It is open to many interpretations, of course, and deals with themes common to Sea Wolf tunes such as young love, death, and the loss of innocence. However, after the first couple of listens, it suddenly struck me that this is a ghost story. It's very unlikely that this was unintentional, and hence, whatever else it is, I think this is a deliberate play on the ghost story/mystery, the solution to which is thus: a lonely guy was walking in the rain on Halloween night, met a strange girl, they got to know each other, she showed him the house she was raised (and died) in, they got a little friendly (holding hands and teasing about kisses), then she ran off cackling. Interestingly, the most striking line is the one which breaks the story, and provides the title: He talks about the leaves blowing, and wonders where they go. i.e. where do dead/lost souls go? "Leaves in the River" then, are the leaves which fell off the tree (life) but didn't blow off to the suburbs or city (afterlives), but instead are floating around in the river before they wash away. There are lots of ways to read it, but it would be hard to end up with something like this if it wasn't supposed to be a ghost. Given that she is, you can also read her as a young, lost girl reaching out for love/protection, and that's just another layer of the total onion.
It is open to many interpretations, of course, and deals with themes common to Sea Wolf tunes such as young love, death, and the loss of innocence. However, after the first couple of listens, it suddenly struck me that this is a ghost story. It's very unlikely that this was unintentional, and hence, whatever else it is, I think this is a deliberate play on the ghost story/mystery, the solution to which is thus: a lonely guy was walking in the rain on Halloween night, met a strange girl, they got to know each other, she showed him the house she was raised (and died) in, they got a little friendly (holding hands and teasing about kisses), then she ran off cackling. Interestingly, the most striking line is the one which breaks the story, and provides the title: He talks about the leaves blowing, and wonders where they go. i.e. where do dead/lost souls go? "Leaves in the River" then, are the leaves which fell off the tree (life) but didn't blow off to the suburbs or city (afterlives), but instead are floating around in the river before they wash away. There are lots of ways to read it, but it would be hard to end up with something like this if it wasn't supposed to be a ghost. Given that she is, you can also read her as a young, lost girl reaching out for love/protection, and that's just another layer of the total onion.