Meeting Across the River

Album: Born to Run (1975)
Play Video
  • Hey Eddie, can you lend me a few bucks?
    Tonight, can you get us a ride?
    Gotta make it through the tunnel
    Got a meeting with a man on the other side

    Hey Eddie, this guy, he's the real thing
    So if you want to come along
    You gotta promise you won't say anything
    'Cause this guy don't dance
    And the word's been passed, this is our last chance

    We gotta stay cool tonight, Eddie
    'Cause man, we got ourselves out on that line
    And if we blow this one
    They ain't gonna be looking for just me this time

    And all we gotta do is hold up our end
    Here, stuff this in your pocket
    It'll look like you're carrying a friend
    And remember, just don't smile
    Change your shirt, 'cause tonight we got style

    Well, Cherry says she's gonna walk
    'Cause she found out I took her radio and hocked it
    But Eddie, man, she don't understand
    That two grand's practically sitting here in my pocket

    Tonight's gonna be everything that I said
    And when I walk through that door
    I'm just gonna throw that money on the bed
    She'll see this time I wasn't just talking
    Then I'm gonna go out walking

    Hey Eddie, can you catch us a ride? Writer/s: Bruce Springsteen
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

  • H from Pacific NorthwestThis is a extraordinarily powerful, compelling vocal performance. The poignancy of this song has somehow touched my soul - I'm unexpectedly crying a bit playing this song again this morning. Wasn't sure I still could. I hadn't listened to this album until yesterday since my roommate Mike played it on his reel-to-reel deck when we were in college in '82. I'm glad to read Private User's comment, but still wish to retain my own interpretation, and the hazy scenes I've built in my mind of street lights and shadows, of cars and clandestine meetings amid bridge abutments and old brick industrial buildings. I imagine that Eddie was the better man, but ended up on the wrong end of things, and the lead character lived his life with the sorrow of knowing it was his fault, and could have all been avoided if he'd just found a way to satisfy the guys who 'don't dance' and never smile, and backed away from the criminal life while he still had a chance and reconciled with his girl and buckled down to a small but legit life on his side of the river.
  • Private User from Boston, MaThis song is about a friend of my father-in-law, both of who were concert promoters and close friends with Springsteen in the 70s. And no, “Eddie” (name changed and I won’t reveal it) was not a criminal, but someone who put on a lot of events in the Trenton, NJ area but did fall on hard times. In fact, “Eddie” appears in at least one other of Springsteen’s songs under a different name. My father-in-law isn’t alive (he passed in the 70s) but “Eddie” still is and is currently living on a beach down in Jamaica. :D
  • Mippy724 from Ashland OrLOVE this song, always have from the first listen. The rhythm is so damn cool
    1 2 3 FOUR 5 6 7 8
    1 2 3 FOUR 5 6 7 8
    1 2 3 FOUR 5 6 7 8
  • Daniel from Seattle, WaTom Waits said that he wished HE had written this song. Springsteen repaid the complement by doing Waits' "Jersey Girl."
  • Derek from Shrewsbury, Magreat song not very well known but thats understandable because its so slow
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Randy Houser

Randy HouserSongwriter Interviews

The "How Country Feels" singer talks Skynyrd and songwriting.

Cy Curnin of The Fixx

Cy Curnin of The FixxSongwriter Interviews

The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Michael Sweet of Stryper

Michael Sweet of StryperSongwriter Interviews

Find out how God and glam metal go together from the Stryper frontman.

Protest Songs

Protest SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top Proverb

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top ProverbSong Writing

How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.