Written entirely in Springsteen’s hand, this early version charts the beginnings of the song. It is estimated at $200,000-300,000 in the Books and Manuscripts Online auction, from June 18-28.
Born to Run catapulted ‘The Boss’ to stardom when it was released. It followed his first two albums which received critical acclaim but modest commercial success. Springsteen took six months to write and finalise the four-and-a-half-minute track, which became his first worldwide release.
The majority of the lines in the version going under the hammer now are apparently unpublished and unrecorded but the present manuscript does include a nearly-perfected chorus:
“This town’ll rip the (out your) bones from your back /it’s a suicide trap (rap) (it’s a trap to catch the young)your dead unless / you get out (we got to) while your young so (come on! / with) take my hand cause tramps/ like us baby we were born to run.”
The song's popularity endures. In 2013 it was ranked his greatest song by Rolling Stone Magazine, was used as the title of his autobiography in 2016 and is now the finale to the current sell-out show Springsteen on Broadway.
