ABSTRACT The resonance of Born to Run has transcended time and vast social changes. Recorded by a twenty-five-year-old American man in 1975 and focused, arguably, on late-twentieth-century masculine dreams, the album is nonetheless beloved by women across ages and nations. And it has continued to be so, despite all the changes in women’s lives and notions of gender in the intervening fifty years. In this article, the authors draw on their large international surveys of women fans to delve deeply into their specific perspectives on Born to Run. They identify common themes in their responses to the album that speak to its endurance as a work of art, its impact in fans’ own lives, and the ways in which the album has become an emblem of community and connection with Springsteen. As fan-scholars themselves, the authors offer their personal reflections on each theme, presenting this article as a dialogue about Born to Run among women from multiple perspectives.
Luff et al. (Sun,) studied this question.