Writer: Bruce Springsteen
Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Steve Van Zandt
Recorded: Summer and fall 1979 at the Power Station in New York City
Released: October 1980
| Players: | Bruce Springsteen–vocals, guitar Roy Bittan–piano Clarence Clemons–saxophone Danny Federici–organ Garry Tallent–bass Steve Van Zandt–guitar Max Weinberg–drums |
| Album: | The River (Columbia, 1980) |
The title track of Bruce Springsteen's fifth album, "The River" had its public debut at the No Nukes benefit concerts in September 1979 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
In his own notes about the song, Springsteen called it "a breakthrough song for me. It was in the detail. One of the first of my story songs that eventually led to Nebraska."
The song was inspired by two events in Springsteen's life–his sister Pam's teenage pregnancy, and his brother-in-law's employment problems during the recession of the late '70s.
Springsteen said that "The River" was intended to posit the theory that "the type of things that people do that make their lives heroic are a lot of times very small, little things… something between a husband and a wife… It's a grand experience, but it's not always big. There's plenty of room for those kinds of victories."
The version of "The River" on the Live/1975-1985 album is preceded by a lengthy story about Springsteen's experience with the draft board.
The River album went to Number One on the Billboard 200. It's sold more than three million copies.
The arduous recording for The River album went through 1979 and much of 1980. One version of the album, titled The Ties That Bind, was abandoned, and the final double album was culled from an estimated 90 songs that Springsteen and the E Street Band had recorded.
Production costs for The River were said to top $500,000.
Springsteen began The River world tour on November 3, 1980, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where local hero Bob Seger joined him on stage for an encore version of "Thunder Road."
