"Backstreets" is a rock composition written by Bruce Springsteen during 1974-1975, first recorded in an early version in October 1974 and completed in its final form in July 1975 for the Born to Run album on Columbia Records. The song closes side one of the original vinyl pressing and stands as one of the album's most emotionally ambitious tracks. It opens with an extended piano and organ introduction by Roy Bittan that unfolds over roughly a minute before the vocal enters, establishing a mood of aching nostalgia. The lyrics depict youthful rebellion, desperate friendship, and eventual betrayal, building through three verses of escalating personal turmoil toward a raw, confrontational bridge. Springsteen has described the song as capturing "youth, the beach, the night, friendships, the feeling of being an outcast," drawing on the experience of New Jersey outpost life rather than any single relationship. The arrangement features driving rhythm guitar and bass lines beneath Bittan's prominent piano work, with Roy Bittan's piano solo and Bruce Springsteen's electric guitar solo providing instrumental focal points within the extended structure. In live performance, "Backstreets" became a vehicle for emotional improvisation, with Springsteen adding spoken-word interludes including a passage called "Sad Eyes" during late-1970s tours, material that later evolved into the song "Drive All Night" on The River. The composition remains one of Springsteen's most critically admired deep cuts, thematically linked to the escape-and-failure motifs found in companion pieces like "Thunder Road" and "Jungleland."
