8. Bruce Springsteen Born To Run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqTLl68aUzg This was the song that made the alienation of the 70s sound like a life-affirming achievement and has ever a song of the blues sounded so upbeat? Channeling blue collar rage and frustration with a white hot intensity, Bruce Springsteen was seen as a poor mans Bob Dylan, lacking the outré artisan qualities of Dylan, leaning more towards the masses than the self. But that missed the point, here was an everyman who understood the loneliness of the 70s, but didn't remotely celebrate it, and in doing so inadvertently set himself up as the perfect spokesman for disaffected Americans of the 80s. The E-Street band were as tight a band as youll ever hear, with whom Springsteen did something cute that Bob Dylan never thought of; he didn't tap into an existing gang, as Dylan did with The Band. He created his own band of brothers. What made Born to Run such a tremendous song of the 70s was that it was a euphoric celebration of running away, escaping but underpinned with the realisation that the doomed lovers of the story would never be free. Heres the mantra of the downtrodden people of the 70s, 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 'til then tramps like us baby we were born to run
Ed Nash
Contributor
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash
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