Best Selling Books by Bruce Springsteen

Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himselfto writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs. He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as The Big Bang: seeing Elvis Presley s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work. Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll. Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs ("Thunder Road, "Badlands." "Darkness on the edge of Town. "The River" "Born in the U.S.A." "The Rising, " abd "The Ghost of Tom Joad," to name just a few). Bruce Springsteen s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences.

Commemorating Bruce Springsteen's twenty-five years as a recording artist, here is a panoramic view of his career in a form never seen before. This is the complete collection of Bruce Springsteen's recorded lyrics, illustrated with hundreds of never-before-published images from some of rock & roll journalism's greatest photographers, including Annie Leibovitz, David Gahr, Lynn Goldsmith, Bruce Weber, and many others. From Jim Marchese's informal backstage shots during the European leg of the 1980 The River tour to Neal Preston's amazing documentation of the Born in the U.S.A. days to Pam Springsteen's portraits showing a side of the musician rarely seen by the public, this is the most intimate look at Bruce Springsteen ever published. The photos and lyrics are accompanied by original commentary by Springsteen, in which he reflects on the songs, the performances, and the quarter-century career that for many defines the American dream. In words and in pictures, here is the one book no Bruce Springsteen fan can afford to be without.

Outlaw Pete is a modern legend of a criminal who starts out in diapers and confronts the roughest edges of adulthood. It’s one of the most ambitious and original story songs Springsteen has written. When Bruce Springsteen was a little boy, he learned the story of Brave Cowboy Bill, about a pure-hearted little cowboy. It was the first of Bruce’s Western loves, which now range from John Ford movies to Mexican music to Native American art. Each of these inspirations, plus what he’s learned as a man and a rock ’n’ roller about how to combine whimsy and wisdom, were stations on the way to Outlaw Pete, a modern legend of a criminal who starts out in diapers and confronts the roughest edges of adulthood. It’s one of the most ambitious and original story songs Springsteen has written—rhapsodic and harsh, a meditation on destiny, filled with absurdities but not for one second of its eight minutes exactly a joke. It’s an elaborate musical drama, weaving into a single tapestry several styles of rock and an orchestration reminiscent of a Morricone soundtrack. Outlaw Pete is an adult book, illustrated by Frank Caruso, who drew and painted its pages. Caruso does more than illustrate the song. His approach, immaculately detailed, simple when it needs to be, parallels Springsteen’s blend of absurdity and meditation. The questions about destiny remain unanswered, as they must be, but they’re also brought into a different kind of focus. Details that pass by almost unnoticed in the lyrics become central. Reading and listening have rarely so superbly complemented each other. The result becomes the most intense kind of artistic collaboration, a vision shared. But I’m not trying to start anything, so buy it, don’t steal it, OK? —Dave Marsh

Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen's 17th studio album, is a statement on modern American life set to The Boss's perfect fusion of rock and folk/Americana. These authentic guitar TAB arrangements include melody, lyrics, and TAB. Titles: * We Take Care of Our Own * Easy Money * Shackled and Drawn * Jack of All Trades * Death to My Hometown * This Depression * Wrecking Ball * You've Got It * Rocky Ground * Land of Hope and Dreams * We Are Alive * Swallowed Up * American Land

For pianists who love Bruce Springsteen, this sheet music collection is a dream come true. Rich with piano, Hammond organ, glockenspiel, and more, Springsteen's early albums contain some of the most memorable keyboard tracks in rock 'n' roll history. Now, for the first time, keyboard parts for 25 songs from his legendary 1973--1980 era have been notated with unprecedented accuracy and gathered in this collectible volume. Note-for-note keyboard transcriptions are woven into arrangements that make each song playable on piano from start to finish. Complete vocal melodies and lyrics are included, along with chord grids for guitar. The 25 selections in this volume were chosen for their playability on piano and their popularity among songs Springsteen recorded during his exciting '70s era---a time of boundless creativity and energy that stands out amid the many highlights of his unparalleled career. Titles: * Ain't Good Enough for You * Backstreets * Badlands * Because the Night * Born to Run * Darkness on the Edge of Town * Growin' Up * Hungry Heart * It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City * Jungleland * Kitty's Back * Meeting Across the River * New York City Serenade * Out in the Street * Point Blank * The Promise * The Promised Land * Prove It All Night * Racing in the Street * The River * She's the One * Spirit in the Night * Streets of Fire * Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out * Thunder Road

Travel to the working-class heart of America, and follow the deepening crises of poverty and homelessness. Starting in 1980, Maharidge and Williamson have investigated the state of the working class. They follow the lives of several families over a thirty-year span to present an intimate and devastating portrait of workers going jobless.

Prominent music writers and cultural critics trace the growth of hip hop from its origins on the streets of the Bronx to its current status as an international phenomenon