Everyone has his or her Bruce Springsteen favorites and here's why "The River" strikes such a deep chord within me.
For background, it's a deviation from Springsteen's earlier songwriting generally featuring fantastical figures and others cavorting amidst gritty cityscapes.
How he sets up/unfolds "The River" is also different than his earlier works -- a biographical extrapolation of sorts featuring early moments in the marriage between his sister and brother-in-law. It opens with the blossoming of a relationship buoyed with the typical hopes and dreams for the future. But reality soon intrudes:
"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
And Mary acts like she don't care"
Those last two lines above are explosive while simultaneously matter-of-fact raw. Yet critically, no fingers are pointed or blame levied. The state of the pairing is what it is.
The following verse recalls what was once tenderly shared but now is achingly lost, or hopefully just misplaced:
"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?"
Overall, "The River" has a haunting effect even if the tale is not an experience familiar to the listener. It's painful to hear about the dormant bond between the couple.
It also makes us want to feel this special connection in our own lives, this primacy of living at its most connected, that they once enjoyed.
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