Video Classics: 'Born to Run'

To honor WNEW's legendary Firecracker 500, every day we are highlighting the music that populated the 1991 and 1996 lists, with classic videos, live performances and little-known facts about the songs and how they came to be...

It seems that in the last decade or so, Stairway to Heaven has emerged atop numerous lists as the 'Greatest Rock Song of All Time'. That's all well and good, but now that that's settled, a far more interesting question might be 'OK, well what's the second-greatest?' According to WNEW's 1996 Firecracker 500, that song is Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run (where it jumped up from a still-mightily-impressive #13 on the 1991 list).

Springsteen recorded Born to Run in 1974 for his album of the same name. The previous year he had released Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle to critical acclaim, but little commercial success. Born to Run was laid down as a last-ditch attempt to make it to the big time. For the title track, Springsteen wrote a song about a man singing passionately to a girl named Wendy. While ostensibly a love song, the core of the song (according to Springsteen himself) is about getting out of Asbury Park, something Springsteen himself was trying to accomplish through his music.

Perhaps because the sentiment was so heartfelt, or because the lyrics were such an epic take on adolescent desperation, or even just because of Springsteen's perfectionism (laying down nearly a dozen guitar tracks to get the sound 'just right'), Born to Run (both the single and the album) were a success. The single became a minor hit (reaching #23 on the pop charts), but received extensive play on progressive rock stations and proved to be just the ticket Springsteen was looking for to propel him into stardom, and get him out of Asbury Park. It has gone on to become Springsteen's signature song, and is played at nearly every concert he performs (usually with the house lights turned up and the crowd singing along).

In 1987 a video for Born to Run was released to MTV and other outlets featuring footage of performances from the ''83-'84 'Born in the U.S.A.' Tour. That version appears below. After the jump, check out the startlingly different, downtempo acoustic version of Born to Run that was performed in 1988 for Springsteen's 'Tunnel of Love Express' Tour.

Have memories of this song or the Firecracker 500? Add your thoughts to the comments below or take a look at Video Classics past...