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) became one of Springsteen's best-known songs. It was included on both his 1995 "Greatest Hits" and 2003 "The Essential Bruce Springsteen" compilations. The song was also incorporated in the European edition of the 2009 "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Greatest Hits". The aggregation of critics' lists at Acclaimed Music rated this song as the #13 song of 1980, as well as #114 of the 1980s and #800 all time. The song was debuted in public at the Musicians United for Safe Energy concerts at Madison Square Garden in September 1979, and was featured in the subsequent 1980 film