Bruce Springsteen marks 50th anniversary for live debut of "Born to Run" Sunday

SWARTHMORE, Pa. (TND) — Exactly 50 years ago Sunday, Bruce Springsteen sang about "sweating it out on the streets of a runaway American dream" for the first time, playing "Born to Run" live at a show at Swarthmore College.

The song would become the calling card for "The Boss," as well as the title of his memoir and almost the "unofficial state youth anthem" for his native New Jersey -- a resolution passed the state House but failed in the Senate. In a post on social media marking the anniversary, Springsteen said the song marked a turning point" that "opened up [his] music to a larger audience."

The centerpiece and title track for the album of the same name, which would be released over 14 months after the song first debuted, Springsteen spent six to eight months recording "Born to Run" as he sought to craft a song that embodied the best elements of the early rock and roll and pop music he grew up consuming.

In the 2005 documentary "Wings for Wheels" which looked back at the making of the album and single, Springsteen describes wanting to make a song that sounded like "Roy Orbison singing Bob Dylan [lyrics] playing guitar like Duane Eddy, all produced by Phil Spector."

While The Boss spent those months carefully crafting every element of the track, he was still touring college campuses and clubs across the country. Thus, the song's live debut came in the middle of its recording and at the end of a whirlwind weekend of four shows in three days across Rhode Island (where the band performed at Brown University), Connecticut, and, finally, Pennsylvania.

Dave Scheiber, a Swarthmore alumnus from the class of 1976, recalled his experience of the show for the college's magazine in 2023.

“We knew nothing about [Bruce Springsteen], but it was a beautiful, balmy April afternoon, and a free show, so we went,” he says. “And from the instant the band took the stage, we knew we were experiencing a show unlike any we’d ever seen.”

Stu Blair, the Swarthmore student who helped book Springsteen along with Don McNally, a DJ for the college's radio station, remembers telling friends that they booked "The Boss" because he was local and within the budget ($2000 for Springsteen, the opener, and the gear).

“I remember telling folks that I couldn’t forecast future success, and that this year we’d just have to settle for fine, local music,” says Blair. “The common response was ‘Bruce who?!’”