Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen song) in Long Branch, New Jersey in early 1974, the song was Bruce Springsteen's final attempt to become successful. The prior year, Springsteen had released two albums to critical acclaim but with little commercial movement. Written in the first person, the song is a love letter to a girl named Wendy, for whom the hot rod-riding protagonist seems to possess the passion to love, just not the patience. However, Springsteen has noted that it has a much simpler core: getting out of Freehold. Route 9 is mentioned from the lyric "sprung from cages out on Highway 9". In his 1996 book
The River (Bruce Springsteen song) The River (Bruce Springsteen song) "The River" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, accompanied by the E Street Band, in 1979. It was the title track of his fifth album, "The River", and was a hit single in parts of Europe in 1981. It reached #25 in the Netherlands, and reached the top 10 in both Sweden and Norway. Its B-side was either "Independence Day" or "Ramrod", depending on the country. "The River" was originally intended to be included on an earlier, one-record version of "The River", tentatively called "The Ties That Bind". The song itself was