Tuesday Tune Two-Fer: Point/Counter-point: Why Were We Born?

This week’s Tuesday Tune Two-Fer was prompted by a Google search to verify that I was correctly remembering the lyrics to “Born to Run.”

At the time I’m writing this, Google’s search page confidently posts a transcript of Bruce Springsteen’s introduction to a live performance of the song, where he speaks eloquently about trying to return to his childhood home and realizing how much of it is gone but how much of the soul of it still remains, segueing into his relationship with Catholicism and how much he cherishes his relationships with his friends and his band members.

It’s all great, powerful stuff, but it’s not the lyrics to “Born to Run,” which I knew mentioned “suicide machines” somewhere near the beginning, if only because of a comedy routine from Robert Wuhl about the attempt to make the song the state anthem of New Jersey.¹I initially included a link to a video here, but was stopped cold when Wuhl launched into an extended Mickey Rooney-in-Breakfast-At-Tiffany’s style take on a Japanese accent. Ah well, he did still write two episodes of Police Squad! Google also hilariously categorizes the song “Born to Run” as being “Folk.”

We can’t possibly expect super-intelligent labor-replacing thinking machines to do something as complex as correctly return the lyrics to one of the most famous American rock songs, so what’s really funny about this story is how long I read that, believing that there was an opening verse I’d forgotten, and trying to fit those words to the melody. “This doesn’t actually scan all that well, and was there always this much swearing?”

But everybody has heard “Born to Run” lots of times²Except maybe Google’s billion dollar super computers, so why not listen to two other songs that I haven’t heard before, but also offer a theory as to why we’re here.

It’s entirely possible that I’ve heard “Born to Die” by Lana Del Rey before³Or any of her songs, for that matter, but it was just so languid that it failed to register in my brain as a stimulus.

Sorry, that’s mean. It’s fine, and I can imagine it works perfectly well as background music if Morcheeba isn’t available. And now I can finally say I’ve heard a song from the white-hot up-and-coming artist that everyone is raving about, as long as I go back in time 15 years to say it.

In the opposite corner, coming to us from the 70s and the suburbs of Paris, is Patrick Hernandez with “Born to be Alive.” I’d never heard this song, either, and based on the number of covers and remixes that are out there, I’m one of the few.

This song is delightful, because it feels like one of those improv shows, like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, asked a contestant to make up a song on the spot in the style of: “Disco!” that had to use a phrase suggested by the audience: “Born to Be Alive!” Refusing to over-think it, just saying random things, cool if they make sense, no worries if not. Living in the moment. Thriving.

The more I revisit songs from the 1970s and early 1980s, the more amazed I am at how easy it was to have a hit song back then. Sure, it feels like they had to shake Lana Del Rey out of bed and give her a fistful of amphetamines before she could work up enough energy to record a song, but once she was up, she put in the effort, dammit.

• 1
  I initially included a link to a video here, but was stopped cold when Wuhl launched into an extended Mickey Rooney-in-Breakfast-At-Tiffany’s style take on a Japanese accent. Ah well, he did still write two episodes of Police Squad!
• 2
  Except maybe Google’s billion dollar super computers
• 3
  Or any of her songs, for that matter