36. Rock Goes the Gospel - Bruce Springsteen "Born to Run"

By early 1974, Bruce Springsteen‘s career was stuck. Although his first two albums were critically acclaimed, he had trouble finding an audience outside the Northeast corridor where his live shows were knocking crowds dead every night. Knowing that Columbia Records would drop him if his next release stiffed, Springsteen knew he had, as he would say in ‘Thunder Road,’ one last chance to make it real. Enter ‘Born to Run.’

In "Born to Run" Bruce Springsteen is working with themes of loneliness and violence to the extreme. After "boys try to look so hard," he sings, "Like animals pacing in a dark black cage/ Senses on overload/ They're gonna end this night in a senseless fight/ And then watch the world explode." He fundamental trying to stay consistent with other songs that he is considering for the album. The "broken heroes" of this early version of "Born To Run" have "a loneliness in their eyes," and instead of loving "with all the madness in my soul," the narrator seeks to "drive through this madness/ Oh burstin' off the radio." 

Sometime between July and the end of the summer,1974 Springsteen transformed "Born To Run." He told one writer, "I'm still fiddling with the words for the new single, but I think it will be good." The notes of alienation, loneliness, and violence yielded to love, companionship, and redemption. "Born to Run" was released in 1975 and was a success. It became one of Springsteen's anthems and has been played at every Springsteen concert since then.

In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected,and steppin' out over the line
h-Oh, Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

yes, girl we were

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
and strap your hands 'cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
h-Oh, Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Babe I want to know if love is real

Oh, can you show me

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight
In an everlasting kiss

1-2-3-4!

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
but there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
h-Oh, Someday girl I don't know when
we're gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go
and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
baby we were born to run

Oh honey, tramps like us
baby we were born to run

Come on with me, tramps like us
baby we were born to run

Ru-uh-uh-un
Mm-mm-mm-mm
Uh-uh-uh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Ru-uh-uh-uh-un
Mm-mm-mm-mm
Whoa-oh-oh-oh
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Ru-uh-uh-un

There is something of destiny in this song. The two people that are in the lyrics are wanting to be together and to remain that way.  There is longing in the song for a better life. A dreaming and hoping quality to Springsteen's restless lyrics. "We've gotta get out while we are young" A song that grabbed a nation of teens and seemed to speak their language. 

When I listened to this track again the passage of scripture that came to mind was in Hebrews 12 and gives the encouragement to run the race.

Hebrews 12 1- 3 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

This passage is about giving things up in order to run. It's not just an aimless run it has a goal. The writer to the Hebrews says the goal is Jesus Christ. So often we read this passage and get fixated on the giving up sin angle. Sin is mentioned in the passage as something that entangles and holds people back, such is the nature of Sin. "Do I have to give it up"? May well be a question that is asked by countless people but it is the wrong question what needs to be asked is "Does it help me run?" Do the things that I'm being hindered by or that have entangled me "Do they help me run"? if they don't then It's a progression that is we give them up we can run better. Instead of the things that entangle and hinder we are encouraged by the writer to the Hebrews to "Fix" our eyes on Jesus. To not avert our gaze from. To constantly be in a place where we are looking in his direction. Looking at his strength and power, looking at his compassion and grace, looking at his truth and love. This gives inspiration to run.

Paul the great apostle uses the same illustration of a race in his letter to the church at Corinth. He encourages the church to run and to run with the purpose of winning the race.

1 Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul to is illustrating and encouraging followers of Jesus in his day to run the race to win. This was something that Paul himself believed that he was doing. Paul really believed that he was running to win and before the end of his own life he would state that fact. He does so in his letter to the church in Phillipi.

Philippians 3:13-14 "Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Paul forgets what is behind and is "straining" in his race. This requires energy and commitment it is not a race for the passive. Paul want to win. He wants to be first past the winning tape. Paul speaks of this again when he writes to a young paster called Timothy who is the pastor of the church in Ephesus.

2 Timothy 4:7-9 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. "

Paul speaks in this encouragement to Timothy about how he has kept the Faith  and how he will win the prize because he has kept the faith. 

The Prophet Isaiah in the old testament speaks of "running". Running and not being weary because we wait on the Lord. Similar to what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says. "fixing our eyes on Jesus"

Isaiah 40:31 "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

Are you in the race? Or are you just part of the crowds. Were you destined to Run - "Born to Run" or are you just content to be a spectator. Do you have what it takes to run the race of life and faith and win.