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The River
by Bruce Springsteen
ALBUM RANKINGS:
Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews and awards.
Overall Rating:
3.4665
Avg. Critic Score:
4.0000
The River Lyrics
Lyrics
Disc
Track
Title
Lyrics
Disc
Track
Title
- You been hurt and you're all cried out you say
- You walk down the street pushin' people outta your way
- You packed your bags and all alone you wanna ride,
- You don't want nothin', don't need no one by your side
- You're walkin' tough baby, but you're walkin' blind
- to the ties that bind
- The ties that bind
- Now you can't break the ties that bind
- Cheap romance, it's all just a crutch
- You don't want nothin' that anybody can touch
- You're so afraid of being somebody's fool
- Not walkin' tough baby, not walkin' cool
- You walk cool, but darlin', can you walk the line
- And face the ties that bind
- The ties that bind
- Now you can't break the ties that bind
- I would rather feel the hurt inside, yes I would darlin',
- Than know the emptiness your heart must hide,
- Yes I would darlin', yes I would darlin',
- Yes I would baby
- You sit and wonder just who's gonna stop the rain
- Who'll ease the sadness, who's gonna quiet the pain
- It's a long dark highway and a thin white line
- Connecting baby, your heart to mine
- We're runnin' now but darlin' we will stand in time
- To face the ties that bind
- The ties that bind
- Now you can't break the ties that bind
- You can't forsake the ties that bind
- Your Mama's yappin' in the back seat
- Tell her to push over and move them big feet
- Every Monday morning I gotta drive her down to the unemployment agency
- Well this morning I ain't fighting tell her I give up
- Tell her she wins if she'll just shut up
- But it's the last time that she's gonna be riding with me
- You can tell her there's a hot sun beating on the black top
- She keeps talkin' she'll be walkin' that last block
- She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight
- Well I got some beer and the highway's free
- And I got you, and baby you've got me
- Hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darlin'
- Now there's girls melting on the beach
- And they're so fine but so out of reach
- Cause I'm stuck in traffic down, here on 53rd Street
- Now Sherry my love for you is real
- But I didn't count on this package deal
- And baby this car just ain't big enough for her and me
- So you can tell her there's a hot sun beating on the black top
- She keeps talkin' she'll be walkin' that last block
- She can take a subway back to the ghetto tonight
- Well I got some beer and the highway's free
- And I got you, and baby you got me
- Hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darlin'
- Well let there be sunlight, let there be rain
- Let the brokenhearted love again
- Sherry we can run with our arms open before the tide
- To all the girls down at Sacred Heart
- And all you operators back in the Park
- Say hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darlin'
- Hey, hey, hey what you say Sherry Darlin'
- Driving home she grabs something to eat
- Turns a corner and drives down her street
- Into a row of houses she just melts away
- Like the scenery in another man's play
- Into a house where the blinds are closed
- To keep from seeing things she don't wanna know
- She pulls the blinds and looks out on the street
- The cool of the night takes the edge off the heat
- In the Jackson Cage
- Down in the Jackson Cage
- You can try with all your might
- But you're reminded every night
- That you been judged and handed life
- Down in the Jackson Cage
- Every day ends in wasted motion
- Just crossed swords on the killing floor
- To settle back is to settle without knowing
- The hard edge that you're settling for
- Because there's always just one more day
- And it's always gonna be that way
- Little girl you've been down here so long
- I can tell by the way that you move you belong to
- The Jackson Cage
- Down in Jackson Cage
- And it don't matter just what you say
- Are you tough enough to play the game they play
- Or will you just do your time and fade away
- Down into the Jackson Cage
- Baby there's nights when I dream of a better world
- But I wake up so downhearted girl
- I see you feeling so tired and confused
- I wonder what it's worth to me or you
- Just waiting to see some sun
- Never knowing if that day will ever come
- Left alone standing out on the street
- Till you become the hand that turns the key down in
- Jackson Cage
- Down in Jackson Cage
- Well darlin' can you understand
- The way that they will turn a man
- Into a stranger to waste away
- Down in the Jackson Cage
- I went out walking the other day
- Seen a little girl crying along the way
- She'd been hurt so bad said she'd never love again
- Someday your crying girl will end
- And you'll find once again
- Two hearts are better than one
- Two hearts girl get the job done
- Two hearts are better than one
- Once I spent my time playing tough guy scenes
- But I was living in a world of childish dreams
- Someday these childish dreams must end
- To become a man and grow up to dream again
- Now I believe in the end
- Two hearts are better than one
- Two hearts girl get the job done
- Two hearts are better than one
- Sometimes it might seem like it was planned
- for you to roam empty hearted through this land
- Though the world turns you hard and cold
- There's one thing mister, that I know
- That's if you think your heart is stone
- And that you're rough enough to whip this world alone
- Alone buddy there ain't no peace of mind
- That's why I'll keep searching till I find my special one
- Two hearts are better than one
- Two hearts girl get the job done
- Two hearts are better than one
- Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
- Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
- I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate
- We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow
- Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
- There's a darkness in this town that's got us too
- But they can't touch me now
- And you can't touch me now
- They ain't gonna do to me
- What I watched them do to you
- So say goodbye it's Independence Day
- It's Independence Day
- All down the line
- Just say goodbye it's Independence Day
- It's Independence Day this time
- Now I don't know what it always was with us
- We chose the words, and yeah, we drew the lines
- There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
- I guess that we were just too much of the same kind
- Well say goodbye it's Independence Day
- It's Independence Day all boys must run away
- So say goodbye it's Independence Day
- All men must make their way come Independence Day
- Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint
- And the highway she's deserted clear down to Breaker's Point
- There's a lot of people leaving town now
- leaving their friends, their homes
- At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone
- Well Papa go to bed now, it's getting late
- Nothing we can say can change anything now
- Because there's just different people coming down here now
- And they see things in different ways
- And soon everything we've known will just be swept away
- So say goodbye it's Independence Day
- Papa now I know the things you wanted that you could not say
- But won't you just say goodbye it's Independence Day
- I swear I never meant to take those things away.
- Got a wife and kids in Baltimore Jack
- I went out for a ride and I never went back
- Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
- I took a wrong turn and I just kept going
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Lay down your money and you play your part
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- I met her in a Kingstown bar
- We fell in love I knew it had to end
- We took what we had and we ripped it apart
- Now here I am down in Kingstown again
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Lay down your money and you play your part
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Everybody needs a place to rest
- Everybody wants to have a home
- Don't make no difference what nobody says
- Ain't nobody like to be alone
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Lay down your money and you play your part
- Everybody's got a hungry heart
- Put on your best dress baby
- And darlin', fix your hair up right
- Cause there's a party, honey
- Way down beneath the neon lights
- All day you've been working that hard line
- Now tonight you're gonna have a good time
- I work five days a week girl
- Loading crates down on the dock
- I take my hard earned money
- And meet my girl down on the block
- And Monday when the foreman calls time
- I've already got Friday on my mind
- When that whistle blows
- Girl, I'm down the street
- I'm home, I'm out of my work clothes
- When I'm out in the street
- I walk the way I wanna walk
- When I'm out in the street
- I talk the way I wanna talk
- When I'm out in the street
- When I'm out in the street
- When I'm out in the street, girl
- Well, I never feel alone
- When I'm out in the street, girl
- In the crowd I feel at home
- The black and whites they cruise by
- And they watch us from the corner of their eye
- But there ain't no doubt, girl, down here
- We ain't gonna take what they're handing out
- When I'm out in the street
- I walk the way I wanna walk
- When I'm out in the street
- I talk the way I wanna talk
- Baby, out in the street I don't feel sad or blue
- Baby, out in the street I'll be waiting for you
- When the whistle blows
- Girl, I'm down the street
- I'm home, I'm out of my work clothes
- When I'm out in the street
- I walk the way I wanna walk
- When I'm out in the street
- I talk the way I wanna talk
- When I'm out in the street
- Pretty girls, they're all passing by
- When I'm out in the street
- From the corner, we give them the eye
- Baby, out in the street I just feel all right
- Meet me out in the street, little girl, tonight
- Meet me out in the street
- Meet me out in the street
- My feets were flyin' down the street just the other night
- When a Hong Kong special pulled up at the light
- What was inside, man, was just c'est magnifique
- I wanted to hold the bumper and let her drag me down the street.
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you tonight
- Sometimes I spot a little stranger standing 'cross the room
- My brain takes a vacation just to give my heart more room
- For one kiss, darling I swear everything I would give
- Cause you're a walking, talking reason to live
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you tonight
- Well now she might be the talk of high society
- She's probably got a lousy personality
- She might be a heiress to Rockefeller
- She might be a waitress or a bank teller
- She makes the Venus de Milo look like she's got no style
- She makes Sheena of the Jungle look meek and mild
- I need a quick shot, Doc, knock me off my feet
- Cause I'll be minding my own business walking down the street... watchout !
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you
- Ooh, ooh I gotta crush on you tonight
- Yesterday I went shopping buddy down to the mall
- Looking for something pretty I could hang on my wall
- I knocked over a lamp before it hit the floor I caught it
- A salesman turned around said, "boy, you break that thing you bought it".
- You can look but you better not touch boy
- You can look but you better not touch boy
- Mess around and you'll end up in dutch boy
- You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch
- Well I came home from work and I switched on Channel 5
- There was a pretty little girly lookin' straight into my eyes
- Well I watched as she wiggled back and forth across the screen
- She didn't get me excited she just made me feel mean
- You can look but you better not touch boy
- You can look but you better not touch boy
- Mess around and you'll end up in dutch boy
- You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch
- Well I called up Dirty Annie on the telephone
- I took her out to the drive-in just to get her alone
- I found a lover's rendezvous, the music low, set to park
- I heard a tappin' on the window and a voice in the dark
- You can look but you better not touch boy
- You can look but you better not touch boy
- Mess around and you'll end up in dutch boy
- You can look but you better not, no you better not, no you better not touch
- I see you walking, baby, down the street
- Pushing that baby carriage at your feet
- I see that lonely ribbon in your hair
- Tell me am I the man for whom you put it there
- You never smile girl, you never speak
- You just walk on by, darlin', week after week
- Raising two kids alone in this mixed up world
- Must be a lonely life for a working girl
- Little girl, I wanna marry you
- Oh yeah, little girl, I wanna marry you
- Yes I do
- Little girl, I wanna mary you
- Now, honey, I don't wanna clip your wings
- But a time comes when two people should think of these things
- Having a home and a family
- Facing up to their responsibilities
- They say in the end true love prevails
- But in the end true love can't be no fairytale
- To say I'll make your dreams come true would be wrong
- But maybe, darlin', I could help them along
- Little girl, I wanna marry you
- Oh yeah, little girl, I wanna marry you
- Yes I do
- Little girl, I wanna mary you
- My daddy said right before he died
- That true, true love was just a lie
- He went to his grave a broken heart
- An unfulfilled life, makes a man hard
- Oh darlin'
- There's something happy and there's something sad
- 'Bout wanting somebody, oh so bad,
- I wear my love darlin', without shame
- I'd be proud if you would wear my name
- 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 drive out of this valley down to where the fields where 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 19th 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 thing 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
- Do you still say your prayers little darlin' do you go to bed at night
- Prayin' that tomorrow, everything will be alright
- But tomorrow's fall in number in number one by one
- You wake up and you're dying you don't even know what from
- Well they shot you point blank you been shot in the back
- Baby point blank you been fooled this time little girl that's a fact
- Right between the eyes baby, point blank right between the pretty lies that they tell
- Little girl you fell
- You grew up where young girls they grow up fast
- You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked
- but what they asked baby wasn't right
- you didn't have to live that life,
- I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
- These days you don't wait on Romeo's you wait on that welfare check
- and on all the pretty things that you can't ever have and on all the promises
- That always end up point blank, shot between the eyes
- Point blank like little white lies you tell to ease the pain
- You're walkin' in the sights, girl of point blank
- and it's one false move and baby the lights go out
- Once I dreamed we were together again baby you and me
- Back home in those old clubs the way we used to be
- We were standin' at the bar it was hard to hear
- The band was playin' loud and you were shoutin' somethin' in my ear
- You pulled my jacket off and as the drummer counted four
- You grabbed my hand and pulled me out on the floor
- You just stood there and held me, then you started dancin' slow
- And as I pulled you tighter I swore I'd never let you go
- Well I saw you last night down on the avenue
- Your face was in the shadows but I knew that it was you
- You were standin' in the doorway out of the rain
- You didn't answer when I called out your name
- You just turned, and then you looked away like just another stranger waitin' to get blown away
- Point blank, right between the eyes
- Point blank, right between the pretty lies you fell
- Point blank, shot straight through the heart,
- Yea point blank, you've been twisted up till you've become just another part of it
- Point blank, you're walkin' in the sights,
- Point blank, livin' one false move just one false move away
- Point blank, they caught you in their sights
- Point blank, did you forget how to love, girl, did you forget how to fight.
- Point blank they must have shot you in the head
- Cause point blank, bang bang baby you're dead.
- Well, there she sits buddy justa gleaming in the sun
- There to greet a working man when his day is done
- I'm gonna pack my pa and I'm gonna pack my aunt
- I'm gonna take them down to the Cadillac Ranch
- Eldorado fins, whitewalls and skirts
- Rides just like a little bit of heaven here on earth
- Well buddy when I die throw my body in the back
- And drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac
- Cadillac, Cadillac
- Long and dark, shiny and black
- Open up your engines let 'em roar
- Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur
- James Dean in that Mercury '49
- Junior Johnson runnin' thru the woods of Caroline
- Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans-Am
- All gonna meet down at the Cadillac Ranch
- Cadillac, Cadillac
- Long and dark, shiny and black
- Open up them engines let 'em roar
- Tearing up the highway just a big old dinosaur
- Hey, little girlie in the blue jeans so tight
- Drivin' alone through the Wisconsin night
- You're my last love baby you're my last chance
- Don't let 'em take me to the Cadillac Ranch
- Cadillac, Cadillac
- Long and dark, shiny and black
- Pulled up to my house today
- Came and took my little girl away
- I got a 007 watch and it's a one and only
- It's got a I-Spy beeper that tells me when you're lonely
- I got a Batmobile so I can reach ya' in a fast shake
- When your world's in crisis of an impendin' heartbreak
- Now don't you call James Bond or Secret Agent Man
- Cause they can't do it, like I can
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - every day
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker
- If you're hanging from a cliff or you're tied to the tracks, girl
- Columbo split and you can't find Kojak
- True love is broken and your tears are fallin' faster
- You're sufferin' from a pain in your heart or some other natural disaster
- Now I don't care what kind of shape you're in
- If they put up a roadblock, I'll parachute in
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - I'm in love
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - every day
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker - with you
- So you fell for some jerk who was tall, dark and handsome
- Then he kidnapped your heart and now he's holdin' it for ransom
- Well, like a mission impossible I'm gonna go and get it back
- You know I would'a taken better care of it, baby, than that
- Sometimes I get so hot girl, well, I can't talk
- But when I'm with you I cool off, and I walk
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker, and I talk
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker, every day
- I'm a rocker, baby, I'm a rocker, every day
- Well now you say you've found another man who does things to you that I can't
- And that no matter what I do it's all over now between me and you girl
- But I can't believe what you say
- No I can't believe what you say
- 'cause baby
- I don't wanna fade away
- Oh I don't wanna fade away
- Tell me what can I do what can I say
- Cause darlin' I don't wanna fade away
- Well now you say that you've made up your mind it's been such a long, long time since it's been good with us
- And that somewhere back along the line you lost your love and I lost your trust
- Now rooms that once were so bright are filled with the coming night, darlin'
- I don't wanna fade away
- Oh I don't wanna fade away
- Tell me what can I do what can I say
- Cause darlin' I don't wanna fade away
- You say it's not easy for you
- And that you've been so lonely
- While other girls go out doing what they want to do
- You say that you miss the nights when we'd go out dancing
- The days when you and I walked as two
- Well girl I miss them too
- Oh I swear that I do
- Oh girl
- Now baby I don't wanna be just another useless memory holding you tight
- Or just some other ghost out on the street to whom you stop and politely speak when you pass on by vanishing into the night
- left to vanish into he night
- No baby
- I don't wanna fade away
- Oh I don't wanna fade away
- Tell me what can I do what can I say
- Cause darlin' I don't wanna fade away
- I met a little girl and I settled down
- In a little house out on the edge of town
- We got married, and swore we'd never part
- Then little by little we drifted from each other's hearts
- At first I thought it was just restlessness
- That would fade as time went by and our love grew deep
- In the end it was something more I guess
- That tore us apart and made us weep
- And I'm driving a stolen car
- Down on Eldridge Avenue
- Each night I wait to get caught
- But I never do
- She asked if I remembered the letters I wrote
- When our love was young and bold
- She said last night she read those letters
- And they made her feel one hundred years old
- And I'm driving a stolen car
- On a pitch black night
- And I'm telling myself I'm gonna be alright
- But I ride by night and I travel in fear
- That in this darkness I will disappear
- Hey, little dolly with the blue jeans on
- I wanna ramrod with you honey, till half-past dawn
- Let your hair down sugar and pick up this beat
- Come on and meet me tonight down on Bluebird Street
- I've been working all week, I'm up to my neck in hock
- Come Saturday night I let my ramrod rock
- She's a hot stepping hemi with a four on the floor
- She's a roadrunner engine in a '32 Ford
- Late at night when I'm dead on the line
- I swear I think of your pretty face when I let her unwind
- Well look over yonder see them city lights
- Come on little dolly 'n' go ramroddin' tonight
- Come on, come on, come on little baby
- Come on, come on let's shake it tonight
- Come on, come, come on little sugar
- Dance with your daddy and we'll go ramroddin' tonight
- Hey, little dolly won't you say you will
- Meet me tonight up on top of the hill
- Well just a few miles cross the county line
- There's a cute little chapel nestled down in the pines
- Say you'll be mine little girl I'll put my foot to the floor
- Give me the word now sugar, we'll go ramroddin' forever more
- You make up your mind, you choose the chance you take
- You ride to where the highway ends and the desert breaks
- Out on to an open road you ride until the day
- You learn to sleep at night with the price you pay
- Now with their hands held high, they reached out for the open skies
- And in one last breath they built the roads they'd ride to their death
- Driving on through the night, unable to break away
- From the restless pull of the price you pay
- Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay
- Now you can't walk away from the price you pay
- Now they'd come so far and they'd waited so long
- Just to end up caught in a dream where everything goes wrong
- Where the dark of night holds back the light of the day
- And you've gotta stand and fight for the price you pay
- Oh, the price you pay, oh, the price you pay
- Now you can't walk away from the price you pay
- Little girl down on the strand
- With that pretty little baby in your hands
- Do you remember the story of the promised land
- How he crossed the desert sands
- And could not enter the chosen land
- On the banks of the river he stayed
- To face the price you pay
- So let the game start, you better run you little wild heart
- You can run through all the nights and all the days
- But just across the county line, a stranger passing through put up a sign
- That counts the men fallen away to the price you pay, and girl before the end of the day,
- I'm gonna tear it down and throw it away
- When I lost you honey sometimes I think I lost my guts too
- And I wish God would send me a word send me something I'm afraid to lose
- Lying in the heat of the night like prisoners all our lives
- I get shivers down my spine and all I wanna do is hold you tight
- I swear I'll drive all night just to buy you some shoes
- And to taste your tender charms
- And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms
- Tonight there's fallen angels and they're waiting for us down in the street
- Tonight there's calling strangers, hear them crying in defeat.
- Let them go, let them go, let them go do their dances of the dead (let 'em go right ahead)
- You just dry your eyes girl, and c'mon c'mon c'mon let's go to bed, baby, baby, baby
- I swear I'll drive all night just to buy you some shoes
- And to taste your tender charms
- And I just wanna sleep tonight again in your arms
- There's machines and there's fire waiting on the edge of town
- They're out there for hire but baby they can't hurt us now
- Cause you've got, you've got, you've got, you've got my love, you've got my love
- Through the wind, through the rain, the snow, the wind, the rain
- You've got, you've got my, my love heart and soul
- Last night I was out driving
- Coming home at the end of the working day
- I was riding alone through the drizzling rain
- On a deserted stretch of a county two-lane
- When I came upon a wreck on the highway
- There was blood and glass all over
- And there was nobody there but me
- As the rain tumbled down hard and cold
- I seen a young man lying by the side of the road
- He cried Mister, won't you help me please
- An ambulance finally came and took him to Riverside
- I watched as they drove him away
- And I thought of a girlfriend or a young wife
- And a state trooper knocking in the middle of the night
- To say your baby died in a wreck on the highway
- Sometimes I sit up in the darkness
- And I watch my baby as she sleeps
- Then I climb in bed and I hold her tight
- I just lay there awake in the middle of the night
- Thinking 'bout the wreck on the highway
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