Chords for Bruce Springsteen - The River (acoustic with song explanation by Bruce)

[G] and I needed a record that I felt [E] had a very, very strong [Em] identity.
[G] .
[D] [C] .
[Em] [G] .
[C] [Em] .
I come [G] from down in the valley.
[D].
Where Mr.
Wynne, you're [C] young.
[Em].
They bring you up to [G] do.
[C] Like your [G] daddy done.
[C] Me and Mary, we met in high [G] school.
When she was [D] just [Em] seventeen.
[Am] We'd ride a red mountain.
Down [C] to where the [D] fields were [C] green .
[G] We'd [F#m] go down to [D] the river.
[E] And into the river [A] we'd dive.
[F#m] Oh, down to [D] the river [E] we'd ride.
[D] .
[F#m] Then I got Mary [A] pregnant.
A man, that was [D] all she wrote.
And for [F#m] my nineteenth [A] birthday.
I got a union card and a wedding coat.
We [D] went down to the courthouse.
[A] And the judge put it all [F#m] to rest.
No wedding day smiles.
No walk down the aisle.
No flowers, no wedding [Em] dress.
That night we [E] had to go.
[C] .
[Dm] I started the narrative writing.
where I would inhabit [G] a character.
[D] [Em] Down deep, down deep.
With a [C] very specific narrative [D] story.
I would sing in that voice, you know, the [C] character.
and it wasn't necessarily [Em] me.
it was partly me and partly [G] other people.
So of course the [D] river was, that was my touchstone.
[Em] for all of that writing that came later.
where you simply [G] step into a character's shoes.
and [D] try to get [C] your listeners to walk in [G] those shoes for a while .
The river was [C] the key to the record, you know.
and that was [G] a throwback, as I've said, [D] to older [Em] folk music.
and an older voice, [Am] it was a very adult voice.
that was a political voice in the [G] sense that it was.
dealing with the Carter recession.
[C] and its effects on, I guess, working people.
[Em] Got [E] a [Em] job working [G] construction.
For [D] the Johnstown [C] Company.
[Em] Lately there ain't been [G] much work.
On [C] the county [G] economy.
[D] Of [C] all those things that seem so important.
[G] They vanished [D] right into [Em] the air.
[Am] Act like I don't remember.
[G] Very act like she don't [C] care.
[Em] I remember us [G] driving in my brother's car.
[D] Her body tainted way down at [C] the [Em] reservoir.
[E] At night on those banks [G] I'd lie awake.
Or [C] close just to feel [G] each breath she'd take.
How [C] those memories come back to haunt [G] me.
Yeah, they haunt [D] me like [Em] a curse.
There's [Am] a dream alive that don't come true.
[G] Or is it something [C] worse.
That sends [Em] me down to [C] the river .
[D] Though I know the river [G] is dry.
[D] Sends [Em] me down to the [D] river tonight.
[C] .
[F] I think the [E] I come from [G] down in the valley, you know.
Then you're laying [D] claim to [E] that [D] character's [Em] experience.
[G#] And you're trying to do right by [C] it as a songwriter.
[D] And you're taking the risk of [Em] singing in that voice.
But that's the writer's job.
Your job is to [D] faithfully imagine the world.
And others' lives in [E] a way that respects [Em] them.
Sort [D] of honors them and records them.
[C] .
In [D] your own [Em] way, somewhat [G] faithfully .
[D] [Em] .
[C] .
[G] [D] [C] .
[Em] .
.