While the title of this song is “Live Forever” it really seems to be about recognizing your own mortality.
“I’m going to cross that river,” is a metaphor for passing over to the other side, which is the only way he is going to “catch tomorrow.”
The lines:
“You're gonna miss me when I’m gone
Nobody here will ever find me
But I always be around
Just like the songs I leave behind me”
Seem to confirm that idea.
The sad thing is Billy Joe Shaver’s son Eddy co-wrote this song with him and then later passed away from a heroine overdose. I heard Shaver sing this song live with Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider and others on KPIG’s (Freedom, CA) Texas Uprising after his son’s death and you could tell it was hard for him to sing it.
This song has been covered many times over by several different artists, but I still like Shaver’s version the best. Shaver is one of the original Texas Outlaw singers and it is good to see him finally get some of the recognition he so rightly deserves.
While the title of this song is “Live Forever” it really seems to be about recognizing your own mortality.
“I’m going to cross that river,” is a metaphor for passing over to the other side, which is the only way he is going to “catch tomorrow.”
The lines: “You're gonna miss me when I’m gone Nobody here will ever find me But I always be around Just like the songs I leave behind me” Seem to confirm that idea.
The sad thing is Billy Joe Shaver’s son Eddy co-wrote this song with him and then later passed away from a heroine overdose. I heard Shaver sing this song live with Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider and others on KPIG’s (Freedom, CA) Texas Uprising after his son’s death and you could tell it was hard for him to sing it.
This song has been covered many times over by several different artists, but I still like Shaver’s version the best. Shaver is one of the original Texas Outlaw singers and it is good to see him finally get some of the recognition he so rightly deserves.