The River: "When I was growing up me and my dad used to go at it all the time, over almost anything.
I used to have really long hair, way down past my shoulders. I was 17 or 18, ... oh man he used to hate it.
We got to where we'd fight so much that I'd spend a lot of time out of the house.
In the summertime it wasn't so bad, 'cause it was warm and your friends were out, but in the winter...
I remember standing down town and it would get so cold.
And when the wind would blow I had this phone booth that I used to stand in.
I used to call my girl, like for hours at a time, just talking to her all night long. And finally...
And finally I'd get my nerve up to go home.
I'd stand there in the driveway, and he'd be waiting for me in the kitchen.
And I'd tuck my hair down in my collar, and I'd walk in, and he'd call me back to sit down with him.
The first thing he'd always ask me was what did I think I was doing with myself?
And the worst part about it was that I could never explain it to him.
I remember I got in a motorcycle accident once,
and I was laid up in bed and he had a barber come in and cut my hair.
I can remember telling him that I hated him and that I would never ever forget it.
He used to tell me: 'Man, I can't wait till the army gets you.
When the army gets you, they're gonna make a man out of you!
They're gonna cut all that hair off and they'll make a man out of you!'.
This was in I guess '68 when there was a lot of guys from the neighbourhood going to Vietnam.
I remember the drummer in my first band coming over to my house with his marine uniform on,
saying that he was going and that he didn't know where it was.
A lot of guys went, and a lot of guys didn't come back. The lot that came back weren't the same anymore.
I remember the day I got my draft notice.
I hid it from my folks, and three days before my physical me and my friends went out and we stayed up all night.
When we got on the bus to go that morning, man, we were all so scared.
And I went,... and I failed.
I remember coming home after I'd been gone for three days,
walking into the kitchen and my mother and father were sitting there.
My dad said 'Where have you been'.. and I said 'I went to take my physical'.. and he said 'What happened?'..
and I said 'They didn't take me'.
And he said: 'That's good.'"
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 drive outta this valley down to where the fields were green
Chorus:
We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd drive
Oh, down to the river we'd drive
Then I got Mary pregnant
And man, that was all she wrote
And for my 19th 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
Chorus:
That night we'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd drive
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
Bridge:
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,
Chorus:
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...
---
Bruce Springsteen im Intro zu "The River"
(Live in Concert 1975-1985)