\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRob DeMartin*<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe Born to Run<\/em> symposium comes during a heightened period of legacy-building for Springsteen in advance of next month\u2019s Bruce biopic<\/a>, Deliver Me From Nowhere<\/em>. And while that film (and the most recently announced box-set<\/a>) focuses on Nebraska<\/em>, it\u2019s been a backwards-looking year for Springsteen in more ways than one. Apart from this year\u2019s Tracks II<\/em> box set, there\u2019s been plenty of commemorating the 50th anniversary of Springsteen\u2019s most iconic album: Many nuggets from the day\u2019s panels can also be found in Tonight in Jungleland<\/em>, the recently published book on the making of the album by Peter Ames Carlin, who interviewed Springsteen and Landau on-stage earlier in the afternoon.<\/p>\n \n\tBut regardless of how many tidbits from throughout the day were first reported by Carlin, hearing those involved with the album discuss its backstory and mythology in-person made for an incredibly entertaining day for fans: There was former manager Mike Appel talking about hardballing both Time<\/em> and Newsweek<\/em> editors as he finagled for both covers with \u201cno interview without the cover\u201d policy (one he allegedly even extended to Playboy<\/em> when they called asking for a Bruce interview). <\/p>\n \n\tThere was Jimmy Iovine sharing what Springsteen told him after they listened to Born to Run<\/em> in its entirety on a rainy drive through New Jersey just a few weeks ago: \u201cYou peaked!\u201d There was photographer Eric Meola talking about how tired Clarence Clemons and Springsteen were during the Born to Run<\/em> photoshoot (\u201cThey\u2019re yawning in half the shots, exhausted. Yet in the other half, they\u2019re exuberant.\u201d) And there were stories from former Columbia employees Paul Rappaport, Michael Pillot and Peter Philbin about fighting the uphill battle of advocating for an artist they believed in when he wasn\u2019t gaining traction in his earliest years.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tSpringsteen himself showed up early in the day, first spotted next to Jimmy Iovine in the wings towards the back of the auditorium, arms-crossed, as he cracked up while watching a humorous panel about the 1975 Born to Run<\/em> tour in which tour photographer Barbara Pyle told a story about documenting Springsteen smiling for the first time in a year: \u201cThis guy was a shut-in!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSpringsteen then appeared in three consecutive panels. He responded to being asked how \u201cBorn to Run\u201d sounds to him 50 years later: \u201cIt sounds like I fucking sound!\u201d He told stories about his mother forcing him, at age 13, to pretend he was 12 to avoid paying adult prices for admission to a movie theater. He reflected on having a Peter Pan poster hanging in his bedroom circa 1974, the one that inspired him naming the character in \u201cBorn to Run\u201d \u201cWendy\u201d: \u201cNot sure what that [says about] my adult life; It actually explains quite a bit of it!\u201d He admitted he stole the opening of \u201cBorn to Run\u201d from \u201cThe Locomotion.\u201d He reflected on his controlling tendencies in the studio during Born to Run<\/em> and talked about how intimidated he was by seasoned session pros like the Brecker Brothers and David Sanborn: \u201cI was young and insecure about anything and everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAnd he made jokes at his own expense. At one point, during a discussion of \u201cBackstreets,\u201d (a song \u201cabout those summer nights when you\u2019re left on your own,\u201d he called it) Springsteen asked for the song\u2019s lyrics to be pulled up on a teleprompter. When that didn\u2019t immediately happen, Carlin asked him which lyrics he needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI want all of them,\u201d Springsteen responded. \u201cI\u2019m 76; I don\u2019t know any<\/em> of them!\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t(At his own solo show later that evening at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Max Weinberg joked in-between songs about how earlier in the day various E Street Band members had compared and contrasted their respective hearing aids with one another backstage.)<\/p>\n\n
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