The song Bruce Springsteen wrote for his sister

By editorial board on February 5, 2024

Bruce Springsteen rarely wrote about his own life in explicit ways.

Springsteen’s sisters, Pamela Springsteen,Virginia Springsteen Shave, are younger than him. 

Among the two, the youngest one, Pamela, is a photographer. But, here we will be focusing on another sister of Bruce Springsteen, Virginia Springsteen, on whom he based one of his songs.

“Standing before you is a man who has become wildly and absurdly successful writing about something of which he has had absolutely no personal experience,” Springsteen tells the audience early on. “I made it all up. That’s how good I am.”

Bruce Springsteen’s father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, had a sister named Virginia Springsteen. But, sadly, she passed away in a road accident in 1927. Virginia was just five years old when a truck backing out of a gas station on Freehold Street hit her tricycle and killed her. Bruce Springsteen’s sister, Virginia, was the first daughter of his parents. So, his parents and grandparents named her in memory of her late aunt. (Celebritymirror)

During a 2009 concert, Springsteen hinted to the audience into the true stories that informed the song. “The River was a record that was sort of the gateway to a lot of my future writing,” Springsteen said. (Faroutmagazine)

“It was a record we made after Darkness on the Edge of Town. It was a record made during a recession—hard times in the States. Its title song is a song I wrote for my brother-in-law and sister. My brother-in-law was in the construction industry, lost his job and had to struggle very hard back in the late ’70s, like so many people are doing today. It was a record where I first started to tackle men and women and families and marriage.”

In an interview included in Springsteen’s 2012 biography Bruce, Springsteen’s sister, Ginny Springsteen, states that the song is an accurate description of her relationship with her husband Mickey. Mickey worked construction, and during the 1980 recession found it difficult to remain employed. Springsteen changed some names and details from reality, but otherwise, ‘The River’ remained a tribute to the difficulties of young couples trying to stay afloat.

‘The River’ was notable as being one of Springsteen’s vehicles for personal reflection while on stage. During a number of tours, including the 1985 Born in the U.S.A. tour, Springsteen would use the song to reflect on his past relationship with his father, usually with ‘My Father’s House’ or ‘My Hometown’ doing the same. When he embarked on The River tour in 2016, Springsteen often mentioned his sister and his brother-in-law as the inspiration for ‘The River’, commenting how they were still married to this day.

Read also Pamela Springsteen to talk pics, including brother Bruce - Happy Birthday Pamela Springsteen She’s photographed her brother multiple times, including extensively for landmark solo album “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”

 

Even after writing “Born to Run” about getting the hell out of his hometown (and what would become one of his biggest hits), he ended up living only 10 minutes away from his hometown.

Some of Springsteen’s biggest hits are among the songs he chooses to perform—some of which may be nearly unrecognizable in their rawest and most stripped-down forms.

He becomes visibly emotional talking about the E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011, and he brightens up when his wife, the singer Patti Scialfa, joins him onstage; the sexual tension between them as they duet on two songs is palpable.

Springsteen on Broadway will debut on Netflix Dec. 16, just hours after he performs his final show on Broadway. It was one of the biggest shows in town, but for many Springsteen fans and Broadway aficionados, it will be the only way to see it. The show sold out almost as soon as Springsteen released new waves of tickets. During its final two weeks, the cheapest ticket on StubHub was nearly $1,800. But if you were lucky enough to get the chance to purchase a ticket, it could still put you back $500.

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