“Born to Run” is no tell-all tale, but Springsteen fesses up to all manner of bad behavior. There is plenty of love, but plenty of conflict too - with band members, management, his father, the women in his life. Part of the strength of “Born to Run,” not unlike William Styron’s “Darkness Visible,” is the reveal that depression or bipolar disorder (as Springsteen says he has to a degree) plays no favorites. Springsteen has all anyone could want - a loving wife and family, fame, several well-appointed homes, a massive income and a reputation for delivering the most cathartic rock ‘n’ roll shows on the planet.

There will be fans and readers who can scarcely believe it. 'I have days when my boundaries wobble, my darkness and the blues seem to beckon and I seek to medicate in whatever way I can.' Bruce Springsteen … I have days when my boundaries wobble, my darkness and the blues seem to beckon and I seek to medicate in whatever way I can.” During this period I can be cruel: I run, I dissemble, I dodge, I weave, I disappear, I return, I rarely apologize. He says he was like “a freight train bearing down, loaded with nitroglycerin and running quickly out of track. (He’s 67 now.)īiographers have written about this before, but these are Springsteen’s own words. It hit him hard at various points: when he turned 60, and again a few years later. Springsteen was greatly helped by both counseling and pharmacology - as he writes - but that black dog of depression has not left the building. The result most certainly stems from his manager Jon Landau prompting him to see a psychotherapist in 1982 when Springsteen’s dark moods got the better of him, something he most certainly inherited from his father, Doug. The book, seven years in the making, is exhaustive and revealing.

Born to run album cover