Terry Gross

They were wise to leave that off.

Yeah, and he was desperate musically in the same way his characters were desperate to, like, get out of town.

Let's hear the opening track of Born to Run, Thunder Road.

Peter, would you describe some of the early lyrics of Thunder Road, ones that he did not use?

And became Springsteen's manager as well later on.

Let's hear a demo that Springsteen recorded, just Springsteen and his guitar, that he recorded in 1975, the same year that Born to Run was produced.

And I'm going to start this a little past the beginning.

The beginning is very slow.

He's singing pretty quietly.

I just want to get to a little bit more drama.

But this sounds still like pretty compelling.

Well, let's take another break here.

My guest is Peter Ames Carlin, author of the new book, Tonight in Jungleland, The Making of Born to Run.

He's also the author of a biography of Springsteen that was published a few years ago called Bruce.

We'll be back after a short break.

I'm Terry Gross, and this is Fresh Air.

This is Fresh Air.

Let's get back to my interview with Peter Ames Carlin, author of the book Tonight in Jungleland, The Making of Born to Run.

I spoke to him in August, which was the month the album was released, 50 years ago.

One of the themes of the whole album is that you need a car and a girl you love or that you think you love, and then the car is your escape vehicle and you escape the town together.