The River – Bruce Springsteen

“The River”


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 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


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