Tonight in Jungleland

The Making of Born to Run

By: Peter Ames Carlin

Narrated by: Peter Ames Carlin

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the making of Bruce Springsteen’s ground-breaking album, Born to Run, one of the most iconic records in rock history • “A lovely book about the making of Born to Run. It goes into great detail and great depth about what the record is, what it means, what it meant to us… The book means a lot to me.”—Bruce Springsteen

“Absorbing. . . A fascinating portrait of a talented, ambitious and stubborn young man with strong creative instincts.”—Los Angeles Times

From the opening piano notes of “Thunder Road,” to the final outro of “Jungleland”—with American anthems like “Born to Run” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” in between—Bruce Springsteen’s seminal album, Born to Run, established Springsteen as a creative force in rock and roll. With his back against the wall, he wrote what has been hailed as a perfect album, a defining moment, and a roadmap for what would become a legendary career.

Peter Ames Carlin, author of the bestselling biography, Bruce, now returns with the full story of the making of this epic album, combining lush music writing with unprecedented inside access to Springsteen and his inner circle. Carlin reveals a treasure trove of untold stories, detailing the writing and recording of every song, as well as the intense and at times tortuous process that mimicked the fault lines in Springsteen’s psyche and career, even as it revealed the depth of his vision. A must-read for any music fan, Tonight in Jungleland takes us inside a hallowed creative process and lets us experience history.

Excellent Writing and Narration

The story behind one of my favorite albums of all time by is captivating. Of course, I love Bruce, and have read/listened to a lot about him, but this book pulls out details I never knew before about this record, these songs and everyone connected to it. Sometimes the more you learn about someone you admire the less you're admiration seems warranted. This book proves the opposite is true about me and Bruce. Furthermore, narration is top notch even if he doesn't know how to correctly pronounce Kutstown.

Stand back and let it all be.

Born to Run is in my top five favorite albums. This was a fine telling of how it came about. I learned a few new things. But there was also a lot of time spent as Bruce crawled off into corners to contemplate, twist, rewrite, and brood over the music and lyrics that became this masterpiece. Great insight into the Management and the early rise at Columbia records. I wish there was a bit more time spent on the relationships between Bruce and his band members. Overall, I consider this a must-read for all true Bruce fans.

Great for recording nerds

If you like hearing the recording details of an album this is for you. But truthfully, there is little insight into Springsteen as a man or song writer. Really just his recording persona. Narrated well.

Bruce—The Trajectory

The details, as granular as they were, never overshadowed the story, the artist, the human being who become a point of entry for the multitudes who came after. The story of the before and after of an album that spoke to, for, and about dreams and the people who dreamed them.

A deep dive

A great deep dive in to a subject that has been a big part of my life