The Evolution of Born to Run: "Backstreets"

For the 50th anniversary of Born to Run, here's a track-by-track breakdown of the evolution of each of the songs on the record, going in order from start to finish. Side 1, track 4: “Backstreets.”

There isn’t a firm and clearly documented timeline that lets us nail down the exact moment Bruce Springsteen began writing “Backstreets.” Brucebase documents that there was a song called “Hidin’ On The River” that is an alleged early predecessor, but there’s no circulating lyrics or audio for it that I was able to locate. Studio logs point to a song called “Backstreets” recorded at 914 Sound Studios in October of 1974, but there’s no circulating version of it either. When the band finally relocates the recording session to the Record Plant, on May 19, 1975, we get another appearance of a composition using that title, and that’s where the song begins its in-studio journey.

I don’t think you can attach any kind of significance as to how long it took Bruce to get certain songs finished simply because of what was happening with the band in the 74-75 time frame. Yes, he was trying to write differently and the key to that was “Born to Run,” and the time frame for that is significant because it was about a creative breakthrough. But the rest of the songs didn’t necessarily take a long time to finish because of any inherent drama or backstory. I think many of the songs took a while to complete because Bruce and the band weren’t financially able to just focus on writing and recording the best record they could. They still had to tour and play shows in order to be able to maintain an audience who would be interested in buying said record, and prior to the move to the Record Plant in April '75, they were recording at a studio located in a very inconvenient location for a bunch of guys from the Jersey Shore. This is before taking into account that studio’s various disadvantages, like a piano that was always going out of tune. 

Bruce doesn’t talk a lot about “Backstreets.” It’s not discussed in any detail in Songs or his memoir. When he gave the keynote address at SXSW in 2012, he briefly touched on it, while alluding to the melodic (and emotional) connection between “Backstreets” and “Unchained Melody.” He doesn't mention the latter by name but that’s what it sounds like to me (listen at the 17:20 mark), and what he hums also bears a passing resemblance to the Five Satins “In The Still of the Night,” and probably many, many other doo-wop tunes as well. I'm actually personally grateful that he's never dissected the song. Part of its inherent power is in its deep mystery and its universality.