{"id":24353,"date":"2021-03-04T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=24353"},"modified":"2024-01-02T16:14:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T00:14:03","slug":"roll-of-the-dice-the-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/04\/roll-of-the-dice-the-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Roll of the Dice: The River"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Updated 3\/4\/2021<\/strong>: Friend of the blog Steven Semeraro pointed out that while Mary was 17 when they met, the narrator is likely eighteen by implication. I’ve updated some timing references accordingly.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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What’s worse than a lie?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That’s the question that lingers long after “The River” fades to black.<\/p>\n

We’ll answer that question, but we have some ground to cover first.<\/p>\n

We last pulled at this particular thread in last month’s exploration of “Oh Angelyne<\/a>.” (I recommend reading or re-reading that one before going any further, because it contains 80% of the backstory for “The River.”)<\/p>\n

When we left Bruce, he had just hit upon the missing ingredient in his nascent masterpiece: the metaphor.<\/p>\n

He already had his characters and storyline, and they were very close to the ones featured in “The River.” Trapped in a loveless marriage, haunted by the memory of happier days, and frustrated at his lot in life, our narrator feels old before his time and longs for escape in the form of his mistress, Angelyne.<\/p>\n

But then Bruce hit upon inspiration in the guise of the great Hank Williams. Bruce insists that it was Hank’s “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It” that provided the final creative spark for “The River,” but it’s at least as likely that he drew from “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” as well. Because the first verse of the latter song sounds strikingly familiar:<\/p>\n

I went down to the river to watch the fish swim by<\/em>
\nBut I got to the river so lonesome I wanted to die<\/em>
\nAnd then I jumped in the river, but the doggone river was dry<\/em><\/p>\n

It wasn’t the first time Bruce employed a river metaphor in his songwriting–heck, it wasn’t even the first time he did so in a song\u00a0title<\/em>. But the river metaphor in “The River” proved deeper and more pliable than he’d been able to achieve before, and Bruce knew he was on to something.<\/p>\n

He ditched his original title temptress along with the notion of escape. After all, he realized, if you’re haunted by the ghost of lost love, the\u00a0last<\/em> thing you want to do is escape it. What you\u00a0really<\/em> want to do is reclaim it.<\/p>\n

And now we arrive at “The River” in its final form.<\/p>\n

If you were a Springsteen fan at the time, you likely not only heard it in advance of its studio debut, you probably also saw it.<\/p>\n

Because believe it or not, Bruce’s debut performance of “The River”–filmed more than a year before it debuted on the album of the same name–marked the very first time a live Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band song ever appeared on film. It was a highlight of No Nukes<\/em>, a documentary of the famous two-night Musicians United for Safe Energy concert event from September 1979.<\/p>\n

Let’s watch that powerful performance below, and remember: this was the very first time Bruce had ever performed “The River” in public.<\/p>\n