5 Bruce Springsteen Songs Where Dreams Play a Big Role

Like any ace songwriter, Bruce Springsteen possesses some go-to moves that show up throughout his catalog. As one example, Springsteen has worked the concept of dreams into his material many times over. We could have made this list much longer. But these five songs do a pretty good job of representing how Springsteen has masterfully utilized dreams, both happy and nightmarish, in his material.

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“The River” from ‘The River’ (1980)

In this case, Bruce Springsteen doesn’t detail the events of a specific dream that the narrator had. Instead, he’s talking more about the general dreams that we all tend to have for our lives. “The River” tells the story of how an unplanned pregnancy changes everything for two people. The narrator explains how his life transformed in an instant, with responsibilities replacing freedom. Towards the song’s end, Springsteen lays it all on the line with a classic couplet: “Is a dream a life if it don’t come true/Or is it something worse?”

“My Father’s House” from ‘Nebraska’ (1982)

Bruce Springsteen dug deeper than ever with his lyrics on the album Nebraska. He spent much of the album inhabiting characters. But “My Father’s House” finds him going back to his own childhood. The first three verses focus on a single dream that the narrator encounters. In it, he runs through dense forestry until finally spotting his father’s house. He ends the dream in his Dad’s arms. But when he wakes up and tries to recapture that dream, his efforts are futile. It seems to represent an unfulfilled wish to square things with his father.

“Downbound Train” from ‘Born In The U.S.A.’ (1984)

Here’s one where Bruce Springsteen doesn’t explicitly tell us that a dream is involved. But it’s hard to interpret the final verses as anything other than a dream, a fever dream at that. In the first two verses, we hear about a narrator so far down on his luck that it seems he might never make his way back to the surface. In the closing section of the song, he imagines hearing the voice of his wife. He tears out into the night on foot in an effort to find it, only to realize she’s long gone and breaks down in tears.

“Valentine’s Day” from ‘Tunnel Of Love’ (1987)

Tunnel Of Love articulates, in sometimes harrowing detail, how difficult it is for two people to come together in this world. “Valentine’s Day” ends the album on a somewhat hopeful, if still a bit ambiguous, note. Much of the song details a late-night car ride, with the narrator pondering his romance as the scenery rushes by. But in the last verse, he tells of a dream where “God’s light came shinin’ on through.” He wakes up a little frightened but also bound and determined to go find his lover before it’s too late.

“Working On A Dream” from ‘Working On A Dream’ (2009)

If you ask us, Working On A Dream is Bruce Springsteen’s most underrated album. It didn’t help that he performed at the Super Bowl at around the same time as the album was released and focused mostly on his evergreen hits. In any case, the title track captures a bit of a throwback 60s vibe. This is a case where the dream in the title represents everything that the narrator has been striving towards for his whole life. And although he might never quite get there, the nobility of his efforts is what matters most.

Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns