Growing Up with Bruce Springsteen: Baby We Were Born to Run

Having asked several people about the impact that Bruce Springsteen has had on them, I came to the conclusion that he is one of those musicians that people either like or don't like. Rarely do you find just a casual listener. The majority of the people were true Springsteen fans and their responses held him in high regard.

Bruce reaches down into the depths of your soul and leaves you with your emotions pounding in your chest and your heart on your sleeve. Bruce Springsteen touches the darkest recesses of the listener's soul, the side they never let anyone get a glimpse of. Yet Bruce has a way to reach past that empty space they feel within.

Bruce Springsteen is one of those few artists that touch on real life with vivid surrealism. No matter what you're going through in your own inner hell, Bruce is there to serenade you through it, assuring you that others feel just as deeply as you do.

Bruce Springsteen's lyrics have that unique ability to take you to your highest highs and your lowest lows. He brings you into his stories so vividly that you can see and feel the smallest details.

One fan put it like this: "Its summer in the 80's, you're sixteen years old and all the sense you can make out of life is blaring through the speakers as you're cruising through town. After a harmonious piano intro you hear a haunting yet peaceful cry of rhapsody in pain as Bruce Springsteen drones out…

"Well I'm riding down Kingsley figuring I'll get a drink. Well I turn the radio up loud so I don't have to think. Then I take her to the floor looking for a moment when the world seems right. And I tear into the guts for something in the night."

At that moment you are content knowing that as long as Bruce is there to get you through it, all will be right in the world."

Old timers remember being "Blinded by the Light" and that light was Bruce Springsteen.

Springsteen's music has ranged from emotionally charged lyrics to sad and mellow ballads. He has been acclaimed as one of the greatest story tellers of all time. He does not put his characters in books to sit on shelves and collect dust but shares them with the world in a more powerful art form.

Music has been the chosen outlet for Bruce but had he chosen to showcase his work in the literary field, he would be one of the great writers. He is a word master who has the knack to bring those words to life through his music. Just as an artist paints on canvas, Bruce Springsteen paints his images in your mind with words and music. He provokes your thoughts to ponder what "wolf man fairies dressed in drag for homicide" really look like in "Lost in the Flood" as you watch the scene unfold in your minds eye.

While we were "Growing Up" in our "Glory Days" Bruce gave us the sense that we were "Born to Run". Not only is he one of the great artist of past generations but he's remained real. When you listen to the music of Bruce Springsteen you don't have to wonder if it's him or just a "Brilliant Disguise". Bruce is a true American Icon that many generations can appreciate.