Table of Contents

Foreword: Yorn in the U.S.A. ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Baby, I'm a Rocker xiii

1 I Was Born Blue and Weathered: Springsteen's Childhood 1

2 I Hear the Lead Singer Shoutin' Out, Girl: 1965-1968 13

3 I Wanna be Where the Bands are: 1968-1970 34

4 Cut Loose Like a Deuce: 1971-1972 52

5 The Record Company, Rosie, Just Offered me a Big Advance: Signing to Columbia Records 67

6 Just Like a Supernova: Greetings from Asbury Part, N. J. 73

7 The Aurora Is Risin' Behind Us: The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle 86

8 I Wanna Be a Slave to the Beat: Artists Springsteen Opened For 101

9 Out on a Midnight Run: After The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle 109

10 Will You Walk with Me out on the Wire? Meeting Jon Landau 117

11 Monday When the Foreman Calls Time: The Boss 123

12 And the Band Played: The E Street Band 124

13 Pulling out of Here to Win: Born to Run 149

14 Runaway American Dream: Springsteen Versus Appel 174

15 I Got the Radio on and I'm Just Killing Time: 1976-1977 184

16 We Drove Eight Hundred Miles Without Seeing a Cop: Bruce Stories 195

17 Tonight I'll be on that Hill' Cause I Can't Stop: Darkness on the Edge of Town 199

18 You've Got to Live it Every Day: Springsteen's 1978 Tour 214

19 We're Runnin' Now, but Darlin' Will We Stand in Time? The River 222

20 Ten Years Burning Down This Road: Springsteen Tours 1980-1989 238

21 Maybe Everything That Dies Someday Comes back: Nebraska 254

22 I'm Ready to Grow Young Again: Born in the U.S.A. 261

23 What I Got I Have Earned: Live/1975-85 274

24 All the Kids are Dancin': Springsteen's Other Concert Albums 279

25 Spare Parts and Broken Hearts Keep the World Turnin' Around: Tunnel of Love 282

26 Cuddle Up: Springsteen's Girlfriends and Wives 289

27 Waitin' for That Shout from the Crowd: A Dozen Indispensable New Jersey Springsteen Shows 292

28 In the Dumps with the Mumps as the Adolescent Pumps His Way into His Hat: Debacles, Dangers, Controversies, and Embarrassments 298

29 When It Comes to Luck, You Make Your Own: Human Touch and Lucky Town 309

30 Saw My Reflection in a Window: Springsteen's "Best of" Compliations 314

31 The Highway is Alive Tonight: The Ghost of Tom Joad 319

32 You Ain't Lived till You've Had Your Tires Rotated: Springsteen's '90s Tours 324

33 Somebody Shake My Brains: Tracks 331

34 Rockaway the Nights: Roll Call at the Rock Hall 336

35 I Close My Eyes and Feel So Many Friends Around me: The Reunion Tour 338

36 There's Spirits Above and Behind Me: The Rising 343

37 You Can't Forsake the Ties that Bind: Benefit Shows, Charities, and Causes 351

38 I Feel a Dirty Wind Blowing: Devils and Dust 362

39 Brothers and Sisters Don't You Cry, There'll be Good Times By and By: The Seeger Sessions 365

40 Is There Anybody Alive out There? Magic 367

41 Sunrise Come, I Climb the Ladder: Working on a Dream 372

42 Your Loving Grace Surrounds Me: On the Road from The Rising to the Wrecking Ball 376

43 Cool Rocking Daddy: Family Life 393

44 Till My TV Lay in Pieces There at My Feet: The Best of the Boss on Television 396

45 I Believe in the Promised Land: Politics 402

46 Lookin' for That Million-Dollar Sound: The Promise 406

47 Tell Me Friend, Can You Ask for Anything More? Significant Honors and Awards 409

48 Wherever This Flag is Flown: Wrecking Ball 411

Selected Bibliography 415

Index 419