i walked with the river in a kind of a dream
hand in hand the all knowing river and me
to the clamour of rushes and deeply bowing trees
and drunk making blossom that blushed to be seen
i told him my sorrows and broken down dreams
confessed every lie
replayed every scene
he openly wept as he listened to me
and then with the sun in the west
he showed me the sea
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
So, let's see:
The theme of the album seems to be nostalgia, memories, growing old.
"The river" implies to life in general, I guess. It's an old metaphor here used by Garvey in a slightly more obscure way. "Walking beside the everchanging chain of events that shape you." You could not step twice into the same river, you know? After all is said and done, it feels like a dream. Clamour of rushes: all those wild times - deeply bowing trees: all those peaceful moments. Well, if the blossom isn't love then I don't know what it can be.
Then comes the second part. Confessions, replays, regrets, memories. "The sun in the west" is the end, the day is done, life has been lived to the end. The river shows him the sea: a common metaphor for death - that's where all the rivers flow.
Garvey has stated that lyrically this song was inspired by the film 'Junebug', in particular a scene where one of the main characters sings an a capella hymn. Apparently, 'The River' was intended to be a song "with a hymnal feel, without it necessarily belonging to God."
In light of this, it is possible that the river in the song is seen almost as a replacement for God. Nature (embodied by the river) becomes the object of worship instead of God. This theme of religious practice is also reflected in the idea of confessing to the river (which is referred to as 'he') and the metaphor for death at the end of the song. In the same way that God is supposed to lead us to the next life, the river leads us to the sea, the inevitable destination, representative of something big and unknown at the end of the journey.
Best song on the Album !