Springsteen told Jimmy Fallon that initially, The River just didn't feel right. "We handed in a single record first, and I panicked after we handed it in, and I took it back," Springsteen said to Fallon. "It didn't feel like quite enough. So I took it back and spent another year, in tears, making the double album. I shed man-tears."

The double record was important, according to Springsteen. "We were trying to get a record that felt like our live show, that's why it ended up being a double record," The Boss said. "We had a lot of bar band music on and a lot of character studies that I would write also. It got close to capturing some of the energy of a live show, so it was fun."