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 Ties That Bind (Bruce Springsteen song) has been a reasonably popular song in concert over the years, with about 200 performances through 2008. An encyclopedia about Bruce Springsteen took its name from the title of this song. The Ties That Bind (Bruce Springsteen song) "The Ties That Bind" is a song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen. It is the opening song on his fifth album, "The River". It was recorded at The Power Station in New York in May or June 1979. It was one of the earlier songs Springsteen wrote for "The River", as it was written on the road during his 1978 tour.