Song of the Day (3/3/06)

Bruce Springsteen - The River (1980)

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

MOST DEPRESSING SONG EVER!

Okay, so here's the deal. You're in high school, you have all your hopes and dreams ahead of you. Life is good. And then BAM ... you get your girlfriend pregnant ...

Way to go, you've just become a Bruce Springsteen song.

I love Springsteen, always have. I remember being three or four years old and living in Europe (my dad was Air Force at the time). My family would take frequent road trips to Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, France, etc. and the "Born in the USA" cassette was always playing in the car. Talk about ironic.

I didn't hear this song until years later - after picking up 1995's Greatest Hits release - but the serious, outright depressing nature of it immediately drew me in. It's just sad, an unrelenting sad that doesn't go away. Springsteen excels at the style - from the haunting harmonica solo at the beginning to the hopeless nature of the lyrics.

It goes without saying this piece is best heard while drinking an alcoholic beverage.