The sequence of Bruce Springsteen albums is the ideal overlay of the existential development of a man (often he is Springsteen himself). Then The River, the 1980 double album, is the perfect evolution of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. That guy dreamt about a promised land in Born To Run and found himself alone and disillusioned in Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Now he has something more to experience and tell: the relationship with a woman and a family. The 20 songs from The River, a double album of unreleased songs that will remain unique in Springsteen‘s discography, tell about stories and life experiences in which, whether in the present or in desires and memories, there is/was a woman. And as the lyrical framework of The River is varied, its musical approach is equally manifold. Bruce Springsteen, thanks to his exceptional prolificacy in writing lyrics and composing music, gave us a monumental compendium of rock music.
The River: on the side of love
The relationship with a partner has an evolution in everyone’s life. Bruce Springsteen, great cantor of common people’s life, works on this theme. With The River he seems to reach a fixed point: people are naturally accompanied by someone in their life journey. In previous albums this concept did not emerge with the maturity that Springsteen, now in his thirties, showed in this album. In Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., Bruce was focused on his own growth: the girls were a mere corollary. In The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle we found him as a fine narrator of other people’s sentimental affairs, in search of romantic love and an escape. In Born To Run the young man wanted to run away in search of a better life. In its songs some girls appeared at his side. Love, however, was still in his dreams and promises. In Darkness On The Edge Of Town he, now a man, had realized that those dreams were lies. He thus had to deal with the discouragement of a woman to whom he had promised the sun and a victory in vain. Now, in The River, Springsteen considers relationships more stable and less dreamlike. A lasting relationship, marriage, family, responsibilities. Women alongside his characters are no longer mere extras, but real co-protagonists. If not, in some cases, absolute protagonists.
THE RIVER: FROM ROMANTIC EPIC TO ORDINARY LIFE
Bruce Springsteen‘s first four albums have one fundamental element in common: the romantic epic. In those records the characters, in many of whom Springsteen himself is recognizable, struggle to pursue a dream. They don’t know what awaits them: some fall, while others direct their actions towards that conquest. Even some characters from Darkness On The Edge Of Town, more mature but often with their backs to the wall, continue to believe in a promised land. Their aim is to escape from the badlands towards a sea in which to wash away their sins. In those albums Springsteen‘s romantic epic came from the American Dream and the illusions it often promises. The references to the most legendary American literature and cinematography was strong. The River, on the other hand, collects the disillusionments that already open a breach in Darkness On The Edge Of Town and transports them, together with the hopes, into the ordinary life of a man, a couple, a family. We no longer find the romantic hero on a road, running and chasing a dream, but another kind of hero. He is hidden in a street and in a house where life is consumed, where someone works, loves and suffers. Every given evening, it is time to take stock of what you’ve gathered.
THE RIVER: STORIES OF ORDINARY EXTRAORDINARINESS
With The River Bruce Springsteen shows us how humanly extraordinary stories are hidden inside tiny houses on narrow streets in little towns. The title track, inspired by the true story of Bruce’s sister, Virginia, tells of a very young couple who, in the midst of a thousand difficulties, is going to start a family. That’s when old dreams become lies, the only romantic thing remaining is dive into the river. In I Wanna Marry You, another family is about to form: a man still believes in the power of love and takes on the responsibility of raising two other man’s children. Instead, the characters in Jackson Cage and Point Blank no longer believe in dreams. In both songs women become absolute protagonists and men helplessly witness their defeats. Even in Hungry Heart, Fade Away and Stolen Car, romantic relationships wrecked between mistakes, fears and regrets. In You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) the love of a woman even seems to be a luxury that that guy cannot afford. Working life and economic difficulties are always present, almost looming, even in the more light-hearted Sherry Darling and Out In The Street. But love, in its various forms, is something to keep believing in. From the romantic love of the sweet Drive All Night to the protective one of the tender Wreck On The Highway, we pass by the carnal one of the passionate Ramrod.
THE BOND BETWEEN TWO HEARTS
As a compendium of these beautiful stories, despite the drama and the tragedy that emerge, there are two songs that represent the most “philosophical” pillar of The River: The Ties That Bind and Two Hearts. The first not only opens the album, but should also have been its title, before The River was preferred. It is no coincidence that the celebratory box set of the 2015 album bears its name. “You can’t break the ties that bind”, goes the refrain over and over. And it is evident, from the very first verses, that loneliness is unnatural, a forcing of mankind that only leads to sadness. An argument that resurfaces in Hungry Heart (“Don’t make no difference what nobody says, ain’t nobody like to be alone”). Two Hearts is the manifesto of the union of two people: “Two hearts are better than one, two hearts get the job done”. And, finally, comes the solemn oath: “Alone, buddy, there ain’t no peace of mind, that’s why I’ll keep searching till I find my special one”.
THE RIVER: THE LEGACY OF DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN
Many of the characters that Springsteen introduces us in The River are paying the price for their mistakes, a topic that has already emerged in Darkness On The Edge Of Town in all its drama. In the title track of that album, in particular, the lonely car racer who found himself having his secrets revealed and a shack under Abraham’s Bridge, knew he had to pay a price. He had pretended to reach his dreams where they are not and there is only darkness. Also in The River we find similar situations: people who pay their price with loneliness, often with remorses and regrets, in some cases even with death. The Price You Pay, already from the title, sums up the concept. There are lost people who can’t find a way to pay off their debts and drag themselves down to death (“in one last breath they build the roads they ride to their death”). The single mother in I Wanna Marry You reappears in The Price You Pay. The protagonist invites her to face the price of her mistake and to get back into the game so as not to succumb. But, upon closer inspection, the price to pay also weighs on both father and son in Independence Day. Their sin is the inability to live together in peace under the same roof (already sung in Adam Raised A Cain). The price to pay is the separation: the son will leave the very next day from Saint Mary’s Gate.
THE RIVER: A ROCK COMPENDIUM
In 1980 Bruce Springsteen had a huge number of songs composed, many of them already recorded. If for Darkness On The Edge Of Town he had managed to make a precise thematic choice and had reduced the tracklist to just ten songs, for the new album he could not or would not do it. Actually, considering the dozens of songs available, even for The River he gave a considerable cut. We will find it out later from bootlegs, unreleased collections and celebratory box sets). However, the result was a double album made up of 20 songs. The River also seems to have a precise logic on the musical side. Springsteen published a record in which rock’n’roll is present in its various evolution from the Fifties on. Thus we find the beat sound of the Sixties in The Ties That Band, Jackson Cage, Two Hearts and Out In The Street, the rhythm’n’blues with soul appeal of Hungry Heart, the more classic blues rock of Ramrod, I’m A Rocker and Crush On You, a look at the Fifties mood with I Wanna Marry You and Sherry Darling, the country rock of You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch) and Cadillac Ranch, the Van Morrison-esque melodic rock of Drive All Night and finally the (semi)acoustic rock that looks to the folk tradition in The River, Point Blank, Fade Away, Stolen Car, The Price You Pay, Wreck On The Highway and Independence Day. Springsteen is accompanied by the now consolidated line-up of E Street Band, with Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent on the rhythm section, Danny Federici and Roy Bittan on organs and piano, Clarence Clemons on the saxophone and Steve Van Zandt on the guitar and the backing vocals. Bruce, in addition to the guitar and the harmonica, plays the piano in the beautiful Drive All Night.
Bruce & Steve
The River is undoubtedly the moment of most fruitful artistic collaboration between Stevie Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen. The two give greater vent to their guitar coexistence (both are able to cover both the rhythmic and the solo part) and their famous vocal duo. In fact, in many songs from The River, Van Zandt accompanies Springsteen‘s singing with a scratched countermelody, purely blues and soul, which will become an unmistakable brand in the already peculiar E Street Sound. Paradoxically, although the two had been friends for almost a decade and Van Zandt had been touring since 1975, it was only with Darkness On The Edge Of Town and especially with The River that the future Little Steven found its perfect placement within the band. Then the guitarist decided to break away from Springsteen in 1984 to pursue (with good success) the dream of a solo career. He returned to the E Street Band in 1999, on the occasion of the Reunion Tour. He’s still touring with Bruce in 2024.
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