Marval Movie

Cover blurb – Writing about yourself is a funny business…But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.  Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce Springsteen was Born to Run – in music, in his life, sometimes from himself.  Just as he gives his all on stage, in the studio, and on his recordings, he gives his all in this book. He discusses his demons, his depression, his restlessness, and his need to write and perform music. His words pour out on the page – well crafted, poetic at times, and rough and raw on other pages. I enjoyed this book a lot and I hauled out some old albums for backdrop music.

He grew up Catholic and poor in Freehold, New Jersey. Poetry, danger, and darkness fueled his imagination.  He played the bars of Asbury Park, and became beloved at the Jersey Shore. With the E Street Band, they toured, wrote, toured more, and struggled often.

p.15 I am alienating, alienated, and socially homeless…I am seven years old

p.237 There was no master plan guiding grup band selection beyond instinct, geography, and the power of the music once we began to play.

p. 243 describing the late Clarence Clemons-genius sax player:  He had the face of an exotic emperor, an island king, a heavyweight boxer, a shaman, a chain-gang convict, a fifties bluesman, and a deep soul survivor. It held one million secrets and none at all.   (any mention of Clemons is a joy in this book. The brotherly bond and love of music shines through. And Springsteen loved and counted on Clarence Clemons as a backbone to his life)

p. 369 on Patti Scialfa –his wife and bandmate – I was more than a song, a story, a night, an idea, a pose, a truth, a shadow, a lie, a moment, a question, an answer, a restless figment of my own and others’ imagination…Work is work..but life…is life…and life trumps art…always

If you love music, read this book. If you enjoy good writing and a glimpse into a musical poet’s soul, read this book. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen is genuine to the core.