I picked up a disc of lullabye versions of Springsteen songs at the library for Luna yesterday. Unfortunately, all songs had this breathy synth St. Elmo's Fire Theme Song thing going on which made it pretty intolerable. But it set in motion a train of thought about the song, Born to Run.
It is a verified fact that Springsteen wrote the song in his beach-side bungalow in Long Branch, NJ, where a poster of Peter Pan hung on the bedroom wall -- a picture of the eternal man-child leading Wendy out her own bedroom window. Wendy as in, "Wendy let me in, I wanna be your friend/ I want to guard your dreams and visions." Wendy as in, "I wanna die with you, Wendy, on the street tonight in an everlasting kiss." A great Slate article on the song includes this point.
It is also a verified fact that Bob Dylan was detained by police in 2009 while meandering the streets around that very same beach-side bungalow. He looked suspicious, and the twenty-something female officer who held him had no idea who he was. As this ABC News article points out, Dylan may have been searching for Springsteen's old house -- he'd recently visited the early homes of Neil Young and John Lennon, the first, unannounced, the second, among a gaggle of tourists.
So I had this exact jumble of thoughts in my head today as I drove to the grocery store, Luna in the back, listening to lullabye Springsteen. I had in my mind Dylan, soaked and elderly, peering into bedroom windows looking for a Peter Pan poster.
I parked, piled Luna into a grocery cart and pushed her through the automatic doors. And Springsteen's beloved [P]anthem began the moment I entered the store.
