Marilyn Rocky of Little Silver is a little off-key when it comes to the house at 7½ West End Court in Long Branch.

You see, she owned the house when Bruce Springsteen was the tenant there in 1974 and ’75, and when she sold the house 20 years ago, something was lost in the transaction...a small spinet...piano...Springsteen had brought when he moved in...(and written) Born to Run on.

Springsteen saxophonist Clarence Clemons told Rocky that the band had signed the instrument under the lid...“'After we finished Born to Run, we all autographed it with the date...'”

She had left the piano...with the house’s subsequent tenants. It had remained in the living room for 20 years...

“I called the tenant and said, ‘Before you leave, I want to pick up the piano in the living room,’ ” Rocky said. “He says... ‘I was getting rid of all the junk, and I put it on the curb with all the other junk. It’s funny because when I got up the next morning, all the junk was still out there, and the only thing missing was the piano...’ ”