The 3 Musicians That Inspired Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run’: “I Was Never Really Much of a Revolutionary Musician”

At 26 years old, Bruce Springsteen kicked off his illustrious career with his third studio album, Born To Run. Released on August 25, 1975, Springsteen’s album debuted at No. 84 on the Billboard 200. Though, more importantly, Bruce Springsteen created an album that would go on to exist as one of the greatest bodies of musical work of all time. However, Bruce Springsteen seemingly could not have done it if it weren’t for the three major musicians who served as major influences on the album.

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Springsteen has never claimed to be a virtuoso rock ‘n’ roll musician, such as Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson. Consequently, he has leaned on other artists for influence and inspiration, and he did so quite extensively on the album that introduced him to the masses. And frankly, the three musicians that served as major influences on the album are not all that suprising.

Bruce Springsteen Pulled From Three of America’s Finest

While Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run is unique in its own right, aspects of it are familiar. After all, what album or song doesn’t have some familiar aspects to it? Nonetheless, instead of hiding this fact, Springsteen leaned into it and paid homage to the artists that helped inspire the sound and lyrics of the album.

In a 2016 interview with the BBC, Springsteen stated, “I’d been listening to Duane Eddy, the twangy guitar sound, Roy Orbison, the very unusually and unstructured songs, and, of course, [Bob] Dylan. So, those are the three things that really found their way into Born To Run because I was never really much of a revolutionary musician, but I was an alchemist. I put a lot of things together along with stuff I pulled up out of myself.”

So, per Springsteen’s comments, the three major influences on his album were Duane Eddy, Roy Orbison, and his longtime inspiration, Bob Dylan. With this knowledge, one can seemingly make the parallels that Springsteen acknowledged in his comments on the album. Like Dylan, the lyrics are poetically and staunchly American. Like Eddy, Springsteen utilized the 50s guitar sound associated with the famed guitarist, and like Orbison, Springsteen took an ambitious risk regarding the unconventional structures of his songs, especially on “She’s The One”.

Bruce Springsteen’s album is arguably one of the most American albums of all time, and that has to be partially thanks to the influence of these three iconic American musicians.

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