Jeff Fusco
Bruce Springsteen's handwritten lyric sheet for 'Born to Run' fetched $197,000 at auction.
Tramps like us, baby we were born to bid.
Santa Claus came to town early for the mystery seller of Bruce Springsteen[1] ’s original lyrics to “Born to Run.”
An unidentified bidder scored the handwritten, working lyric sheet to the Boss’ rock masterpiece for an eye-popping $197,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York City.
The opening bid on the sheet of notebook paper with 30 handwritten lines was $40,000.
AP
The lyric sheet went to a mysterious phone bidder, who paid nearly double the estimated price.
It was expected to sell for between $70,000 and $100,000 — but the frenzied bidding took a wrecking ball to estimates.
RELATED: WATCH: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN DEDICATES SONG TO TRAYVON MARTIN[2]
The seller of the lyric sheet maintained a brilliant disguise and was never identified.
Sotheby’s said the person had acquired it from Springsteen’s manager during his pre-glory days, Mike Appel.
Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images
Springsteen (seen during the 'Born to Run Tour' in 1975) hit the big time with the song, which is a love letter to a girl named Wendy.
Appel co-produced Springsteen’s first two albums, “Greetings from Asbury Park” and “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle,” but the two had a bitter falling out during the recording of the “Born to Run” album.
The dispute led to a court fight that threatened to derail the now-legendary rocker’s music career, and kept Springsteen from releasing new music until 1978’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town” — one of his angriest albums.
The lyrics in the early 1974 version of “Born to Run” are vastly different from the finished product, but they contain the familiar chorus of, “Tramps like us, baby we were born to run.”
RELATED: SPRINGSTEEN DEDICATES PERFORMANCE TO GANDOLFINI[3]
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
The 64-year-old New Jersey native has sold more than 64 million albums in the U.S.
It shows the 26-year-old tinkering with what will become the line, “Baby this town rips the bones from your back.”
“This town’ll rip the (out your) bones from your back,” the work in progress reads.
There’s also mention of a “suicide trap,” which became a “suicide rap” in the final version.
“The imagery and tone are constant from the present manuscript to the final song,” Sotheby’s said.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
'The Boss' is known for lengthy, energetic concerts, which have reached 250 minutes in length.
Springsteen was a struggling songwriter in danger of losing his recording deal with Columbia Records when he wrote the song in Long Branch, N.J.
RELATED: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ALBUM RELEASE SET FOR 2014[4]
He worked on it for six months, determined to make it a classic.
Both the song and the album were hits.
Springsteen's latest album, 'High Hopes' will be released on Jan. 14, 2014.
The song and the name of the girl he’s singing to in it, Wendy, were inspired by Peter Pan.
Sotheby’s said that “although Springsteen is known to have an intensive drafting process, few manuscripts of ‘Born to Run’ are available, with the present example being one of only two identified that include the most famous lines in the song.”
Springsteen and Appel have made peace in the years since their falling out, and Springsteen has described him as a “good friend.”
Springsteen’s latest album, “High Hopes,” is scheduled for release
ON A MOBILE DEVICE? CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO.[5]
References
- ^ Bruce Springsteen (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ RELATED: WATCH: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN DEDICATES SONG TO TRAYVON MARTIN (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ RELATED: SPRINGSTEEN DEDICATES PERFORMANCE TO GANDOLFINI (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ RELATED: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ALBUM RELEASE SET FOR 2014 (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO. (www.youtube.com)
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