Born to be Wild

Song written by Mars Bonfire. The song is sometimes described as the first heavy metal song ever written and is also said to have inspired the name of the emerging heavy metal genre. The song’s second verse (which refers to ‘heavy metal thunder’, though it is either a reference to the weight of the motorcycle or a powerful car) contains the first recorded reference to ‘heavy metal’ in the context of rock music.

Steppenwolf version

‘Born to be Wild’ was originally released on the debut album by Steppenwolf in 1968. It was the band’s second and most successful single, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Kim Wilde version

Kim Wilde recorded the track in 2002 for use as the official theme song for the TV coverage of the German Touring Car racing championship. It was produced by Jeo Park.

Formats

‘Born to be Wild’ was released on CD-single.
See this page in the discography.

Music video

A music video was filmed to promote the single.
See this page for more information.

Versions

There are four versions of ‘Born to be Wild’: the original version (featuring sounds of cars, available as a download from the official German Touring Car website), the radio mix, the Special Arabian Radio mix and the Chillout mix.

Live performances

‘Born to be wild’ was performed live during a concert in Płock (Poland) on June 3, 2006 and during festival gigs in the summer of 2008.

Kim about ‘Born to be Wild’

I never really liked the original song, ‘Born to be Wild’ by Steppenwolf. But in the end I said: ‘Okay, let’s try it out. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll leave it at that.’ Fortunately, I ended up being very satisfied with the end result. (1)

Highest chart positions

Switzerland: 71 (4 weeks)

Interview source

(1) Still Wilde, Annabelle (Switzerland), 11 December 2002


Lyrics

(Be wild)

Get your motor runnin’
Head out on the highway
Lookin’ for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah darlin’ go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

I like smoke and lightning
Heavy metal thunder
Racin’ with the wind
And the feelin’ that I’m under
Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

Like a true nature’s child
We were born, born to be wild
We can climb so high
I never wanna die

Born to be wild
Born to be wild