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
Bruce Springsteen regularly perform. On that particular evening she was performing alongside one of Springsteen's pals, Bobby Bandiera, with whom she had written "At Least We Got Shoes" for "Southside Johnny". Springsteen liked her voice and after the performance, introduced himself to her. Soon after that, they started spending time together and became friends. Early in 1984, Springsteen asked Scialfa to join the E Street Band for the upcoming Born in the U.S.A. Tour. According to the book "Bruce Springsteen on Tour 1969–2005" by Dave Marsh, it looked like Springsteen and Scialfa were on the brink of becoming a couple through the