THE RIVER - chords and comments

Lyrics without distraction HERE

I can't believe I've never advocated a Springsteen song until now. The only reason, is that I've had too much respect to perform any of them, because the boss have recorded and performed them fundamentally. When our generations are gone, and even more have passed away, people in search of folk music history will find three artists, singers and songwriters from our age essential: Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

In 1979, Bruce had released his famous albums "Born to Run"(1975) and "Darkness on the Edge of Town"(1978) and thereby stated himself and his E-Street Band as leaders of american folk-rock music. He wanted to do something different, melting himself with the band. The result took 18 months to complete, and resulted in the double album "The River", released October 1980.

It is thoroughly recorded "live in studio", giving a garage sound. The collaboration between Jon Landau, Steven Van Zandt and Bruce himself in addition to the fabulous members of the E-Street Band, gave "The River" a feeling of being inside the studio as a virtual public. And it really have to be played from vinyl. The garage sound is impossible to digitalize: feelings can never be digitalized.

The title song may be the best Bruce ever wrote. A tale of a simple life and fate, which I expect millions of people to have faced. I don't rock this song. I make it simple and emotional, as I think it was written. Somewhere I read that it's about Bruce's sister and brother-in-law. I don't mind; as for myself I lean back taking a trip back to these days I regularily visited a small family in a rural, peaceful place, cooling and playing the whole night through - and where I first heard this song and the album. So; here we go; after all these years:
Em                       G             Am                 C
I come from down in the valley  where mister when you're young
      Em             G   C               G
they bring you up to do like your daddy done
       C               Am               G           D    Em
me and Mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen
      Am                                Cmaj7                 C
we'd drive out of this valley down to where the fields were green 
 
         Em         C  D
we'd go down to the river
      D7       D6        G
and into the river we'd dive
    Em          Cmaj7     D7sus4 ... Cmaj7 ...
oh down to the river we’d ride 
 
    Em            G           Am                    C
then I got Mary pregnant and man that was all she wrote
    Em           G                     C                   G
and for my 19th birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
    C                Am                 G            D      Em
we went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest
   Am
no wedding day smiles  no walk down the aisle
     Cmaj7               C
no flowers  no wedding dress 
 
                   Em          C  D
that night we went down to the river
    D7        D6         G
and into the river we'd dive
    Em          Cmaj7        D7sus4 ... Cmaj7 ...
oh down to the river we did ride 
 
        Em                G               Am             C
I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
     Hm                           G          C               G
but lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
              C                       Am
now all them things that seemed so important
                  G             D        Em
well mister they vanished right into the air
           Am                               Cmaj7                C
now I just act like I don't remember   Mary acts like she don't care 
 
         Em                      G
but I remember us riding in my brother's car
          D                       C
her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
     Em                     G
at night on them banks I'd lie awake
               C                      G
and pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
           C
now those memories come back to haunt me
      G        D      Em
they haunt me like a curse
       Am                                 Cmaj7                 C
is a dream a lie if it don't come true or is it something worse
 
               Em         C  D             D7       D6        G
that sends me down to the river  though I know the river is dry
               Em         Cmaj7    D7sus4 ... Cmaj7 ...
that sends me down to the river tonight
 Em         C  D     D6       G
down to the river my baby and I
    Em         Cmaj7   D7sus4   Cmaj7 ...
oh down to the river we ride    ooh...
E minor
Em
A minor
Am
C major
C
C major seventh
Cmaj7
D major
D
D sixth
D6
D seventh
D7
D seventh suspended four
D7sus4
Bruce Springsteen