Born to Run: Greatest Album of all Time?

“Well now I’m no hero, that’s understood, all the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood.”I’m only about a minute and a half into Bruce Springsteen’s album Born to Run when these lines come waltzing into “Thunder Road” and, already, I know that I’m hooked. I’ve never heard another songwriter like Springsteen and I don’t think that I ever will.

The more I progress through the album, the more I fall in love with it. Springsteen could easily be named one of the greatest American songwriters. His lyrics are simple, relatable and you don’t need a college degree to understand them. The themes of finding true love (“She’s the One”), dissatisfaction with your current situation and your desire to escape it (“Born to Run”) and enjoying life (“Jungleland”) are easily seen, providing a welcome change from most of the other music ever put out.

And then there’s the music itself, clear and simple, perfectly matching the songs it belongs to. The musicians that play are amazing, but the real standout is the saxophonist Clarence Clemons. His work on tracks like “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” and “Born to Run” take great songs and bring them above and beyond.

If there’s one complaint to make about this album, it would have to be that it’s too short. But then again, if it was longer, it might not have had as big of an impact that it currently has.