 Born To Run (1975) [ larger cover art ] |
Share this song
Tweet this song
Wikipedia search
Musicbrainz DB;){kind=link}
The rangers had a homecoming
In Harlem late last night
And the Magic Rat drove his sleek machine
Over the Jersey state line
Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge
Drinking warm beer in the soft summer rain
The Rat pulls into town, rolls up his pants
Together they take a stab at romance and disappear down Flamingo Lane
Well, the Maximum Lawman run down Flamingo
Chasing the Rat and the barefoot girl
And the kids around here look just like shadows
Always quiet, holding hands
From the churches to the jails
Tonight all is silence in the world
As we take our stand
Down in Jungleland
The midnight gangs assembled
And picked a rendezvous for the night
They'll meet 'neath that giant Exxon sign
That brings this fair city light
Man, there's an opera out on the Turnpike
There's a ballet being fought out in the alley
Until the local cop's cherry top
Rips this holy night
The street's alive as secret debts are paid
Contacts made, they vanished unseen
Kids flash guitars just like switchblades
Hustling for the record machine
The hungry and the hunted
Explode into rock 'n' roll bands
That faced off against each other out in the street
Down in Jungleland
In the parking lot
The visionaries dress in the latest rage
Inside, the backstreet girls
Are dancing to the records that the DJ plays
Lonely hearted lovers struggle in dark corners
Desperate as the night moves on
With just one look and a whisper
They're gone
Beneath the city, two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender
In a bedroom locked, in whispers of soft
Refusal, and then surrender
In the tunnels uptown,
The Rat's own dream guns him down
The shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light
Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz
Between what's flesh and what's fantasy
And the poets down here don't write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night, they reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded, not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland
| Imkirok (The Arctic Hinter Land) | Posted: May 14, 2013 - 10:06 Nobody could convey teen angst like the Boss in his early years. The insecurities, the fears, the hopes, the dreams, the longing for something bigger and better in life, all viewed through the lens of a high school kid trying to impress a high school girl. Brilliant, sometimes sad, sometimes energizing, sometimes hopeful, but still poignant and relevant to this day. |
| LowPhreak (United Corporate States of Neo-Feudal Amurika, Inc.) | Posted: May 14, 2013 - 10:02 Never liked this one from Bruce. :P |
| RabbitEars | Posted: May 14, 2013 - 10:01 fantastic. those first three albums were so good... nothing later can touch them. |
| h8rhater | Posted: May 14, 2013 - 09:55 rotten wrote: Bad High School music Bad high school experience?? |
| treatment_bound (Duluth to Madison) | Posted: Mar 12, 2013 - 16:55 rotten wrote: Bad High School music Nope—Here's some mid-70's bad high school music. Unfortunately, I'd seen Bruce on the cover of Time & Newsweek, but never actually heard the Born To Run album until I got to college 2 years after it was released, as radio fed us a steady diet of Styx/Boston/Kansas out in "fly-over country".  |
| rotten | Posted: Mar 12, 2013 - 16:41 Bad High School music |
| kaybee (Lost in the Wilds of Toronto) | Posted: Feb 09, 2013 - 08:04 Love the primal wailing at the end of this piece! |
| Lazarus (Bethany) | Posted: Feb 09, 2013 - 08:04 Cynaera wrote:  "Jungleland" was one of the first songs I'd ever heard by Springsteen. Those lyrics painted such a clear, dark picture in my mind, and it stayed true and became a muse for me whenever I needed to call upon stark desperation and objectivity to make a point in my writing. I couldn't separate the song from the inspiration, so I have Springsteen on my shoulder all the time, metaphorically.Which might explain, to some small degree, why I'm such a bitch most of the time.  Dang it, I miss you, you marvelous woman... well said... love this song... |
| jhorton (Trailer Park on Cape Cod) | Posted: Dec 08, 2012 - 15:05 Just masterful. Artist at his zenith. Guernica. Henry V. The Fifth Symphony. |
| gjeeg (Syracuse, New York) | Posted: Dec 08, 2012 - 15:02 Earlier Bruce; so ambitious, a touch melodramatic, over wrought, even as we LOVE HIM SO !! |
| msymmes (Toronto, CA) | Posted: Dec 08, 2012 - 14:53 Wonderful. Bill, you have impeccable taste is music. This has solicited a ton of comments and ratings over the years on RP. That says something. Not sure what. |
| SpamNRice (Northern, Italy) | Posted: Nov 07, 2012 - 06:25 Tonight in j u n g l e llllaaannnddd......! |
| heathenchild (Manitoba, Canada) | Posted: Nov 07, 2012 - 06:25 Amazing song from an awesome album!! |
| captaincosmic | Posted: Nov 07, 2012 - 06:23 Bleughhh hairy chest ,smell of B/O .....yawn |
| boober (KC,Mo) | Posted: Nov 07, 2012 - 06:20 xtalman wrote: Love hate relationship with this. I like the song, great musicianship....WAAAYYYY overplayed when I was in college all those years ago. Which is why I didn't see him back then |
| boober (KC,Mo) | Posted: Nov 07, 2012 - 06:19 I've lived in NJ for over half my life.....right next to Freehold(Bruce's hometown)and have never seen him live.Now 40 plus years later I'll see him in KC.....looking forward to it! |
| gutthawk (Stratford, Ontario, Canada) | Posted: Nov 07, 2012 - 06:14 I love Bruce's early stuff!! Love it!! |
| GawgaBoy (State of Confusion) | Posted: Oct 06, 2012 - 21:11 The more I hear Bruce here, the more I remember why I don't care that much for the Bombastic Bruce. 7 > 5. |
| cc_rider (Austin Texas. Y'all.) | Posted: Sep 05, 2012 - 07:55 h8rhater wrote: ...and may your posts live on FOREVER. |
| JckTorance (Boston) | Posted: Sep 05, 2012 - 07:52 Yep. oldslabsides wrote: Best sax solo ever. ever. |
| h8rhater | Posted: Sep 05, 2012 - 07:51 Bobert_ParkCity wrote: R.I.P. to you too, Cynaera ...and may your posts live on FOREVER. |
| h8rhater | Posted: Sep 05, 2012 - 07:51 Pharlap wrote: Bombastic much? Damn straight! |
| xtalman (What dimension?) | Posted: Sep 05, 2012 - 07:49 Love hate relationship with this. I like the song, great musicianship....WAAAYYYY overplayed when I was in college all those years ago. |
| LYS | Posted: Jul 04, 2012 - 10:00 Like a birthday present to hear this today! Thanks, Bill. I love Bruuuuuce! |
| Bobert_ParkCity (Actually, No longer in Park City Utah) | Posted: Jul 04, 2012 - 09:57 Cynaera wrote: "Jungleland" was one of the first songs I'd ever heard by Springsteen. Those lyrics painted such a clear, dark picture in my mind, and it stayed true and became a muse for me whenever I needed to call upon stark desperation and objectivity to make a point in my writing. I couldn't separate the song from the inspiration, so I have Springsteen on my shoulder all the time, metaphorically.Which might explain, to some small degree, why I'm such a bitch most of the time. R.I.P. to you too, Cynaera |
| Red_Dragon | Posted: Jul 04, 2012 - 09:56 Best sax solo ever. ever. |
| Bobert_ParkCity (Actually, No longer in Park City Utah) | Posted: Jul 04, 2012 - 09:55 R.I.P. Clarence. |
| rockpommel16 (saarland vs. netherland ;-)) | Posted: Jul 04, 2012 - 09:53 leafmold wrote: Will always have a place in my heart for Bruce. Will NEVER have a place in my heart for Bruce. |
| On_The_Beach (The Blue Planet) | Posted: Jun 02, 2012 - 14:40 msymmes wrote: Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge Yes, awesome. |
| ziakut (Albeit In The Meantime) | Posted: Jun 02, 2012 - 13:35 rotten wrote: If I could give this song a minus 10 I would. In the scheme of the music scene today...this tune is actually musical and kind of a thing of the past...for this I miss. That being said, Springsteen has a place in the rock world, but within the time frame that this was released, there were FAR better musicians and songwriters out there. I've never enjoyed ANY of BS...but suffice it to say I appreciate the musicality of this. Overated? Sure thing! But it's palatable to me. |
| leafmold | Posted: Jun 02, 2012 - 13:34 Will always have a place in my heart for Bruce. |
| msymmes (Toronto, CA) | Posted: May 01, 2012 - 19:56 rotten wrote: If I could give this song a minus 10 I would. I guess that makes you an idiot. But I guess I should be more tolerant. |
| linzie | Posted: May 01, 2012 - 19:52 rotten wrote: If I could give this song a minus 10 I would. ..I rest my case...  |
| rotten | Posted: May 01, 2012 - 19:49 If I could give this song a minus 10 I would. |
| linzie | Posted: May 01, 2012 - 19:48 I swear I read the negative comments for this and some other tunes here, and while EVERYONES got an opinion, I cant imagine what anyone sees wrong with this???!! ...and yes, I have incredibly good taste in music....just saying ....listen to the friggin sax, my goddddddddddd; what a shame he's gone, he lived very close to us down here in W.p.b.!! |
| msymmes (Toronto, CA) | Posted: May 01, 2012 - 19:45 Barefoot girl sitting on the hood of a Dodge |
| linzie | Posted: May 01, 2012 - 19:44 Not a HUGE Springsteen fan, but this one gets a good 9!! |
| Hasan | Posted: Feb 28, 2012 - 10:29 Gotta love John Peel's viewpoint: "Springsteen? E's not as popular as you think. I mean he's just a Hollywood fantasy of New York, roight?" |
| stackarukk | Posted: Feb 28, 2012 - 10:26 Roger that! dogpound wrote: man, this sax solo just brought tears to my eyes. RIP big man. |
| ERERER | Posted: Feb 28, 2012 - 10:22 Oh brother. This is very difficult to listen to, and certainly difficult to enjoy. |
| Pharlap (Bahama, NC) | Posted: Feb 28, 2012 - 10:19 Bombastic much? |
| dogpound (the island on which I belong) | Posted: Feb 28, 2012 - 10:19 man, this sax solo just brought tears to my eyes. RIP big man. |
| iTuner | Posted: Feb 28, 2012 - 10:16 mpatnode wrote: Once again, distracted from work by RP. Time to crank it up. Time to hit mute. |
| LYS | Posted: Feb 28, 2012 - 10:15 bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce! |
| FamilyMan (Continent's edge) | Posted: Nov 25, 2011 - 06:22 dmax wrote: Nice tip of the hat to the Piano Man (Entertainer). And apropros; can you imagine...? |
| Cynaera (In a hammock under my own vine and fig tree.) | Posted: Oct 24, 2011 - 16:00 sirdroseph wrote: There are not enough numbers for this one! "Jungleland" was one of the first songs I'd ever heard by Springsteen. Those lyrics painted such a clear, dark picture in my mind, and it stayed true and became a muse for me whenever I needed to call upon stark desperation and objectivity to make a point in my writing. I couldn't separate the song from the inspiration, so I have Springsteen on my shoulder all the time, metaphorically.Which might explain, to some small degree, why I'm such a bitch most of the time. |
| lattalo (Beartooths) | Posted: Oct 24, 2011 - 15:44 CC is blowing his horn somewhere in heaven. RIP Big Man!! |
| Sasha2001 (I can see Zabars from my window) | Posted: Oct 24, 2011 - 15:41 Wow, 7.2 huh? I know a lot of people are divided (re: sick of) Bruce Springsteen on RP. But if you're really a fan of great music you gotta give it up a little more for this guy and his amazing band. There's a reason why so many other musicians imitated him - probably as often or more than the Beatles, Stones, etc. We might quibble about this band or that band, but there's a reason why the great ones are considered great. |
| mpatnode | Posted: Oct 24, 2011 - 15:35 Once again, distracted from work by RP. Time to crank it up. |
| auckland (Offenbach, Germany) | Posted: Aug 22, 2011 - 14:26    Quasicoonass wrote: The greatest song... by the most talented band in my lifetime |