MusicLover-MRM points out that the River is figuratively meant as "belief in how good things would always be". The best part about that box set is the harmonica being played on The River. "The River" is written about Bruce Springsteen's sister, who got married very young, and her early life with her husband. var opts = { trying to understand this song today in meaning according to my theory is about a person … The song is about him reminiscing on the way things used to be when they both loved each other and were as happy as can be. The river is not just a river but an allegory for emotion. All lyrics are property and copyright of their owners. The River ('85) song meanings Add your thoughts 2 Comments. At this point in history, Bruce Springsteen doesn’t need to try anymore. in meeting across the river song many times felt like in going through the tunnel to meet a godly or Christ-like encounter with somebody. The lines We'd ride out of this valley down to where the fields were green We'd go down to the river And into the river we'd dive Oh down to the river we'd ride", make me think of our early dates, how exciting, new and fresh it was. adunit_id: 100001411, Sie können Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ändern. Bruce Springsteen “The River” Lyrics I come from down in the valley where mister when you're young They bring you up to do like your daddy done Me and Mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen We’d ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green We’d go down to the river And into the river we’d dive That’s because the New Jersey native has spent most of his musical career documenting the daily struggle of characters who exist in an America where the status quo is enforced by a corpocratic government that allows only the rich to get richer. Source(s): longtime bruce fan. "Now all them things that seemed so important Well mister they vanished right into the air Now I just act like I don't remember Mary acts like she don't care" With this the relationship was broken, a divorce happened after barely four years of wedlock. As a boy he was fully alive, in love and full of dreams. One of the many depressing songs on Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 double album The River, is the title track.The song ends with the singer haunted by memories, wondering “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true / Or is it something worse?” Explain your version of song meaning, find more of Bruce Springsteen lyrics. General CommentA recession is never fun, and the doom, gloom, and general air of degradation and decay. This piece will tackle Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” from the 1980 double album of the same name. When I first heard this song, I was awed by the depth of sad and angry … Damit Verizon Media und unsere Partner Ihre personenbezogenen Daten verarbeiten können, wählen Sie bitte 'Ich stimme zu.' It was a protest song. A blowout double-album split evenly between huge house-party numbers (and a wealth of live staples) and darker, real-world tales in the vein of the title track, The document.write('');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.clickfuse.com/showads/showad.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; The song was based on conversations Springsteen had with his brother-in-law, after the latter lost his job but never complained and tried hard to find ways of providing his family. Original lyrics of The River song by Bruce Springsteen. div_id: "cf_async_" + Math.floor((Math.random() * 999999999)) Watch official video, print or download text in PDF. Now, since the marriage, child, and economy, all of his hopes and dreams are gone. I mean is there any song that completely matches a situation that we are in? My ex and I met when we were older than the characters in the song, I was 27, she was 24 but three years later we did wed. As a boy he was fully alive, in love and full of dreams. 4 years ago. The river offers a baptismal soul-cleansing. /* TFP - lyricinterpretations */ Yahoo ist Teil von Verizon Media. Remembering her when times were great, the love was young, "pulling her close to feel each breathe she'd take". Throughout the song the river is viewed as a symbol for the dreams of the future. Daten über Ihr Gerät und Ihre Internetverbindung, darunter Ihre IP-Adresse, Such- und Browsingaktivität bei Ihrer Nutzung der Websites und Apps von Verizon Media. In the first two lines, "I come from down in the valley. Dies geschieht in Ihren Datenschutzeinstellungen. “The Ties That Bind” is a song by Bruce Springsteen from his fifth album The River.It was written while Springsteen was on the road for is 1978 tour. Song meanings ©2003-2021 lyricinterpretations.com. Comment and share your favourite lyrics. Then the final act of the song, a man looking back on the relationship, the love he once had. from album: The River (1980) I come from down in the valley where mister when you're young They bring you up to do like your daddy done Me and mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen Wed ride out of … Feeling and enduring these sad pains that compounds eachother when the working man's dream fades away with the loss of job[s] like was during the rough economy of the 70's and 80's. Für nähere Informationen zur Nutzung Ihrer Daten lesen Sie bitte unsere Datenschutzerklärung und Cookie-Richtlinie. “The River”: Famously based on Springsteen’s sister and her husband, the album’s title track is a whole mess of story in five minutes. The man wrote, recorded, and released no fewer than three masterpieces in the first ten years of his career – 1975’s Born to Run , 1980’s The River , and 1983’s Nebraska . The love and marriage that began with so much promise eventually became one of struggle, regret, lack of communication, finger pointing, etc. The dreams and the love he had in his heart still remain as a man but they have faded below the surface and the drudgery of a hard blue-collar life. General CommentThere's a layer of meaning to this song that Springsteen may or may not have been intended - but it's there. It was a GI blues, the verses an accounting, the choruses a declaration of the one sure thing that could not be denied…birthplace. From ‘The Ties That Bind’ documentary which features an inside look at the creation of Bruce’s groundbreaking album, The River. We fell in love, we held hands, we kissed, we were passionate. Wir und unsere Partner nutzen Cookies und ähnliche Technik, um Daten auf Ihrem Gerät zu speichern und/oder darauf zuzugreifen, für folgende Zwecke: um personalisierte Werbung und Inhalte zu zeigen, zur Messung von Anzeigen und Inhalten, um mehr über die Zielgruppe zu erfahren sowie für die Entwicklung von Produkten. The River serves as a seamless transition album of sorts for Bruce Springsteen, and its the seamless part that is most impressive. In the song, "The River" by Bruce Springsteen there are some complicated issues talked about. And the line about me not remembering and her not caring describes the last two years of our marriage and the subsequent 8 years since the divorce perfectly. (function() { }; artist: "Bruce Springsteen", Chart Performance The River. The Ties That Bind: The River Collection is a Bruce Springsteen box set released in 2015 on Columbia Records to celebrate the 35th anniversary of The River album. when you are a young teenager in the mid 70's listening to this song couple of thousand times as a hopeful dreamer can give you, as it did for me, the feeling of hope against the odds. Cody from Windber, Pa Buy Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band live 1975 - 1985. The dreams and the love he had in his heart still remain as a man but they have faded below the surface and the drudgery of a hard blue-collar life. The river drying up reflects this.... Scott from Nyc, Ny I grew up listening to Bruce Springsteen songs like "Lucky Town" and "Local Hero" which to me, seem like happy and light hearted songs. Unfortately the memories come back to haunt me, just like Bruce says, like a curse, is the dream alive??? All lyrics provided for educational purposes only. A sad time when Bruce also felt the happy moments spend with his sister by The River, fall apart when his sister's future dream ended in a divorce marriage. In addition to penning this song, he produced it with assistance from Little Steven and Chuck Plotkin along with Jon Landau. Dazu gehört der Widerspruch gegen die Verarbeitung Ihrer Daten durch Partner für deren berechtigte Interessen. Bruce Springsteen - The River. The river is not just a river but an allegory for emotion. sort form. He fell in love with a girl in high school and had to deal with getting her pregnant and marrying when he was 19. song: "The River", And Yes, Bruce felt the dream that could've turned worse before and after the No-Nukes protests. Bruce Springsteen wrapped up the Darkness On The Edge Of Town Tour on the first day of 1979. This song has deep meanings for me when I think of my ex-wife even if the lyrics don't always match the exact situation. Anonymous. The second stanza about pregnancy does not apply but marriage does and after we wed my ex and I found out that marriage is not just about love or commitment. The River was meaning his life and his dreams, alive and flowing. View by: Highest Rated; Most Recent; Oldest First; 0. He was forced to marry her because of the morals of society back then, but was not unhappy with his marriage. Bruce himself, in his biography, has said that the song was written about her sister, who got pregnant at seventeen and her boyfriend just nineteen. Taking the best of what he was and combining it with the artist and man he had quickly become, Springsteen's The River flows stormy, strong, and a little unpredictably just like a river … If we’re being completely honest, he hasn’t needed to try for a long time. They include family values, premarital sex, unemployment and thoughts of suicide. The River represents love, it is raging and full when you and your partner first fall in love but eventually it can go bad, it can change and then all you have left are memories and a dry river bed that metaphorically represents that relationship that will never flow again. It says "Hey you working at the car wash you wish you had a mansion like me". About MUSIC. A court house wedding and they are on their own and the difficult days ahead. Or will he do "something worse" because he realizes he can't resurrect the past? There is a communciation element needed and thats how that last two stanzas of Springsteen's song really hits me hard. It's about his sister and brother in law she fell pregnant at 17 his brother in law was forced to get a union job (he was 19). Bruce Springsteen along with Max Weinberg (drummer) and Roy Bittan (pianist) created this song out of a sudden burst of inspiration. Bruce Springsteen (60)“My sister Virginia became pregnant at seventeen, and no one realised it until she was six months along! Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir. aus oder wählen Sie 'Einstellungen verwalten', um weitere Informationen zu erhalten und eine Auswahl zu treffen. Meaning of the Song The River by Bruce Springsteen? 5 1. Happy 4th of July with a very sad song! Bruce Springsteen (493)“My soldier’s story. He fell in love at a young age and had a child. Where, mister, when you're young they bring you up to do like your daddy done", I think the speaker is hinting that where he is from, they bring you up to follow … The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. That said, Springsteen is the sole writer of this track. Writer Robert Hilburn described the song as "a classic outline of someone who has to re-adjust his dreams quickly [, facing] life as it is, not a world of his imagination." Birthplace, and the right to all of the blood … Then his wife suddenly started becoming uncaring and distant as if she is unhappy with the way her life turned out which in turn is making him sad. Bruce Springsteen isn’t an overtly political songwriter, but almost every song the he has written is, to some extent, political. A dried up river may point at the years that have passed or the end of someone's life. When he finally goes back to the river, both physically and emotionally, he questions why. Its regarded as one of his best songs by fans, critics and this blogger – I’d probably put it in my top 5 Springsteen songs in fact. Bruce Springsteen – The River Lyrics. All to remind us if the time comes for ''Is a dream a lie if it don't come true''- ''Or is it something worse''-''That sends me down to The River''- ''Though I know The River is dry''. Hello guys I would like to know the meaning of these lines from the river track: (those which I bolded are the ones I totally don't understand the meaning here) [But I remember us riding in my brother's car. The absurdity of the tussle over "Born in the USA" between Mondale and Reagan encapsulates the history of how people have understood the meaning of the song.As generally known, the lyrics explicitly paint a picture of a Vietnam vet who returned to America only to be alienated from their home and unable to get work, making the chorus more of an angry plea of "I was born in the … In her senior year she dropped out of high school, was tutored at home and married her boyfriend and the father of her child, Mickey Shave. His wife shares the same feelings, emotions and shattered dreams though his act is not remembering, while her act is not caring. })(); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); It's the story of a boy turned man. Or is it just nostalgia and regret that bring me back to that river even though I know it is dry and there is no chance that she and I will ever love or even speak again. The first part of the song "I come from down in the valley where mister when you're young They bring you up to do like your daddy done" makes me think of my youth and how I was brought up to follow in my fathers footsteps to become a responsible father, husband and caregiver. I wrote “The River” in her and my brother-in-law’s honor.” Kids just suck the life out of you....& then you get grandkids & play your vinyl ❤️, A real emotional song with a haunting presence coming down through our soul and guts. Meaning is our love still alive? Is his dream still alive or to be reinvigorated by the river that has dried? The song is Bruce Springsteen’s Independence Day which seemingly makes it the perfect song to refer to on this day, though analysis of Bruce’s lyrics reveal a different subject matter altogether. 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