Streets of Fire: Bruce Springsteen in Photographs and Lyrics 1977-1979 - Hardcover

“On a day like this, I remember—I’m the President, but he’s The Boss.”
—President Barack Obama, 2009 Kennedy Center Awards ceremony

Compiled by accomplished photographer Eric Meola—who knew “the Boss” when he was just an unknown Jersey kid with big rock and roll dreams—Streets of Fire is an intimate photographic look at Bruce Springsteen during a pivotal year in his life and career. In 1977, Springsteen was coming off the enormous success of his album, Born to Run, and in the studio working on his fourth record, Darkness on the Edge of Town—and these breathtaking candid photos are portraits of a master musician finally coming into his own.  A stunning collection of photographs—some never before published—of Bruce and the E-Street Band combined with the haunting lyrics of some of Springsteen’s most unforgettable songs, Streets of Fire offers fans a privileged and rarefied look at one of rock’s most legendary and beloved icons.

An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at Bruce Springsteen as you've never seen him before. This collection includes more than seventy black-and-white photographs by photographer Eric Meola, lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, and an essay by Joyce Millman.

Eric Meola first saw Bruce Springsteen perform in 1973 at New York's legendary club Max's Kansas City. He began photographing Springsteen the following year, just before the release of his breakthrough album, Born to Run, for which Meola shot the cover album art. Meola continued photographing Springsteen throughout his early career, most notably from 1977 through 1979, when Springsteen was emerging as a bona-fide rock star.

This carefully curated collection of images gives us a revelatory look at Springsteen as he was coming to terms with his newfound success and creating the music for his fourth album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Complete with an introduction from Meola, an insightful end-of-book essay by Joyce Millman, and running lyrics to several of Springsteen's songs, this book also shows how Meola's evocative portraits reveal Springsteen as he really was—an artist at the crossroads of his fledgling career, writing about dark themes and finding redemption through his own words and image.