Wreck On The Highway

Album: The River (1980)
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Songfacts®:

  • The title came from a 1944 Roy Acuff song of the same name.
  • The lyrics are about a man who confronts his mortality when he discovers a car accident on a country road. Springsteen explained in his book Songs: "On a rainy highway the character witnesses a fatal accident. He drives home, and lying awake that night next to his lover, he realizes you have a limited number of opportunities to love someone, to do your work, to be a part of something, to parent your children, to do something good."
  • This is the last song on The River, a double album containing a mix of emotional ballads and uptempo rockers.

Comments: 2

  • Christine Fox Vilmont from IllinoisThis song grabbed me. I’m staying out in the country on farm where all there is-is county highways and roads. It fits this area. The tone and melody are fabulous and the songs makes you take a look at how short life can be and how precious that time is. Also how we all need each other and we in difficult times.
  • Kevin from Auckland, New ZealandThe song that first hooked me on bruce..full of low key emotion and very much the song of a loner.
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