Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music

The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab Presents: “Thunder Road”
2026-09-15 18:00 (America/New_York) | Powell Soundstage, 382 Cedar Ave, Long Branch, NJ, 07740, United States
Released in 1975 as the opening track on Born to Run, “Thunder Road” has become one of Bruce Springsteen’s most beloved songs—a sweeping story of youth, escape, uncertainty, and the promise of something better. Through the characters of Mary and an unnamed narrator, Springsteen transforms a front porch, a car, and an open road into symbols of possibility, while leaving us to wonder whether the future his characters imagine is truly within their reach.

In this session of The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab, we will examine the lyrics, imagery, characters, and evolution of “Thunder Road,” placing the song within the larger story of Born to Run and Springsteen’s career at a pivotal moment in 1975. Participants will explore how Springsteen uses place, movement, and cinematic imagery to create a vivid narrative world; consider the song’s complicated relationship with ideas of escape and the American Dream; and trace how the song developed through early drafts, alternate lyrics, and performances. Along the way, we’ll ask what Mary and the narrator are really running toward—or away from—and consider a question that has helped make “Thunder Road” so enduring: Is this ultimately a song of hope, desperation, or both?

Moderated by Director of Curatorial Affairs Melissa Kozlowski, in conjunction with YOU, the audience.

About The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab

The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music invites audiences to look beyond the music and explore the stories, characters, themes, and ideas that have made Bruce Springsteen one of America’s most important songwriters.

The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab is an ongoing lecture and discussion series that takes a close look at individual songs and recurring themes throughout Springsteen’s catalog. Through guided analysis, historical context, archival materials, recorded performances, and audience discussion, participants will examine how Springsteen uses language, imagery, character, and narrative to tell stories about work, family, community, faith, justice, identity, and the American experience.

Each session focuses on a single song or closely related group of songs, exploring their origins, evolution, and enduring relevance. Together, attendees will discover how Springsteen’s songs function not only as popular music, but also as poetry, social history, and a uniquely American form of storytelling.

Whether you are a lifelong fan or new to Springsteen’s work, The Lyric Lab offers an opportunity to listen more closely, think more deeply, and engage with one of the most influential bodies of songwriting in modern American culture.

The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab Presents: “Atlantic City”
2026-10-21 18:00
Released on Bruce Springsteen’s stark 1982 album Nebraska, “Atlantic City” tells the story of a man caught between economic desperation and the promise of a new beginning. Against the backdrop of a changing Atlantic City, Springsteen creates a world of gambling, organized crime, debt, love, and uncertainty, following a narrator who sees increasingly few options for building the life he wants. The result is a song that is at once deeply rooted in New Jersey and part of a much larger American story about risk, reinvention, and what happens when opportunity seems just out of reach.

In this session of The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab, we will examine the lyrics, historical context, characters, and imagery of “Atlantic City,” placing the song against the real-life transformation of the city following the legalization of casino gambling in the 1970s. Participants will explore how Springsteen uses Atlantic City as both a specific place and a symbol of hope and desperation; consider the narrator’s relationship with his unnamed partner and the choices he makes as his circumstances narrow; and discuss the song’s recurring ideas of death, rebirth, chance, and the American Dream. Along the way, we’ll consider the song’s place within Nebraska, compare Springsteen’s original recording with later performances and interpretations, and ask a central question: Is “Atlantic City” ultimately a song about hope—or about what people are willing to risk when hope is running out?

Moderated by Director of Curatorial Affairs Melissa Kozlowski, in conjunction with YOU, the audience.

About The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab

The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music invites audiences to look beyond the music and explore the stories, characters, themes, and ideas that have made Bruce Springsteen one of America’s most important songwriters.

The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab is an ongoing lecture and discussion series that takes a close look at individual songs and recurring themes throughout Springsteen’s catalog. Through guided analysis, historical context, archival materials, recorded performances, and audience discussion, participants will examine how Springsteen uses language, imagery, character, and narrative to tell stories about work, family, community, faith, justice, identity, and the American experience.

Each session focuses on a single song or closely related group of songs, exploring their origins, evolution, and enduring relevance. Together, attendees will discover how Springsteen’s songs function not only as popular music, but also as poetry, social history, and a uniquely American form of storytelling.

Whether you are a lifelong fan or new to Springsteen’s work, The Lyric Lab offers an opportunity to listen more closely, think more deeply, and engage with one of the most influential bodies of songwriting in modern American culture.

The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab Presents: “Born in the U.S.A.”
2026-11-20 18:00
Released in 1984, “Born in the U.S.A.” became one of Bruce Springsteen’s biggest hits—and one of the most misunderstood songs in American popular culture. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and its aftermath, the song tells the story of a working-class veteran struggling to find his place in the country he served. Yet its soaring chorus and arena-sized sound led many listeners to hear it as a straightforward patriotic anthem.

As part of our Veterans Day programming, we will examine the lyrics, historical context, recording process, and public reception of “Born in the U.S.A.” Participants will explore how Springsteen uses irony, character, and narrative voice to challenge listeners’ assumptions about patriotism, national identity, and the American Dream. Along the way, we’ll compare early acoustic versions of the song with the final recording, discuss its role in American political discourse, and consider why its message remains as relevant today as it was more than forty years ago.

Moderated by Director of Curatorial Affairs Melissa Kozlowski, in conjunction with YOU, the audience.

About The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab

The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music invites audiences to look beyond the music and explore the stories, characters, themes, and ideas that have made Bruce Springsteen one of America’s most important songwriters.

The Bruce Springsteen Lyric Lab is an ongoing lecture and discussion series that takes a close look at individual songs and recurring themes throughout Springsteen’s catalog. Through guided analysis, historical context, archival materials, recorded performances, and audience discussion, participants will examine how Springsteen uses language, imagery, character, and narrative to tell stories about work, family, community, faith, justice, identity, and the American experience.

Each session focuses on a single song or closely related group of songs, exploring their origins, evolution, and enduring relevance. Together, attendees will discover how Springsteen’s lyrics function not only as popular music, but also as poetry, social history, and a uniquely American form of storytelling.

Whether you are a lifelong fan or new to Springsteen’s work, The Lyric Lab offers an opportunity to listen more closely, think more deeply, and engage with one of the most influential bodies of songwriting in modern American culture.
