The following is the complete foreword from Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, Born To Run, available everywhere 27th September:
FOREWORD
I come from a boardwalk town where almost everything is tinged with a bit of fraud. So am I. By twenty, no race-car-driving rebel, I was a guitar player on the streets of Asbury Park and already a member in good standing amongst those who “lie” in service of the truth . . . artists, with a small “a.” But I held four clean aces. I had youth, almost a decade of hard-core bar band experience, a good group of homegrown musicians who were attuned to my performance style and a story to tell.
This book is both a continuation of that story and a search into its origins. I’ve taken as my parameters the events in my life I believe shaped that story and my performance work. One of the questions I’m asked over and over again by fans on the street is “How do you do it?” In the following pages I will try to shed a little light on how and, more important, why.
Rock ’n’ Roll Survival KitDNA, natural ability, study of craft, development of and devotion to an aesthetic philosophy, naked desire for . . . fame? . . . love? . . . admiration? . . . attention? . . . women? . . . sex? . . . and oh, yeah . . . a buck. Then . . . if you want to take it all the way out to the end of the night, a furious fire in the hole that just . . . don’t . . . quit . . . burning.
These are some of the elements that will come in handy should you come face-to-face with eighty thousand (or eighty) screaming rock ’n’ roll fans who are waiting for you to do your magic trick. Waiting for you to pull something out of your hat, out of thin air, out of this world, something that before the faithful were gathered here today was just a song-fueled rumor.
I am here to provide proof of life to that ever elusive, never completely believable “us.” That is my magic trick. And like all good magic tricks, it begins with a setup. So . . .
‘Chapter and Verse,’ the audio companion to Bruce Springsteen’s extraordinary forthcoming autobiography, will be released on 23rd September through Columbia Records. The career-spanning compilation will be released four days before Simon & Schuster publishes ‘Born to Run.’ Five of the album’s 18 tracks have not been previously released.
Springsteen selected the songs on ‘Chapter and Verse’ to reflect the themes and sections of ‘Born to Run.’ The compilation begins with two tracks from The Castiles, featuring a teenage Springsteen on guitar and vocals, and ends with the title track from 2012’s ‘Wrecking Ball.’ The collected songs trace Springsteen’s musical history from its earliest days, telling a story that parallels the one in the book.
Recordings from Steel Mill and The Bruce Springsteen Band feature musicians who would go on to play in The E Street Band. Solo demos of “Henry Boy” and “Growin’ Up” were cut in 1972 shortly before Springsteen began recording his debut album, ‘Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.’
‘Chapter and Verse’ will be available as a single CD and double LP, as well as via digital download and streaming. The package will include lyrics and rare photos. ‘Chapter & Verse’ will be available for preorder on Friday 29th July.
View filmmaker Thom Zimny’s trailer for ‘Chapter and Verse’ here: http://smarturl.it/ChapterVerseTrailer
‘Chapter and Verse’ song titles:
1. Baby I — The Castiles (recorded May 2, 1966, at Mr. Music, Bricktown, NJ; written by Bruce Springsteen and George Theiss; previously unreleased)
2. You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover — The Castiles (recorded Sept. 16, 1967, at The Left Foot, Freehold, NJ; written by Willie Dixon; previously unreleased)
3. He’s Guilty (The Judge Song) — Steel Mill (recorded Feb. 22, 1970, at Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, CA; previously unreleased)
4. Ballad of Jesse James — The Bruce Springsteen Band (recorded March 14, 1972, at Challenger Eastern Surfboards, Highland, NJ; previously unreleased)
5. Henry Boy (recorded June 1972, at Mediasound Studios, New York, NY; previously unreleased)
6. Growin’ Up (recorded May 3, 1972, at Columbia Records Recordings Studios, New York, NY; previously appeared on Tracks’)
7. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (1973, ‘The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle’)
8. Born to Run (1975, ‘Born to Run’)
9. Badlands (1977, ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’)
10. The River (1980, ‘The River’)
11. My Father’s House (1982, ‘Nebraska’)
12. Born in the U.S.A. (1984, ‘Born in the U.S.A.’)
13. Brilliant Disguise (1987, ‘Tunnel of Love’)
14. Living Proof (1992, ‘Lucky Town’)
15. The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995, ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’)
16. The Rising (2002, ‘The Rising’)
17. Long Time Comin’ (2005, ‘Devils & Dust’)
18. Wrecking Ball (2012, ‘Wrecking Ball’)
All songs written and performed by Bruce Springsteen except as noted.
Springsteen’s gripping 500-page autobiography, ‘Born to Run,’ will be released internationally on 27th September, published in hardcover, e-book, and audio editions by Simon & Schuster in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India, as well as other publishers around the world. Springsteen has been privately writing the autobiography over the past seven years. He began work in 2009, after performing with the E Street Band at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. ‘Born To Run’ is available for pre-order here: http://smarturl.it/borntorunbook.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are currently on tour in Europe and will return to the U.S. for a string of dates beginning 23rd August at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, and ending on 14th September at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA.
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