Talk about hiding in plain sight: For an officially released track, “Trouble River” remains about as obscure as they come.
Recorded in the midst of the Human Touch sessions in 1990 but unreleased for almost a decade thereafter, “Trouble River” is an uptempo soul rocker that stands as tall as “All or Nothin’ at All,” “Seven Angels,” and “The Long Goodbye” (which combined with “Trouble River” would have made for a mighty fine EP). Bruce hid it on the unimaginatively named 18 Tracks, which most casual fans assume is just an abridged version of his larger Tracks box set but which actually contains three tracks unique to that disc. “Trouble River” is one of those three.
It’s a taut little number that features a terrific extended guitar solo from Bruce that comprises a full third of the song–in fact it’s the standout feature of the track, which also features a three-man backing band of Roy Bittan, Jeff Pocaro, and Rany Jackson (yes, that Randy Jackson).
Take a listen:
In typical Springsteen fashion, it’s easy to get caught up in the riff and the hook and miss the fact that lyrically, the song is about dread–creeping, paralyzing dread.
But once you really listen to the lyrics, there’s no mistaking it–especially because there are only eight lines in the entire song. (I did say it was taut, didn’t I?)
There’s a river runs through this valley, cold and deep and black
Coming like a tombstone shadow across my back
Woke up last night shaking, shaking from a dream
All I seen was smiling faces staring back at me
Snakes crawling in the house, I’m stuck in muddy ground
Tonight I’m gonna shed this skin ’cause water’s rising and I’m going down to
Trouble river, six foot high and rising
Trouble river, I can’t keep from crying
With a song this concise, Bruce doesn’t leave us a lot to dissect, but there are a few things worth noting:
First, the notion of shedding one’s skin is a metaphor that Bruce would use again the following year in “Living Proof.” Although we must be careful not to assume that every song Bruce writes is autobiographical, much of the material that stems from his 1990-1991 songwriting is rooted in deeply personal experience. Given that he had recently relocated to the west coast, separated from his band and started a family, it may be a fair assumption that Bruce was very much focused on reinventing himself, renewing himself, like a snake shedding its skin.
Next, it’s also hard to listen to this song with the benefit of hindsight and the context of Bruce’s depression disclosure and wonder if “Trouble River” was at least in part an exercise in expressing in song what he’d been grappling with in life. Dread and depression are not the same thing, to be sure, but the notion of having a dark shadow cast upon you, the feeling of being stuck and mired and gloomy while those around you are smiling, and those last words–“I can’t keep from crying”–those all sound as applicable to depression as to dread.
Lastly, the “yeeeaaaaahhhhh-hoo!” Performance-wise, it’s all about the guitar solo and the yeah-hoo. If Bruce was indeed trying to exorcise some demons, he sure gave it his all vocally.
There’s some irony in that fact that Bruce plays with such gleeful abandon on a song so dark. He did that the one time he played it live, as well.
On August 1, 1999, early in the U.S. leg of the Reunion Tour, Bruce broke out “Trouble River” for its one and only performance–ever–and probably puzzled most of his casual fans in the process. (Who would have thought “Trouble River” would be one of the first Human Touch-era songs Bruce would play with the E Street Band?)
The band seems a bit nonplussed, too. Watch the video below (and yes, it’s remarkable that we have a fan-shot video of the one and only time this song was played a full two decades ago), and you’ll see that while Bruce is having a good time, the band members don’t seem to be quite as into it.
Whatever the reason, the song didn’t seem to translate well to the E Street stage, and perhaps that’s why we haven’t seen it since. That’s too bad–while I certainly wouldn’t rank it amongst Bruce’s best work, the successful recent outings for the musically similar “Seven Angels” and “All or Nothin’ at All” suggest that there’s a place for a song like “Trouble River” in Bruce’s sets.
Trouble River
Recorded: April 6, 1990
Released: 18 Tracks (1999)
First performed: August 1, 1999 (East Rutherford, NJ)
Last performed: August 1, 1999 (East Rutherford, NJ)
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