"The River" - Bruce Springsteen (1980)

You been hurt and you're all cried out you say
You walk down the street pushing people outta your way
You packed your bags and all alone you wanna ride
You don't want nothing, don't need no one by your side
You're walking tough, baby but you're walking 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 nothing that anybody can touch
You're so afraid of being somebody's fool
Not walking tough, baby not walking cool
You walk cool, but darling, 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 darling
Than know the emptiness your heart must hide
Yes I would darling, yes I would darling,
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 running now but darling 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 yapping in the backseat
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 talking she'll be walking 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 Darling

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 talking she'll be walking 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 Darling

Well let there be sunlight let there be rain
Let the brokenhearted love again
Sherry we could run with our arms open wide 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 Darling
Hey hey hey, what you say Sherry Darling

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 a 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
Where the cool of the night takes the edge off the street

In the Jackson Cage
Down in the Jackson Cage
You can try with all your might
But you're reminded everynight
That you've 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 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 darling 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 way 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 darling 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 eyes

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 flying 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 make 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 to Channel 5
There was a pretty little girly looking 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 tapping 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 I am the man for whom you put it there

You never smile girl, you never speak
You just walk on by, darling 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 marry 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 that 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 darling, 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 marry 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 live, makes a man hard

Oh, darling,
There's something happy and there's something sad
'Bout wanting somebody, oh so bad
I wear my love darling 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 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 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 things 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 darling
Do you go to bed at night
Praying that tomorrow, everything will be allright
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 live
I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
These days you don't wait for 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 walking 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 standing at the bar it was hard to hear
The band was playing loud and you were shouting something 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 dancing 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 standing 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 waiting 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 walking in the sights
Point blank, living 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 running through 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 your engines let 'em roar
Tearing up the highway just a big old dinosaur

Hey, little girlie in the blue jeans so tight
Driving alone through the Wisconsin night
You're my last love baby, you're my last change
Don't let them 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 impending 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 the tears are falling faster
You're suffering 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 holding 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 darling 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, Darling

I don't wanna fade away
Oh I don't wanna fade away
Tell me what can I do what can I say
Cause darling 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 the 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 darling 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 heart

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 halfpast 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 ramrodding tonight

Come on, come on, come on little baby
Come on, come on let's shake it tonight
Come on, come on, come on little sugar
Dance with your daddy and we'll go ramrodding tonight

Hey little dolly won't you say you will
Meet me tonight on the 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 on the floor
Give me the word now sugar, we'll go ramrodding 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 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 man 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 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 death (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

Now 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