This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
It's three miles to the river
That would carry me away
Two miles to the dusty street
That I saw you on today
It's four miles to my lonely room
Where I will hide my face
And about half a mile to the downtown bar
That I ran from in disgrace
Lord how long have I got to keep on running
Seven hours seven days or seven years?
All I know is since you've been gone
I feel like I'm drowning in a river
Drowning in a river of tears
Drowning in a river
Feel like I'm drowning
Drowning in a river
In three more days, I'll leave this town
And disappear without a trace
A year from now, maybe settle down
Where no one knows my face
I wish that I could hold you
One more time to ease the pain
But my time's run out and I got to go
Got to run away again
Still I catch myself thinking
One day I'll find my way back here
You'll save me from drowning
Drowning in a river
Drowning in a river of tears
Drowning in a river
Feels like I'm drowning
Drowning in the river
Oh, how long must this go on?
Drowning in a river
Drowning in a river of tears
That would carry me away
Two miles to the dusty street
That I saw you on today
It's four miles to my lonely room
Where I will hide my face
And about half a mile to the downtown bar
That I ran from in disgrace
Lord how long have I got to keep on running
Seven hours seven days or seven years?
All I know is since you've been gone
I feel like I'm drowning in a river
Drowning in a river of tears
Drowning in a river
Feel like I'm drowning
Drowning in a river
In three more days, I'll leave this town
And disappear without a trace
A year from now, maybe settle down
Where no one knows my face
I wish that I could hold you
One more time to ease the pain
But my time's run out and I got to go
Got to run away again
Still I catch myself thinking
One day I'll find my way back here
You'll save me from drowning
Drowning in a river
Drowning in a river of tears
Drowning in a river
Feels like I'm drowning
Drowning in the river
Oh, how long must this go on?
Drowning in a river
Drowning in a river of tears
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery, edited by HestiaBHN
River of Tears Lyrics as written by Simon Climie Eric Patrick Clapton
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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River of Tears is one the deepest song there is about a break up. Depressingly uplifting. The most tear-jerking part of the song is when the soft violins introduce the words: I wish that I could hold you... One more time to ease the pain. It expresses the feelings you have when you break up with someone. Beautiful.
umm i think this song can not only be about a break up up but also about losing anyone... either through seperation, meaning distance, or even losing someone through death. now that is not all that this song means either. if you look into claptons life history you will see that he has not had the easiest life. this song is really the story of his diffcult life... lines like "And about half a mile to the downtown bar That I ran from in disgrace." among other lines all have reference to claptons life... that is all for now i know i will have more.
CLAPTON IS GOD!!!
This song is very emotional song for me. Obviously of the loss of a love, and possibly something more. Either way it's a pretty depressing song.
The song is reaaly a peach of a song! thats really a portrait of break up.I had a sever break up that reaaly made me sick for so many years and noe I still feel the meaning of being far from the one you really loved. I drownin' too. and I wish that I could hold her one more time to ease my pain.
There's absolutely nothing I can find wrong with this song... from the extended instrumental intro to the opening lines to the end. It is rich and powerful and moving and meaningful and universal and ... perfect. That's it, it is simply a rare, perfect work of art.
I simply love this song. You can just feel the music when you're listening. To me this song is about someone who lost someone who was very special to them. I'm sure everyone can relate to this song. Eric Clapton, you are one of my guitar heroes as well. Thank you for making such good music!
I love the version off 'one more car one more rider' , when i first heard the guitar solo i was like 'wooah!'- just as much emotion in the playing as there is in the lyrics
I agree with the previous comments but also link this song to Clapton's grief over the death of his son Connor. In my view this explains the bottomless grief expressed in the song. Perhaps he needed several attempts (eg Tears in Heaven) to truly get down what he was feeling.
(It's four miles to my lonely room Where I will hide my face, And about half a mile to the downtown bar That I ran from in disgrace.)
This portion makes me think he had an affair was caught and his wife subsequently left him.
(Lord, how long have I got to keep on running, Seven hours, seven days or seven years? All I know is, since you've been gone I feel like I'm drowning in a river, Drowning in a river of tears. Drowning in a river. Feel like I'm drowning, Drowning in a river.)
This section seems like he is doing all that he can to avoid his feelings.
(I wish that I could hold you One more time to ease the pain, But my time's run out and I got to go, Got to run away again)
This section makes me think he has issues with commitment and is a coward and runs from his relationships By asking for one more embrace it seems that he does love her but just cant stay.
(Still I catch myself thinking, One day I'll find my way back here. You'll save me from drowning, Drowning in a river, Drowning in a river of tears. Drowning in a river. Feels like I'm drowning, Drowning in the river. Lord, how long must this go on?)
I feel he wants to go back to her and she will take him back and some how forgive and make him over come his tendency to run away from relationships. He seems to have a lot of self loathing and doesn't want to be the way he is.
This is an amazingly beautiful and moving song. However, the lyrics as displayed above are incorrect. It is "miles" not "months" in 3 places in the first stanza. And "Oh" not Lord" in the last stanza.