Down on the Riverbed

I've loved this since I first heard it back in the day. This song manages to create a mood and tell a story with only 8 distinct lines. But the minimal lyrics also leave plenty of room for interpretation. Given the ominous musical arrangement, one could take it to be foreshadowing disaster, but I think it's about the anxiety that comes from hoping for happiness in a harsh world. Forgive me for reducing the beautiful poetry to clumsy prose.

Down on the riverbed I asked my lover for her hand

• the singer proposes to his girlfriend, in perhaps the only place they can be alone: down on the riverbed. I picture it as an arroyo in the dry the season.

A red tailed hawk circled overhead The church on the hill, was what she said

• He looks up to see a raptor circling - could be a sign of something, or just a reminder of merciless nature. She accepts his proposal by telling him where she wants the ceremony to be.

A monster cloud like a big black hand ("hand", not "hen") As she drew houses in the sand

• While his lover (now fiancee) imagines the house they will live in, he sees a huge black cloud suddenly overhead. To me, this represents his anxiety at letting himself hope for a happy life with her, while knowing that bad things can always happen. (Also literally a sudden storm can cause a flash flood "down on the riverbed".)

Then I heard a train whistle blow And I knew it was time to go

• The train whistle snaps him out of it and he knows it's time to face the future, whatever it may hold, together. ETA: a train, of course, represents movement, perhaps moving forward into the future.