The Factory Worker Who Inspired 'The River' — Bruce Springsteen Never Knew He Was There

Bruce Springsteen was three verses into "The River" when he stopped mid-song and looked down into the fourteenth row. What he saw — and what he did next — left 22,000 people completely silent. This is the story of Ray Kowalski, a factory worker from Linden, New Jersey, who lost his job when the GM plant closed in 1979. He never wrote a letter. He never asked for anything. He just bought a ticket and stood in the crowd, waiting to hear what Springsteen had done with the worst years of his life. He had no idea the song had been written about him.