• Voto:
Premetto subito una cosa: il Boss e' il mio artisto preferito insieme ai Velvet Underground e quindi da grande fan di Bruce non posso non apprezzare il suo capolavoro assoluto "The River".
La prima cosa che bisogna ricordare parlando di questo album e' ovviamente il fatto che si tratti di un doppio, ora non so se siate d'accordo con me quando affermo che da un doppio ci si aspetta sempre un po' di piu' e a volte si rimane delusi perche', crescendo il numero delle canzoni, a volte crescono anche i "riempitivi". Non e' certo questo il caso dell'album in questione , dal quale anzi il Boss ha dovuto eliminare una decina di canzoni che troveranno successivamente posto in "Tracks" (1998), raccolta di "scarti" in 4 cd.
Ora pero' parliamo di "The River": il cd inizia nel migliore dei modi, la "E-Street Band" gira alla perfezione e probabilmente questo e' l'album di Bruce piu' vicino alle sue esibizioni live. Nel primo cd trovano piu' spazio canzoni fatte apposta per essere suonate dal vivo , "Out in the Street", "Two Hearts" e la sempre troppo sottovalutata "Jackson Cage". Il capolavoro del primo cd (e dopo "Thunder Road" dell'intera carriera di Springsteen) e' pero' la canzone omonima in cui il Boss da il meglio sia dal punto di vista musicale, sia da quello della scrittura, scrivendo una delle sue belle storie.
Nel secondo cd invece le "ballate" trovano sicuramente piu' spazio, si inizia subito con "Point Blank" e si prosegue con la splendida "triade" finale ("The Price You Pay", "Drive All Night, "Wreck On The Highway"), il tutto contornato da canzoni rock'n'roll nel senso piu' classico del termine anche se, a dire la verita', risultino essere le meno riuscite ("I'm a Rocker", "Cadillac Ranch").
In conclusione cosa posso dire? Che il Boss, 5 anni dopo il suo primo capolavoro "Born To Run" e due anni dopo il bellissimo seppur di un gradino inferiore "Darkness on the Edge of Town", ha creato il suo capolavoro definitivo e uno dei piu' bei cd della storia del rock.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 The Ties That Bind (03:34)
You been hurt and you're all cried out you say
You walk down the street pushin' people outta your way
You packed your bags and all alone you wanna ride,
You don't want nothin', don't need no one by your side
You're walkin' tough baby, but you're walkin' blind
to the ties that bind
CHORUS
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 nothin' that anybody can touch
You're so afraid of being somebody's fool
Not walkin' tough baby, not walkin' cool
You walk cool, but darlin', 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 darlin',
Than know the emptiness your heart must hide,
Yes I would darlin', yes I would darlin',
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 runnin' now but darlin' 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
02 Sherry Darling (04:03)
Your Mamma's yappin' in the back seat
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 ridin' with me
CHORUS
You can tell her there's a hot sun beatin' on the black top
She keeps talkin' she'll be walkin' 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 Darlin'
Now there's girls melting on the beach
And they're so fine but so far 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 aint big enough for her and me
CHORUS
So you can tell her there's a hot sun beatin' on the black top
She keeps talkin' she'll be walkin' 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 Darlin'
Well let there be sunlight, let there be rain
Let the brokenhearted love again
Sherry we can run with our arms open 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 Darlin'
Hey, hey, hey, what you say Sherry Darlin'
03 Jackson Cage (03:04)
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 the 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
The cool of the night takes the edge off the heat
In the Jackson Cage
Down in Jackson Cage
You can try with all your might
But you're reminded every night
That you been judged and handed life
Down in 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 up 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 darlin' can you understand
The way that they will turn a man
Into a stranger to waste away
Down in the Jackson Cage
06 Hungry Heart (03:19)
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 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...
08 Crush on You (03:10)
My feets were flyin' 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
CHORUS
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
CHORUS
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!
CHORUS
10 I Wanna Marry You (03:30)
I see you walking, baby, down the street
Pushing that baby carriage at your feet
I see the 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, darlin' week after week
Raising two kids alone in this mixed up world
Must be a lonely life for a working girl
CHORUS
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 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, darlin', I could help them along
CHORUS
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 life, makes a man hard
Oh, darlin'
There's something happy and there's something sad
'Bout wanting somebody, oh so bad,
I wear my love darlin', without shame
I'd be proud if you would wear my name
11 The River (05:01)
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 nineteenth 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'd 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 tanned 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
Carico i commenti... con calma
Altre recensioni
Di Massimof
"Un disco che, arrivando al momento giusto, diventa la colonna sonora della propria esistenza."
"Una storia comune narrata magistralmente e con una melodia che la farà restare per sempre nell’anima di chi l'ha ascoltata."
Di Luck94
The River è probabilmente il miglior lavoro in assoluto del Boss, la summa delle sue capacità e dei generi da lui attraversati.
La titletrack, un brano dagli echi country che narra un amore appassionato, è il punto più alto dell'album.
Di francescopisani
The River è la favola amara di milioni di vite americane, e non solo.
L'album unisce perfettamente il sound rock e pulito di Darkness con l'epica selvaggia e da strada di Born To Run.
