“The River” by Bruce Springsteen

"The River" is the title track of Bruce Springsteen's fifth album, cut with the E Street Band in 1979 and released on the album that bore its name in 1980. Springsteen wrote the words and the music, and he produced it with Jon Landau and Little Steven, who also plays acoustic and electric guitar and sings backing vocals.

It's a hushed, haunting thing. Springsteen carries it on a lonesome harmonica, a 12-string and electric guitar, and the band tread lightly behind him: Roy Bittan's piano, Danny Federici's organ, Garry Tallent's bass and Max Weinberg's drums moving at a slow, heavy walk, with Clarence Clemons adding saxophone and percussion and joining Bittan and Little Steven on the backing vocals. Neil Dorfsman recorded it, and Chuck Plotkin and Toby Scott mixed it. The feeling is heartland rock with the sun gone down: plain, patient and bruised.

In 1981 it became a hit in parts of Europe: Sweden and Norway both put it in their top 10, Ireland took it to No. 24 and the Netherlands to No. 25. Depending on the country, the B-side was either "Independence Day" or "Ramrod".

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.