Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - The River (Acoustic Live) Lyrics

Hey!what you doing out there in the night...??

That's good

This is ah...

When I was growin' up,me and my dad used to go at it all the time, over almost anything

But uhh....

I used to have really long hair, way down past my shoulders, and I was seventeen, or eighteen, Oh man, he used to hate it and we got to where we'd fight so much, I'd spend a lot of time out of the house, and in the summer time it wasn't so bad, cause it was warm, and your friends were out.

But in the winter, I remember standing downtown, and it'd get so cold, and when the wind blew, I had this phone booth that I used to stand in, and I used to call my girl, like, for hours at a time, just talkin' to her, all night long (Girls scream in crowd)

And finally, I'd get my nerve up to go home, and I'd stand there in the driveway, and he'd be waitin' 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. And 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 I could never explain it to him.

I remember I got in a motorcycle accident once, and I was laid up in bed, he had a barber come in, and cut my hair and man, I can remember telling him that I hated him, and that I would never ever forget it, and he used to tell me 'Man, I can't wait till the army gets you, when the army gets you, they're going to make a man out of you, they're gonna cut all that hair off, and they'll make a man out of you' And 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, to say 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, and a lot that came back weren't the same anymore, and I remember the day I got my draft notice, I hid it from my folks, and three days before the physical, me and my friends went out, and stayed up all night, and when we got on that bus to go that morning, man, we were all so scared.

And I went, and I failed. I came home (applause) It's nothing to applaud about.

But I remember coming home after I'd been gone for three days, and walking in the kitchen, and my mother and father were sitting there. My dad said 'Where you been?' I said 'I went to take my physical' he says 'what happened?' I said 'They didn't take me', and he said 'That's good'

(Applause) 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