What is a Theme or element in the song “The River” by Bruce Springsteen?
A pitch perfect look at youthful dreams gone bad for people who never had a chance at life in the first place, this quiet tune finds Bruce’s subjects out of work, out of love, and out of time before they reach the age of 20, wishing for the simple dreams they had just a few slim years earlier that weren’t much even then. Of the young man and woman in the song who wed out of obligation and necessity rather then love, Bruce sings of what should be the happiest day of anyones life “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”. Sounding more funeral then wedding, this is heartbreaking storytelling at its very best, cinematic and vivid in every way.
