Bruce Springsteen - The river with story

[Crowd cheering] [Girls screaming with excitement]

[ "The River" (instrumental) plays]

Bruce Springsteen: How you doin' out there tonight?

[Crowd cheers with excitement] [People whistling]

Bruce Springsteen: That's good.

That's good.

This is a...

When I was growing up,

me and my dad used to go at it all the time.

Over almost anything.

But uh...

I used to have really long hair

way down past my shoulders.

[Bruce Springsteen chuckles]

When I was 17 or 18,

oh man, he use to hate it.

We got to where we fight so much that I -

that I spend a lot of time out of the house.

And in the summertime,

it wasn't so bad.

Because it was warm

and your friends were out.

But in the winter,

I remember standing downtown

it would get so cold,

And, when the wind would blow,

I had this phone booth that I used to stand in.

And I used to call my girl

like for hours at a time,

Just talking to her all night long.

[Crowd screaming]

And finally I'd get my nerve up to go home,

and I'd stand there in the driveway,

and he'd be waiting for me in the kitchen.

And I'd tuck my hair down in my collar,

and I'd walk in.

And he'd call me back to sit down with him.

And the first thing he'd always ask me was,

"What did I think I was doing with myself?"

And the worst part about it was

I could never explain it to him.

I remember I got in a motorcycle accident once.

And I was laid up in bed,

and he had a barber come in and cut my hair.

And man, I could remember telling him that I hated him,

and that I would never ever forget it.

And he used to tell me,

"Man, I can't wait til the army gets you.

"When the army gets you,

"they're going to make a man out of you.

"They're going to cut all that hair off,

"And they'll make a man out of you."

And this was in I guess '68,

and there was a lot of guys

from the neighborhood going to Vietnam.

I remember the drummer in my first band

coming over to my house with his Marine uniform on,

saying that he was going,

and that he didn't know where it was.

And a lot of guys went,

and a lot of guys didn't come back.

And the lot that came back,

weren't the same anymore.

And I remember the day I got my draft notice.

I hid it from my folks,

and three days before my physical,

me and my friends went out and we stayed up all night.

And we got on the bus to go that morning,

man, and we were all so scared.

And I went, and I failed.

I came home...[crowd applauding]

it's nothing to applaud about.

But, I remember coming home,

after I'd been gone for 3 days,

and walking in the kitchen,

and my mother and father sitting there.

My dad said, "Where you been?"

I said, uh, I went to take my physical.

And he says, "What happened?"

And I said, "They didn't take me."

And he said, "That's good."

[crowd applauding and cheering]

(harmonic starts playing loudly)

I come from down in the valley

where mister when you're young.

They bring you up to do

just 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.

[ Harmonica solo]

I got a job working construction

with 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.

But I remember us riding in my brother's car

Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir.

At night on those 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.

Ooo-oo-oo-oooooo...

[ Piano solo]

[ Harmonica solo]

[Music fades away] [Audience cheers]