Bruce Springsteen - The River (1980)
Bruce Springsteen - The River (1980)

The River

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 River represented a Springsteen out to explore the emerging dualities of his music.

  • Released:
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt
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  • 1 The Ties That Bind

    Lyrics

    You been hurt and you're all cried out you say
    You walk down the street pushin' people outta your way
    You packed your bags and all alone you wanna ride,
    You don't want nothin', don't need no one by your side
    You're walkin' tough baby, but you're walkin' blind
    to the ties that bind

    CHORUS
    The ties that bind
    Now you can't break the ties that bind

    Cheap romance, it's all just a crutch
    You don't want nothin' that anybody can touch
    You're so afraid of being somebody's fool
    Not walkin' tough baby, not walkin' cool
    You walk cool, but darlin', can you walk the line
    And face the ties that bind
    The ties that bind
    Now you can't break the ties that bind

    I would rather feel the hurt inside, yes I would darlin',
    Than know the emptiness your heart must hide,
    Yes I would darlin', yes I would darlin',
    Yes I would baby

    You sit and wonder just who's gonna stop the rain
    Who'll ease the sadness, who's gonna quiet the pain
    It's a long dark highway and a thin white line
    Connecting baby, your heart to mine
    We're runnin' now but darlin' we will stand in time
    To face the ties that bind
    The ties that bind
    Now you can't break the ties that bind
    You can't forsake the ties that bind

  • 2 Sherry Darling

    Lyrics

    Your Mamma's yappin' in the back seat
    Tell her to push over and move them big feet
    Every Monday morning I gotta drive her down to the unemployment agency
    Well this morning I ain't fighting tell her I give up
    Tell her she wins if she'll just shut up
    But it's the last time that she's gonna be ridin' with me

    CHORUS
    You can tell her there's a hot sun beatin' on the black top
    She keeps talkin' she'll be walkin' that last block
    She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight
    Well I got some beer and the highway's free
    And I got you, and baby you've got me.
    Hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darlin'

    Now there's girls melting on the beach
    And they're so fine but so far out of reach
    Cause I'm stuck in traffic down here on 53rd street
    Now Sherry my love for you is real
    But I didn't count on this package deal
    And baby this car just aint big enough for her and me

    CHORUS
    So you can tell her there's a hot sun beatin' on the black top
    She keeps talkin' she'll be walkin' that last block
    She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight
    Well I got some beer and the highway's free
    And I got you, and baby you've got me.
    Hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darlin'

    Well let there be sunlight, let there be rain
    Let the brokenhearted love again
    Sherry we can run with our arms open before the tide
    To all the girls down at Sacred Heart
    And all you operators back in the Park
    Say hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darlin'
    Hey, hey, hey, what you say Sherry Darlin'

  • 3 Jackson Cage

    Lyrics

    Driving home she grabs something to eat
    Turns a corner and drives down her street
    Into a row of houses she just melts away
    Like the scenery in another man's play
    Into a house where the blinds are closed
    To keep from seeing things she don't wanna know
    She pulls the blinds and looks out on the street
    The cool of the night takes the edge off the heat

    In the Jackson Cage
    Down in Jackson Cage
    You can try with all your might
    But you're reminded every night
    That you been judged and handed life
    Down in Jackson Cage

    Every day ends in wasted motion
    Just crossed swords on the killing floor
    To settle back is to settle without knowing
    The hard edge that you're settling for
    Because there's always just one more day
    And it's always gonna be that way
    Little girl you've been down here so long
    I can tell by the way that you move you belong to

    The Jackson Cage
    Down in Jackson Cage
    And it don't matter just what you say
    Are you tough enough to play the game they play
    Or will you just do your time and fade away
    Down into the Jackson Cage

    Baby there's nights when I dream of a better world
    But I wake up so downhearted girl
    I see you feeling so tired and confused
    I wonder what it's worth to me or you
    Just waiting to see some sun
    Never knowing if that day will ever come
    Left alone standing out on the street
    Till you become the hand that turns the key down in

    Jackson Cage
    Down in Jackson Cage
    Well darlin' can you understand
    The way that they will turn a man
    Into a stranger to waste away
    Down in the Jackson Cage

  • 4 Two Hearts

    Lyrics

    I went out walking the other day
    Seen a little girl crying along the way
    She'd been hurt so bad said she'd never love again
    Someday your crying girl will end
    And you'll find once again

    CHORUS
    Two hearts are better than one
    Two hearts girl get the job done
    Two hearts are better than one

    Once I spent my time playing tough guy scenes
    But I was living in a world of childish dreams
    Someday these childish dreams must end
    To become a man and grow up to dream again
    Now I believe in the end

    CHORUS

    Sometimes it might seem like it was planned
    For you to roam empty hearted through this land
    Though the world turns you hard and cold
    There's one thing mister, that I know
    That's if you think your heart is stone
    And that you're rough enough to whip this world alone
    Alone buddy there ain't no peace of mind
    That's why I'll keep searching till I find my special one

    CHORUS

    Also Appears On

  • 5 Independence Day

    Lyrics

    Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
    Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
    I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate
    We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow
    Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
    There's a darkness in this town that's got us too
    But they can't touch me now
    And you can't touch me now
    They ain't gonna do to me
    What I watched them do to you

    So say goodbye it's Independence Day
    It's Independence Day
    All down the line
    Just say goodbye it's Independence Day
    It's Independence Day this time

    Now I don't know what it always was with us
    We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines
    There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
    I guess that we were just too much of the same kind

    Well say goodbye it's Independence Day
    It's Independence Day all boys must run away
    So say goodbye it's Independence Day
    All men must make their way come Independence Day

    Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint
    And the highway she's deserted down to Breaker's Point
    There's a lot of people leaving town now
    Leaving their friends, their homes
    At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone

    Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
    Nothing we can say can change anything now
    Because there's just different people coming down here now
    and they see things in different ways
    And soon everything we've known will just be swept away

    So say goodbye it's Independence Day
    Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
    But won't you just say goodbye it's Independence Day
    I swear I never meant to take those things away

    Also Appears On

  • 6 Hungry Heart

    Lyrics

    Got a wife and kids in Baltimore Jack
    I went out for a ride and I never went back
    Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
    I took a wrong turn and I just kept going

    CHORUS
    Everybody's got a hungry heart
    Everybody's got a hungry heart
    Lay down your money and you play your part
    Everybody's got a hungry heart

    I met her in a Kingstown bar
    We fell in love I knew it had to end
    We took what we had and we ripped it apart
    Now here I am down in Kingstown again

    (CHORUS)

    Everybody needs a place to rest
    Everybody wants to have a home
    Don't make no difference what nobody says
    Ain't nobody like to be alone

    (CHORUS)

    Also Appears On

  • 7 Out in the Street

    Lyrics

    Put on your best dress baby
    And darlin', fix your hair up right
    Cause there's a party, honey
    Way down beneath the neon lights
    All day you've been working that hard line
    Now tonight you're gonna have a good time

    I work five days a week girl
    Loading crates down on the dock
    I take my hard earned money
    And meet my girl down on the block
    And Monday when the foreman calls time
    I've already got Friday on my mind

    When that whistle blows
    Girl, I'm down the street
    I'm home, I'm out of my work clothes
    When I'm out in the street
    I walk the way I wanna walk
    When I'm out in the street
    I talk the way I wanna talk
    When I'm out in the street
    When I'm out in the street

    When I'm out in the street, girl
    Well, I never feel alone
    When I'm out in the street, girl
    In the crowd I feel at home
    The black and whites they cruise by
    And they watch us from the corner of their eye

    But there ain't no doubt girl, down here
    We ain't gonna take what they're handing out
    When I'm out in the street
    I walk the way I wanna walk
    When I'm out in the street
    I talk the way I wanna talk
    Baby, out in the street I don't feel sad or blue
    Baby, out in the street I'll be waiting for you

    When the whistle blows
    Girl, I'm down the street
    I'm home, I'm out of my work clothes
    When I'm out in the street
    I walk the way I wanna walk
    When I'm out in the street
    I talk the way I wanna talk

    When I'm out in the street
    Pretty girls, they're all passing by
    When I'm out in the street
    From the corner, we give them the eye

    Baby, out in the street I just feel all right
    Meet me out in the street, little girl, tonight
    Meet me out in the street
    Meet me out in the street

    Also Appears On

  • 8 Crush on You

    Lyrics

    My feets were flyin' down the street just the other night
    When a Hong Kong special pulled up at the light
    What was inside, man, was just c'est magnifique
    I wanted to hold the bumper and let her drag me down the street

    CHORUS
    Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you
    Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you
    Ooh, ooh, I gotta crush on you tonight

    Sometimes I spot a little stranger standing 'cross the room
    My brain takes a vacation just to give my heart more room
    For one kiss, darling I swear everything I would give
    Cause you're a walking, talking reason to live

    CHORUS

    Well now she might be the talk of high society
    She's probably got a lousy personality
    She might be a heiress to Rockefeller
    She might be a waitress or a bank teller
    She makes the Venus de Milo look like she's got no style
    She make Sheena of the Jungle look meek and mild
    I need a quick shot, Doc, knock me off my feet
    Cause I'll be minding my own business walking down the street... watchout!

    CHORUS

  • 9 You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)

    Lyrics

    Yesterday I went shopping buddy down to the mall
    Looking for something pretty I could hang on my wall
    I knocked over a lamp before it hit the floor I caught it
    A salesman turned around said, "boy, you break that thing you bought it"

    CHORUS
    You can look but you better not touch boy
    You can look but you better not touch boy
    Mess around and you'll end up in dutch boy
    You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch

    Well I came home from work and I switched on Channel 5
    There was a pretty little girly lookin' straight into my eyes
    Well I watched as she wiggled back and forth across the screen
    She didn't get me excited she just made me feel mean

    CHORUS

    Well I called up Dirty Annie on the telephone
    I took her out to the drive-in just to get her alone
    I found a lover's rendezvous, the music low, set to park
    I heard a tappin' on the window and a voice in the dark

    CHORUS

    Also Appears On

  • 10 I Wanna Marry You

    Lyrics

    I see you walking, baby, down the street
    Pushing that baby carriage at your feet
    I see the lonely ribbon in your hair
    Tell me I am the man for whom you put it there

    You never smile girl, you never speak
    You just walk on by, darlin' week after week
    Raising two kids alone in this mixed up world
    Must be a lonely life for a working girl

    CHORUS
    Little girl, I wanna marry you
    Oh yeah, little girl, I wanna marry you
    Yes I do
    Little girl, I wanna marry you

    Now honey, I don't wanna clip your wings
    But a time comes when two people should think of these things
    Having a home and a family
    Facing up to their responsibilities
    They say in the end true love prevails
    But in the end true love can't be no fairytale
    To say I'll make your dreams come true would be wrong
    But maybe, darlin', I could help them along

    CHORUS

    My daddy said right before he died
    That true, true love was just a lie
    He went to his grave a broken heart
    An unfulfilled life, makes a man hard

    Oh, darlin'
    There's something happy and there's something sad
    'Bout wanting somebody, oh so bad,
    I wear my love darlin', without shame
    I'd be proud if you would wear my name

  • 11 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
    Oh down to the river we'd ride

    Then I got Mary pregnant
    and man that was all she wrote
    And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
    We went down to the courthouse
    and the judge put it all to rest
    No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
    No flowers no wedding dress

    That night we went down to the river
    And into the river we'd dive
    Oh down to the river we did ride

    I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
    But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
    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

    But I remember us riding in my brother's car
    Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
    At night on them banks I'd lie awake
    And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
    Now those memories come back to haunt me
    they haunt me like a curse
    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
    That sends me down to the river tonight
    Down to the river
    my baby and I
    Oh down to the river we ride

    Also Appears On

  • 12 Point Blank

    Lyrics

    Do you still say your prayers little darlin'
    do you go to bed at night
    Prayin' that tomorrow, everything will be alright
    But tommorow's fall in number
    in number one by one
    You wake up and you're dying
    you don't even know what from

    Well they shot you point blank
    you been shot in the back
    Baby point blank you been fooled this time
    little girl that's a fact
    Right between the eyes, baby, point blank
    right between the pretty lies that they tell
    Little girl you fell

    You grew up where young girls they grow up fast
    You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked
    but what they asked baby wasn't right
    you didn't have to live that life,
    I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
    These days you don't wait on Romeo's
    you wait on that welfare check
    and on all the pretty things that you can't ever have
    and on all the promises

    That always end up point blank, shot between the eyes
    Point blank like little white lies you tell to ease the pain
    You're walkin' in the sights, girl of point blank
    and it's one false move and baby the lights go out

    Once I dreamed we were together again
    baby you and me
    Back home in those old clubs the way we used to be
    We were standin' at the bar
    it was hard to hear
    The band was playin' loud and you were shoutin' somethin' in my ear
    You pulled my jacket off and as the drummer counted four
    You grabbed my hand and pulled me out on the floor
    You just stood there and held me, then you started dancin' slow
    And as I pulled you tighter I swore I'd never let you go

    Well I saw you last night down on the avenue
    Your face was in the shadows but I knew that it was you
    You were standin' in the doorway out of the rain
    You didn't answer when I called out your name
    You just turned, and then you looked away
    like just another stranger waitin' to get blown away

    Point blank, right between the eyes
    Point blank, right between the pretty lies you fell
    Point blank, shot right through the heart

    Yea point blank, you've been twisted up till you've become just another part of it
    Point blank, you're walkin' in the sights
    Point blank, livin' one false move just one false move away
    Point blank, they caught you in their sights
    Point blank, did you forget how to love,
    girl, did you forget how to fight.
    Point blank they must have shot you in the head
    Cause point blank
    bang bang baby you're dead.

  • 13 Cadillac Ranch

    Lyrics

    Well, there she sits buddy justa gleaming in the sun
    There to greet a working man when his day is done
    I'm gonna pack my pa and I'm gonna pack my aunt
    I'm gonna take them down to the Cadillac Ranch

    Eldorado fins, whitewalls and skirts
    Rides just like a little bit of heaven here on earth
    Well buddy when I die throw my body in the back
    And drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac

    Cadillac, Cadillac
    Long and dark, shiny and black
    Open up your engines let 'em roar
    Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur

    James Dean in that Mercury '49
    Junior Johnson runnin' thru the woods of Caroline
    Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans-Am
    All gonna meet down at the Cadillac Ranch

    Cadillac, Cadillac
    Long and dark, shiny and black
    Open up them engines let 'em roar
    Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur

    Hey, little girlie in the blue jeans so tight
    Drivin' alone through the Wisconsin night
    You're my last love baby you're my last chance
    Don't let 'em take me to the Cadillac Ranch

    Cadillac, Cadillac
    Long and dark, shiny and black
    Pulled up to my house today
    Came and took my little girl away

    Also Appears On

  • 14 I'm a Rocker

    Lyrics

    I got a 007 watch and it's a one and only
    It's got a I-Spy beeper that tells me when you're lonely
    I got a Batmobile so I can reach ya' in a fast shake
    When your world's in crisis of an impendin' heartbreak

    Now don't you call James Bond or Secret Agent Man
    Cause they can't do it, like I can
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - every day
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker

    If you're hanging from a cliff or you're tied to the tracks, girl
    Columbo split and you can't find Kojak
    True love is broken and your tears are fallin' faster
    You're sufferin' from a pain in your heart or some other natural disaster

    Now I don't care what kind of shape you're in
    If they put up a roadblock, I'll parachute in
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - I'm in love
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - every day
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - with you

    So you fell for some jerk who was tall, dark and handsome
    Then he kidnapped your heart and now he's holdin' it for ransom
    Well, like a mission impossible I'm gonna go and get it back
    You know I would'a taken better care of it, baby, than that

    Sometimes I get so hot girl, well, I can't talk
    But when I'm with you I cool off , and I walk
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker, and I talk
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker, every day
    I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker, every day

  • 15 Fade Away

    Lyrics

    Well now you say you've found another man who does things to you that I can't
    And that no matter what I do it's all over now
    between me and you girl
    But I can't believe what you say
    No I can't believe what you say
    'cause baby

    CHORUS
    I don't wanna fade away
    Oh I don't wanna fade away
    Tell me what can I do what can I say
    Cause darlin' I don't wanna fade away

    Well now you say that you've made up your mind
    it's been such a long, long time since it's been good with us
    And that somewhere back along the line you lost your love and I lost your trust
    Now rooms that once were so bright are filled with the coming night, darlin'

    CHORUS

    You say it's not easy for you
    And that you've been so lonely
    While other girls go out doing what they want to do
    You say that you miss the nights when we'd go out dancing
    The days when you and I walked as two
    Well girl I miss them too
    Oh I swear that I do
    Oh girl

    Now baby I don't wanna be just another useless memory holding you tight
    Or just some other ghost out on the street to whom you stop and politely speak
    when you pass on by vanishing into the night
    left to vanish into the night
    No baby

    CHORUS

  • 16 Stolen Car

    Lyrics

    I met a little girl and I settled down
    In a little house out on the edge of town
    We got married, and swore we'd never part
    Then little by little we drifted from each other's heart

    At first I thought it was just restlessness
    That would fade as time went by and our love grew deep
    In the end it was something more I guess
    That tore us apart and made us weep

    And I'm driving a stolen car
    Down on Eldridge Avenue
    Each night I wait to get caught
    But I never do

    She asked if I remembered the letters I wrote
    When our love was young and bold
    She said last night she read those letters
    And they made her feel one hundred years old

    And I'm driving a stolen car
    On a pitch black night
    And I'm telling myself I'm gonna be alright
    But I ride by night and I travel in fear
    That in this darkness I will disappear

    Also Appears On

  • 17 Ramrod

    Lyrics

    Hey, little dolly with the blue jeans on
    I wanna ramrod with you honey, till half-past dawn
    Let your hair down sugar and pick up this beat
    Come on and meet me tonight down on Bluebird Street
    I've been working all week, I'm up to my neck in hock
    Come Saturday night I let my ramrod rock

    She's a hot stepping hemi with a four on the floor
    She's a roadrunner engine in a '32 Ford
    Late at night when I'm dead on the line
    I swear I think of your pretty face when I let her unwind
    Well look over yonder see them city lights
    Come on little dolly 'n' go ramroddin' tonight

    Come on, come on, come on little baby
    Come on, come on let's shake it tonight
    Come on, come, come on little sugar
    Dance with your daddy and we'll go ramroddin' tonight

    Hey, little dolly won't you say you will
    Meet me tonight up on top of the hill
    Well just a few miles cross the county line
    There's a cute little chapel nestled down in the pines
    Say you'll be mine little girl I'll put my foot to the floor
    Give me the word now sugar, we'll go ramroddin' forever more

    Also Appears On

  • 18 The Price You Pay

    Lyrics

    You make up your mind, you choose the chance you take
    You ride to where the highway ends and the desert breaks
    Out on to an open road you ride until the day
    You learn to sleep at night with the price you pay

    Now with their hands held high, they reached out for the open skies
    And in one last breath they built the roads they'd ride to their death
    Driving on through the night, unable to break away
    From the restless pull of the price you pay

    CHORUS
    Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay
    Now you can't walk away from the price you pay

    Now they'd come so far and they'd waited so long
    Just to end up caught in a dream where everything goes wrong
    Where the dark of night holds back the light of day
    And you've gotta stand and fight for the price you pay

    CHORUS

    Little girl down on the strand
    With that pretty little baby in your hands
    Do you remember the story of the promised land
    How he crossed the desert sands
    And could not enter the chosen land
    On the banks of the river he stayed
    To face the price you pay

    So let the games start, you better run you little wild heart
    You can run through all the nights and all the days
    But just across the county line, a stranger passing through put up a sign
    That counts the men fallen away to the price you pay,
    and girl before the end of the day,
    I'm gonna tear it down and throw it away

  • 19 Drive All Night

    Lyrics

    When I lost you honey sometimes I think I lost my guts too
    And I wish God would send me a word
    send me something I'm afraid to lose
    Lying in the heat of the night like prisoners all our lives
    I get shivers down my spine and all I wanna do is hold you tight

    CHORUS
    I swear I'll drive all night just to buy you some shoes
    And to taste your tender charms
    And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms

    Tonight there's fallen angels and they're waiting for us down in the street
    Tonight there's calling strangers,
    hear them crying in defeat.
    Let them go, let them go, let them go,
    do their dances of the dead (let'em go right ahead)
    You just dry your eyes girl, and c'mon c'mon
    c'mon let's go to bed, baby, baby, baby

    CHORUS

    There's machines and there's fire waiting on the edge of town
    They're out there for hire but baby they can't hurt us now
    Cause you've got, you've got, you've got,
    you've got my love, you've got my love
    Through the wind, through the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain
    You've got, you've got my, my love
    Heart and soul

  • 20 Wreck on the Highway

    Lyrics

    Last night I was out driving
    Coming home at the end of the working day
    I was riding alone through the drizzling rain
    On a deserted stretch of a county two-lane
    When I came upon a wreck on the highway

    There was blood and glass all over
    And there was nobody there but me
    As the rain tumbled down hard and cold
    I seen a young man lying by the side of the road
    He cried Mister, won't you help me please

    An ambulance finally came and took him to Riverside
    I watched as they drove him away
    And I thought of a girlfriend or a young wife
    And a state trooper knocking in the middle of the night
    To say your baby died in a wreck on the highway

    Sometimes I sit up in the darkness
    And I watch my baby as she sleeps
    Then I climb in bed and I hold her tight
    I just lay there awake in the middle of the night
    Thinking 'bout the wreck on the highway