'Born to Run': A Springsteen Classic, Now With Even More Glockenspiel

Bruce Springsteen is known for many things. He's The Boss. VH1 named him the 21st greatest artist of all time. He's sold out—and continues to sell out—stadium tours, headlined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert, and played one of the most memorable Super Bowl Half Time Shows of the past decade.

Apparently, he's also a big fan of the glockenspiel, a xylophone-like percussion instrument best known for its prominent role in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. Musician Cory Arcangel describes the instrument's prominence on Springsteen's legendary 1975 record, Born to Run:

For those not in the know, Bruce's Born to Run record is littered with glockenspiel. For example, the famous melody from the song Born to Run is actually a guitar DOUBLED by a glockenspiel. The Born to Run record itself contains 3 songs that feature the glockenspiel.

But three glock songs weren't enough for Arcangel. He composed "The Bruce Springsteen Born to Run Glockenspiel Addendum" to add even more of the instrument to the record:

For this project, I decided to create an addendum to the original and compose, play, and record glockenspiel parts for the songs on Born to Run that do not already feature the instrument ("Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," "Backstreets," "She's the One," "Meeting Across the River," and "Jungleland").

Here's video of the composition being played live on the glock in New York City:



Read (and hear) more at the "The Bruce Springsteen Born to Run Glockenspiel Addendum"'s MySpace page (via @largeheartedboy).

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/10/born-to-run-a-springsteen-classic-now-with-even-more-glockenspiel/64205/