The Reason Why Bruce Springsteen Initially Hated ‘Born To Run’

Bruce Springsteen revealed that his first reaction upon hearing the finished version of “Born To Run” was to chuck the album into his hotel pool.

In a conversation on the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, he revealed: “When you first start, you’re not used to hearing yourself. Even two or three records in, I just couldn’t get used to the sound of my voice. … Very often, it sounds terrible to you. You’re making all these choices which you end up not comfortable with. I recorded that when I was a 24-year-old kid, you know?”

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Sound engineer Jimmy Iovine had to fly out with the album while Springsteen was busy on tour, but they couldn’t find a turntable initially. “We had to go to a music store, and we had to ask the guy if we could use the record player in the back of the music store. So I’m listening to the mastering of Born To Run, the two of us are standing there. … Jimmy is trying to get me to say it’s okay – ‘We can release it?’ – and I’m like, ‘Nhhhh … into the pool at the hotel!’ At any rate, we did release it and it worked out alright,” he continued.

Springsteen liked the album cover from the get-go, however. It depicts him with the late saxophonist Clarence Clemons in a picture that is only fully revealed when the sleeve is exposed. He said it was “one of my very favorite album covers – the one that means the most to me. The nice thing about that cover is, it tells a story. It’s the beginning of a narrative. … Tt immediately makes you think about friendship, electricity, musical magic. It’s the beginning of some tall tale.”