Bruce Springsteen has posted the foreword to his upcoming Born to Run memoir in advance of the book's release.

"I come from a boardwalk town where almost everything is tinged with a bit of fraud. So am I," begins the excerpt, which was published on Springsteen's official site. "By 20, no race-car-driving rebel, I was a guitar player on the streets of Asbury Park and already a member in good standing amongst those who 'lie' in service of the truth ... artists, with a small 'a.' But I held four clean aces. I had youth, almost a decade of hard-core bar band experience, a good group of homegrown musicians who were attuned to my performance style and a story to tell."

Promising "both a continuation of that story and a search into its origins," Springsteen describes the book as an overview of "the events in my life I believe shaped that story and my performance work" and adds, "One of the questions I’m asked over and over again by fans on the street is 'How do you do it?' In the following pages I will try to shed a little light on how and, more important, why."

Springsteen goes on to offer a "rock 'n' roll survival kit" — including "DNA, natural ability, study of craft," and a "naked desire" for success (as well as "a buck") — for anyone who feels like they might "want to take it all the way out to the end of the night." Those, he suggests, "are some of the elements that will come in handy should you come face-to-face with 80,000 (or 80) screaming rock ’n’ roll fans who are waiting for you to do your magic trick. Waiting for you to pull something out of your hat, out of thin air, out of this world, something that before the faithful were gathered here today was just a song-fueled rumor."

Born to Run is scheduled to arrive Sept. 27 — four days after Springsteen releases Chapter and Verse, a companion volume of hits and previously unreleased material. "I am here to provide proof of life to that ever elusive, never completely believable 'us,'" he concludes in the foreword. "That is my magic trick. And like all good magic tricks, it begins with a setup. So ... "

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