He wanted to make a record of simple-yet-intricate cinematic rock songs about young dreamers facing passions and anxieties mirroring his own. There were also various horn and string players, and together with the E Streeters and production crew, they toiled in service of Springsteen’s grand vision. Watch Bruce Springsteen Join U2 For Final Show at Madison Square Garden

Other key players included producers Mike Appel and Jon Landau (men on their way in and out of Springsteen’s tight circle of trusted collaborators, respectively) and Jimmy Iovine - now a famed producer known for co-founding Beats Electronics, then an engineer at the Record Plant in New York City, one of two studios used for the sessions. Tallent, and Bruce’s old pal Steven Van Zandt, who kicked in some clutch ideas even before officially joining the group. Both left a mark on the recordings, as did saxophonist Clarence “Big Man” Clemons, bassist Gary W. It’s the only song on the album to feature keyboardist David Sancious and drummer Ernest “Boom” Carter, who left the E Street Band in August 1974 and were replaced by Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg. The eight songs on Born to Run took 15 months to record, and the title track alone took a half a year. Springsteen wound up doing both, though he nearly drove himself and his bandmates crazy in the process. and The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, the scruffy 24-year-old some had pegged as the “new Dylan” needed to make a statement - and move some product.

Composed on piano in a tiny house in Long Branch, New Jersey, the record was Bruce’s third for Columbia, and after the disappointing sales of 1973’s Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Released 40 years ago today (Aug. 25, 1975), Born to Run is also something of an outlier in Springsteen’s catalog: the exception that established all subsequent rules. Bruce Springsteen’s 20 Biggest Billboard Hits

Born to run album cover