http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=gg3DleXrT-o

How are ya doin’ out there tonight? That’s good, that’s good.

This is ah… When I was growing up, me and my dad used to go at it

all the time over almost anything. But, ah, I used to have really long

hair, way down past my shoulders. I was 17 or 18, oh man, he used to

hate it. And we got to where we’d fight so much that I’d, that I’d

spend a lot of time out of the house; and in the summertime it wasn’t

so bad, ‘cause it was warm, and my friends were out, but in the winter,

I remember standing downtown where it’d get so cold and, when the

wind would blow, I had this phone booth I used to stand in. And I

used to call my girl, like, for hours at a time, just talking to her all

night long. And finally I’d get my nerve up to go home. I’d stand there

in the driveway and he’d be waiting for me in the kitchen and I’d tuck

my hair down on my collar and I’d walk in and he’d call me back to

sit down with him. And the first thing he’d always ask me was what

did I think I was doing with myself. And the worst part of it was that I

could never explain to him.

I remember I got in a motorcycle accident once and I was laid up in

bed and he had a barber come in and cut my hair and, man, I can

remember telling him that I hated him and that I would never ever

forget it. And he used to tell me: “Man, I can’t wait till the army gets

you. When the army gets you they’re gonna make a man out of you.

They’re gonna cut all that hair off and they’ll make a man out of you.”

And this was, I guess, ’68 when there was a lot of guys from the

neighbourhood going to Vietnam. I remember the drummer in my first

band coming over to my house with his marine uniform on, saying

that he was going and that he didn’t know where it was. And a lot of

guys went, and a lot of guys didn’t come back. And the lot that came

back weren’t the same anymore. I remember the day I got my draft

notice. I hid it from my folks and three days before my physical me

and my friends went out and we stayed up all night and we got on the

bus to go that morning and man we were all so scared… And I went,

and I failed. I came home [audience cheers], it’s nothing to applaud

about… I remember coming home after I’d been gone for three days

and walking in the kitchen and my mother and father were sitting
there and my dad said: “Where you been?” and I said, uh, “I went to

take my physical.” He said “What happened?” I said “They didn’t take

me.” And he said: “That’s good.”

USED TO = 6 TIMES

WOULD = 11 TIMES
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - THE RIVER

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 ride out of that 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 did 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 tan 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