My mom came through with the present that will consume me for the next month or so. Springsteen's Born To Run 30th Anniversary Edition CD/DVD was released recently and it makes me want to be a better man.
I listened to the CD portion already and while the remastered quality is lost on my significantly inferior car stereo system (can I call this crap a system?), the words and music resonate in a way that makes me know that in the 30 years since its original release, the world hasn't changed much at all. In fact, the human spirit remains the same over the course of all time. We are all born to run and we want to know if love is real. We are desperate and we are hopeful and we are broken down and we want a reason to keep on trying.
What I love is knowing just how clueless I was to this release when it was released in 1975 (I was five years old), but how much it means to me now. It was written for the ages and we need its message. No matter the generation. No matter where we are in life when we find it.
Tomorrow, I look forward to watching the DVD portions of this present. One is a documentary of the making of the record in the first place. From the songwriting to the production, it's all here for the fans to witness. The second DVD is the famous live Hammersmith Odeon show in London. Bruce and his E Street Band went to London to do there what the Beatles did here in America.
To hear Bruce tell the story, the hype generated by the record company was overwhelming and and he spent as much time tearing down posters as he did rehearsing for the concert. After the show, he remembers thinking that it wasn't all that great and never watched the footage of it. He just got busy pursuing what is now such a rich history for his part in rock 'n' roll.
Thirty years later, he finally went back and watched the footage and changed his mind about that performance. He and the band had nailed it! And now we get to watch it, all cleaned up and on DVD. One night in 1975 gets to be brand new for me. A first in rock 'n' roll, played all over again, for me.
For all of this, for what I will be watching over and over again, I thank my mom for this awesome present. She has given me the past, and it keeps me young at heart.
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