What's your favorite song from Bruce Springsteen's The River?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by 905, Sep 19, 2020.

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  1. gazzaa2

    gazzaa2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Sherry Darling (as not been mentioned). A feel good party song.

    Price You Pay is probably the best song on it though.
     
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  2. limoges

    limoges Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Cadillac Ranch
     
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  3. Grower of Mushrooms

    Grower of Mushrooms Omnivorous mammalian bipedal entity.

    Location:
    Glasgow
    Wreck on the Highway.

    Could have fitted nicely on Nebraska
     
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  4. boggs

    boggs Multichannel Machiavellian

    The River and then Stolen Car.
     
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  5. Fotografo del cielo

    Fotografo del cielo Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Oviedo, Spain
    Independence day
     
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  6. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    I've always found "Ramrod" on the album to be a sad, desperate song. There's no real joy in it. It fits in very well with the mood of the last six tracks on the album.

    Live, of course, they've typically turned "Ramrod" into a party anthem, but I don't think it was originally intended that way at all.
     
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  7. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    Yep. I rate "The Price You Pay" as one of Springsteen's best songs period. I do prefer the earlier take that was tabbed for the single-disc LP (and later issued on the box set), but from the first time I listened to the LP back in early 1981 (my first Springsteen purchase), "Price" grabbed me in a huge way. I traveled 2,000 miles back in 2009 just to hear him play it live.

    Overall, I think The River is a masterpiece and I rank it ahead of Darkness On The Edge Of Town among Springsteen albums. Could it have been even better if some of the outtakes had replaced 2 or 3 of the album's songs? Absolutely, but the album as it was released is still brilliant.
     
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  8. gazzaa2

    gazzaa2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I love The River, but that's the reason i'd rate Born to Run and Darkness above it, as I think they're pretty much flawless. There's a few on The River i'm not that keen on, but it's standard for a double album. As you say though there's outtakes that were top songs.
     
  9. Sex Lies And Master Tapes

    Sex Lies And Master Tapes Gaulois réfractaire

    Location:
    Nantes, France
    The River

    2nd : Point Blank (do you remember that scene in Copland ?)
     
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  10. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident

    1. Out In The Street
    2. Independence Day
    3. The River
     
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  11. robcar

    robcar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver, CO
    For me it's more that the top dozen or so songs on The River rate more highly for me than the top songs on Darkness On The Edge Of Town (with the sole exception of the latter's title song), and there's nothing on The River as bad as "Streets Of Fire". I agree that Born To Run is flawless (even though "Tenth Avenue Freezeout" is of a somewhat lower level of excellence than the other 7 songs), as is Nebraska and Tunnel of Love, the only other Springsteen albums I rate above The River. I think there were at least two outtakes from DOTEOT that would have improved that album had they been included ("Don't Look Back" and "The Promise") as well.

    If I'm ranking the songs on Darkness On The Edge Of Town and The River from best to "worst", it would look something like this:

    The Price You Pay
    The River
    Darkness On The Edge Of Town
    The Ties That Bind
    Racing In The Street
    Stolen Car
    Adam Raised A Cain
    Wreck On The Highway
    Factory
    Independence Day
    Point Blank
    Badlands
    Fade Away
    Two Hearts
    Out In The Street
    Cadillac Ranch
    Something In The Night
    The Promised Land
    Drive All Night
    Jackson Cage
    You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
    Ramrod
    Candy's Room
    Hungry Heart
    Sherry Darling
    Prove It All Night
    I'm A Rocker
    I Wanna Marry You
    Crush On You
    Streets Of Fire

    10 of the top 15 are from The River, which is also true of the bottom 15. I guess The River benefits from having twice as many songs!
     
  12. Dr. Zoom

    Dr. Zoom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Monmouth County NJ
    The River is a big, ambitious sweeping album. It’s not as focused as BTR or Darkness, and there are some alternate tracks that should have replaced a track or two on the album. But it captured the mood in late 1970s America, and in my book it’s right up there in the Springsteen canon. I probably go back to it as much as any other album.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2020
  13. Davido

    Davido ...assign someone to butter your muffin?

    Location:
    Austin
    "The River" is so NOT a singles album that I find the question odd. I'd choose a different song each time I thought about the question so can't adequately answer. Bruce felt the title track was a real songwriting breakthrough for him personally and I can see that in retrospect. Personally, I found it terrific to finally have versions of Point Blank and Independence Day on an album! The actual singles IMO were among the weakest tracks on the album although the longer songs on the last side of the record could not have served that purpose. It's just a great double album, an American epic on wax.
     
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  14. Always loved the exuberance of "Hungry Heart" - his most undeniable single after "Born to Run" to that point, and also "Wreck On the Highway"- the dark underside of that exuberance when cold reality hits.
     
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  15. Partyslammer

    Partyslammer Lord Of The New Church

    I am probably the only person replying in this thread that will say “I’m A Rocker” is their favorite song on this album.

    Back when The River first came out, my then-best friend and room mate was a huge Springsteen fanatic. I wasn't really a fan, I really didn't like his style of singing, and was barely familiar with anything Bruce had done up to that point aside from the big singles and my friend playing "Darkness On The Edge Of Town" relentlessly.

    Once he started burning out The River, for whatever reason I’m A Rocker connected with me, maybe the live in the studio energy, the goofy, throw away nature of the lyrics, I dunno. But it was the gateway song that finally got me into Springsteen’s studio music.

    But it was seeing Springsteen live for the first time during the tail end of the River tour from the 2nd row at a key show of the tour no less (8/20/81) at the LA Sports Arena that really cemented my fandom. My friend had managed to score great tickets waiting overnight at the Sports Arena box office and his brother couldn't pay for his ticket a few days before the show so on a whim I decided to go. This turned out to not only be an amazing show, but as far as Springsteen concerts, this later became known as one of Bruce's greatest shows of that tour as it was the benefit for Vietnam Vets. It was a 3 1/2 hour marathon and the next day I wound up buying everything the guy had recorded so far. Great as the show was, I still recall being disappointed I’m A Rocker and She’s The One weren’t played that show.

    At the time, I was occasionally recording shows with an AIWA stereo deck and those little cube mics but I gave up trying to record this show by the mid-show break because I thought I'd get busted as I was right in front of Bruce's line of sight maybe 20 feet from the stage. Ironically, I think my room mate swiped the tape when he moved out but fortunately this show has been decently bootlegged by others.
     
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  16. Dr. Zoom

    Dr. Zoom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Monmouth County NJ
    I like I’m A Rocker. It reminds me of a 1960s garage rock track. Love the farfisa organ, and the crackling live sound. Total cheese, but good cheese.
     
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  17. Davido

    Davido ...assign someone to butter your muffin?

    Location:
    Austin
    Yes, you will be the only person saying that in all probability. But that's what helped 'save' the sprawl of the album from becoming tiresome, the inclusion of throwaway little rockers like that song and the one about shopping at the mall. The mood of much of the album needed (demanded!) some frivolity. It was almost as if Bruce was admitting that he is a mere mortal and that's what made the album great in the end. Bruce admits he's human enough not to have to make another serious statement like Darkness on the Edge of Town.
     
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  18. Bullis

    Bullis Forum Resident

    Location:
    Niagara County
    Ties
     
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  19. Python

    Python Forum Resident

    Location:
    S.F. Bay Area
    I don't actually love this one very much, even if it was cut down to a single album (as most double albums probably should have been), it would still be my least favorite of the (original) E-Street era ('73 to '87).

    That said, we're talking Springsteen, so it's still a solid album with a lot of truly great songs.

    And I just can't decide, so I'm going to wimp out and call it a tie: the title track and "Point Blank."
     
  20. Dr. Zoom

    Dr. Zoom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Monmouth County NJ
    I’ve said it before. You are one lucky bugger to have been there that night.
     
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  21. PacificOceanBlue

    PacificOceanBlue Senior Member

    Location:
    The Southwest
    Stolen Car

    The alternate version (via Tracks and the aborted The Ties That Bind album) is also compelling, but I think Springsteen got it right with this evocative, haunting arrangement.
     
  22. Gramps Tom

    Gramps Tom Forum Resident

    Sherry Darling
    Ramrod
     
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  23. Endicott

    Endicott Forum Resident

    It's the other side of the coin to "Out In The Street", which is a joyous yabba-dabba-doo song. "Ramrod" is the beaten-down-by-life version. Probably the same character twenty years later.

    I agree that "The Price You Pay" is magnificent.
     
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  24. milankey

    milankey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kent, Ohio, USA
    Sherry Darling
     
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  25. hangwire13

    hangwire13 Forum Resident

    Location:
    pittsburgh
    Just to sweep up the crumbs a bit, here's one of the B-sides from that album:



    I had this 45. God knows whatever happened to it. Probably worth a few bucks now. My loss.
     
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