Lyric discussion by geb666 

Cover art for The River lyrics by Bruce Springsteen

One of my favorite Springsteen songs... along with Youngstown I think it really encapsulates the death of the American Dream. I just wanted to mention that whenever I hear this song, the last verse makes me think of suicide. The lines:

"That sends me down to the river Though I know the river is dry"

makes me think that he is going to jump into the dry river bed from a bridge.... The lyrics above are incorrect because the line is:

"And into the river we'd dive", not drive.

Which is why at the end of the song it makes me think he's going to dive into the dry river bed.

Also another much darker interpretation of "My baby and I" is that he's thinking about killing himself and perhaps his wife or his child... anyways, my two cents.

My Interpretation

that's exactly how I read it.

the man tells the stiry about his youth, an unwanted pregnancy that changed everything, and when they're old they live besides each other, well remembering their past and passion. But that's over now.

And as the narrator remember those beautifull hard moments of his life, they haunt him. cause they're past

And that's driving him to the river (to jump in) He is so desperate about his loss in life and love, that he takes the way to the river, to jump, even he know it's dry.

in fact I think he's hoping for...

@geb666 I went to read the last line, because I have always interpreted as his maybe becoming suicidal at the end.

@geb666 I have always felt that they were going down to the river for the last time and I felt it was suicide as well. I am surprised that weren’t more of us interpreting it this way.