Bruce Springsteen has fond memories of hearing himself for the first time on the radio early in his career.
In a new interview with BBC Radio 1 (as transcribed by Ultimate Classic Rock), the first song The Boss heard of his on the radio was “Spirit in the Night” from his 1973 debut album Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
Springsteen recalled, “I was in Connecticut, standing on a street corner. A car pulled up, and the guy had his window down and ‘Spirit in the Night’ was coming out of his car radio. … I wanted to run over to his car and say, ‘Hey, that’s me!’ but I didn’t do it. I just stood there in shock and ecstasy.”
The car radio connection clearly has a hold on The Boss, because that’s how he marked the 45th anniversary of his landmark album, Born to Run, last year.
Springsteen said in an October 2020 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “The last record I listened to all the way through was the 45th anniversary of ‘Born To Run.’ I got with a buddy of mine on a Sunday morning at 11 AM. I said, ‘C’mon, we’re gonna hop in the car, and we’re gonna play it from top to bottom just for the 45th anniversary.’”
He continued, “So, we got in the car, and we started driving south for a bit, and the album’s running itself down. We get to Asbury Park, and we turn and I come up Kingsly Avenue just as ‘Born To Run’ hits, down past the Stone Pony, past Convention Hall, into Deal, into West Long Branch to 7 1/2 West End Court. Just as the intro to ‘Jungleland’ hits, I’m parked in front of the house where I wrote all of the songs from ‘Born To Run.’ That was fun!”