Stream Running Over

this has to be one of the funnest songs I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. Obviously, it's fantastic to play on a warm, sunny day, or when you're just taking a chill drive to wherever your mind takes you. Awesome.

oh so great.

"I wanted to go Where the antelope play now I looked around They've all gone away now I wish I could drink where The water is so clear It might clear my mind My mind Comes and goes here"

The first stanza expresses that he wants to go somewhere beautiful in this world but its not possible. The antelope and clear water have gone away suggesting environmental destruction. Without "clean water" (natural purity) he cannot even think straight.

"Once I cut my hand But the wound was not part of me Now I'm a man There's a wound at the heart of me I wish I could leave And I guess I would stay there Wherever that is That is Far from anywhere"

Second stanza contrasts the cut of a hand with a "wound" in a "heart". A wound in a heart is a psychological scar- a pain to the true self, whereas a cut on a hand is superficial. Cutting a hand is a mistake more frequently made by children, and it's placement before the line "Now I'm a man" suggests growing up, when people tend to manifest more psychological problems. Then he goes into an escape fantasy.

"There's a stream running over On distant shores Everybody's swimming In the water (and so on)

This is the escape fantasy, which ties into the unfulfilled desire for happiness in nature expounded in the first stanza.

"Baby I want to go where Nobody will change me Or change my mind My mind That contains me And is contained by The starlight surrounding us Like falling rain Pouring down on us"

In this fantasy realm the narrator will also be free of his psychological problems and insecurities. Interesting that in a previous stanza the body and self were dichotomized (the cut on the hand vs the wounded heart), and in this one the mind and the self are dichotomized. Not sure what the starlight/rain references mean, but they "contain" and "surround" the narrator, and are seen as positive.

Thats pretty much all the lyrics. The way I've written this it sounds kind of negative, but I actually think its a very positive and uplifting song about escapist fantasies with environmental undertones.

Of course i don't think that's the meaning of the song, but when i heard it for the first time i got the idea it was about someone who was kinda struggling and was seeing how everybody was swimming in the water, which could be living their lives or whatever.