Bruce Springsteen's 'Born To Run' Turns 40; Gov. Christie Sings Praises
TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/CBS News/AP) -- Fans, including Gov. Chris Christie, were looking back with fondness Tuesday as New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" album celebrated its 40th anniversary.
The Long Branch, New Jersey native's third studio album was released on Aug. 25, 1975. Springsteen himself recalled his own efforts in a message on his website.
"Forty years ago, I was hustling with the E Street Band to Providence, Rhode Island for the first show of the 'Born to Run' tour. That morning, we'd just completed the last of the mixes in New York, and exhausted but thankful to be out of the studio, we headed north, ready — we thought — for whatever this music was going to bring us," Springsteen wrote. "It brought us you and a conversation that continues to this day."
In a message sent over his Twitter account, Christie recalled his own experience with "Born to Run" as a 12-year-old boy pitching on his Little League All-Star team.
"The music was exciting, dramatic and exhilarating," Christie wrote. "As a kid from Jersey it spoke to me. Bruce wrote of the places and the people I knew. He wrote about our hopes and frustrations. He gave voice to suburban kids like me who were filled with dreams and doubts. He was one of us."
Christie called "Born to Run" his "desert island disc" and "the most powerful rock album of my lifetime."
Christie has long considered himself among The Boss' biggest fans and said he wept after he got a hug from Springsteen at a benefit concert for Superstorm Sandy victims in 2012.
But Springsteen has participated in some jabs at Christie over the years. Last year, he appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and joined the comedian in a "Born to Run"' parody called "Gov. Chris Christie's Fort Lee, New Jersey Traffic Jam'' – referencing the "Bridgegate" scandal involving politically-motivated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.
Christie has denied involvement in the scandal.
Springsteen, 65, still plays songs from "Born to Run" in concert, many of which have long since staples in his live set, Lauren Moraski wrote in a CBS News article Tuesday. And Moraski said Springsteen should not be expected to slow down anytime soon.
In a 2007 interview, Moraski noted, CBS News' Scott Pelley said to Springsteen, "You have got to be, wild guess, worth somewhere north of 100 million dollars. Why are you still touring? You don't have to do this."
What else would I do? You got any clues?" Springsteen responded. "Got any suggestions? I mean, am I going to garden? Why would you stop. I mean, you play the music and you know, grown men cry. And women dance. That's why you do it."
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