family man does descend into a few chapters of album - tour - album - tour, but then come the losses: his father; E Street keyboard player Danny Federici and, of course, the Big Man himself, Clarence Clemons. Springsteen is 67. It's an inevitable part of life that his peers start vanishing. These episodes are movingly told, full of love for the departed.
This is one of the great rock autobiographies and the seven years it took to write have paid off handsomely. The story isn't over, of course. Springsteen continues to make music and tour and looks like he will well into his 70s. But for now, this will do nicely.
