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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
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
Lyrics submitted by WishYouWereHere
Track duration: 05:00
"The River" as written by Robbie Robertson
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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it was all good.
tan and wet. ready for sex. at night at them banks. resting his head on her thighs after oral sex.
the river is dry, she doesnt have any feeling for him anymore.
but they still have sex beause they are married.
memories come back to haunt me. your counciousness sometimes reminds you of the good times you had and are not there anymore. lost love.
Please correct your lyrics though:
"We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride"
As others have said, a river is a lot like life in that it rolls on relentlessly, carrying with it all sorts of positives - irrigation, transport, a food source, and obviously the very basis of life - water.
But... it can flood, or dry up, with devastating consequences - just like life. I'm guessing that Springsteen is just expressing the loss of hope for the future of the boy and Mary's life together, as they've been beset with disaster; he's broke and unemployed, and she's (possibly?) terminated an unwanted and unsupportable teenaged pregnancy.
From an optimistic future, they've fallen permanently on hard times - the river has dried up.
I prefer to take the lyrics entirely literally. Somehow it sullies it for me to think that the river is a metaphor for sex.
I also like to think that there is a resiliency to the characters. Despite the lament for missed opportunities due to the rushed marriage, I sense the narrator still loves Mary. He is just as aware of her pain as his own. When he takes her back to the river in the final verse he is choosing to recapture some of the romance that he's let slip away in the intervening years.
"[...] The first song that got me was obviously The River. I listened to it on my ipod, whilst walking home from work through the centre of Oxford last September. This is when my relationship with Bruce started and we’re still very much in our honeymoon period. I find everything he does astounding, adorable, admirable and just fucking brilliant. But I’m scared of stumbling upon anything that will lessen the intensity of our feelings for each other (my feelings for Bruce, he doesn’t know who I am). So I’m proceding with caution, taking things slowly. I started with just songs on the Best Of that I liked. I progressed to Nebraska, then Darkness on the Edge of Town. I’ve listened to half of The River but then I had to leave Michal’s house so I couldn’t finish it. I’ve got a cassette tape of Tunnel of Love on my bedroom floor.
Anyway, the point of all this is I assumed Bruce Springsteen was just some guy. But he really is, for me, one of the most moving and lyrical song writers. I did a project at University about folk music and how hard it is to define such a loose fitting category, such an all encompassing idea as the music of the people. But to me that’s what Bruce is all about. Music for and about the people. In a format that the people fucking love. With loud guitars and growling. And saxphones.
My favourite thing about Bruce is the way, througout the songs I’ve listened to, he holds dreams and dreaming in such high regard. Dream is an easy word for a songwriter. It sounds nice, it rhymes with stuff, its been in loads of songs so you people are ready for it. But I think the way Bruce uses that word is beyond the beyond. I guess he has the fact that he is writing for and about a nation that holds dreams in high regard. The American Dream is such a huge concept and its integral to Springsteen’s work. Some of his best song lyrics are the one’s that acknowledge the fundemental contradiction of The American Dream – its primacy in people’s lives and its ultimate unnattainability.
“Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true or is it something worse.”
This line from The River is so beautiful and heartbreaking. It expresses all the betrayal felt by people who are brought up expecting more from life. It is scary to think that our dreams, those things that keep us going aren’t just a fabrication but the very thing that keeps us from happiness.
[...]"
Full post at twowhitecranes.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/springsteen/
"That sends me down to the river
Though I know the river is dry"
makes me think that he is going to jump into the dry river bed from a bridge.... The lyrics above are incorrect because the line is:
"And into the river we'd dive", not drive.
Which is why at the end of the song it makes me think he's going to dive into the dry river bed.
Also another much darker interpretation of "My baby and I" is that he's thinking about killing himself and perhaps his wife or his child... anyways, my two cents.
that's exactly how I read it.
the man tells the stiry about his youth, an unwanted pregnancy that changed everything, and when they're old they live besides each other, well remembering their past and passion. But that's over now.
And as the narrator remember those beautifull hard moments of his life, they haunt him. cause they're past
And that's driving him to the river (to jump in)
He is so desperate about his loss in life and love, that he takes the way to the river, to jump, even he know it's dry.
in fact I think he's hoping for the chance that het is eventually not dry, so he can end it all.
"That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
My baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride... "
Notice that the lyrics are in present tense, as though they've decided to go down to the river together like they used to. I dunno, maybe I'm looking at it too optomistically, but it seems that way to me.