Down Down the Deep River Lyrics
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
Down a hall of a house, down a road in December
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
Down a hall of a house, down a road in December
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
Shivering from the late fall cold, I felt like a solid ghost. I ran, and I couldn't slow. My father found me though, and my father took me home. He said, "Oh, son, I saw you get knocked down and I ran out. I bet your head was spinning! With that bright pain you're stunned, when you've only just begun to be only just beginning. Tossed in the viper pit, all those feelings and fears and all the difficult shit in all those tender years. There was something in the air... Something gathered in the air. Something singing in the wind... Oh, I'll be your fighter and I'll be your mirror, and you'll be all right because I'll be right here. Oh, kid, I'm not going anywhere. I swear I'll try to not be going anywhere. Though it's not all right, it's so far from all right, we'll make it into a choice somehow. I don't know. But you'll have a choice somehow.
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
We can never go back; we can only remember
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
Up the stairs, four flights up, can you feel my heart shiver?
(Down, down, down the deep river, down, down, down the deep river)
Walking in the dawn, with that dream getting dimmer and dimmer. Say you still see it. Say you remember. Are we going to the deep river? I know it's scary, baby.
Also, what a great song. Sheff just has a f*@cking way...
Well done. This helped alot. I think I have clarity on a few lines.
"Spit into the center of your hometown" "All the way it seemed in '89" "Down a hall in your house"
What ya think?
I agree that it sounds like he sings "Down a hall in your house." I actually scrolled down to the comments to comment on that line. The two other corrections you have also sound correct to me. This song is superb! I cannot wait to hear the whole album.
I agree that it sounds like he sings "Down a hall in your house." I actually scrolled down to the comments to comment on that line. The two other corrections you have also sound correct to me. This song is superb! I cannot wait to hear the whole album.
Thanks for the corrections! "Down a hall in your house" certainly makes more sense than "down a haunted house," haha! It also does sound like he's saying "Spit into the center of your hometown." I'm still not convinced on the third line with '89 in it. Maybe it's "All the way it seemed by '89"? He's definitely saying "by" before '89.
Thanks for the corrections! "Down a hall in your house" certainly makes more sense than "down a haunted house," haha! It also does sound like he's saying "Spit into the center of your hometown." I'm still not convinced on the third line with '89 in it. Maybe it's "All the way it seemed by '89"? He's definitely saying "by" before '89.
I'm incredibly stoked for this album. I think Okkervil River is brilliant, and the three songs we've gotten from the Silver Gymnasium have been great so far.
I'm incredibly stoked for this album. I think Okkervil River is brilliant, and the three songs we've gotten from the Silver Gymnasium have been great so far.
One little...
One little detail I like about this song is how the trauma scene that's described in this song, with the rescue party, recalls "Wake and Be Fine" in an interesting way: "The rescue party finally lost their hearts and shattered their bones, and died all alone." Sheff has been really good so far at creating a sort of self-referential universe between songs and albums which I like quite a lot.
It is 'by 89' -- remember, I-89 passes just to the west of Meriden.
It is 'by 89' -- remember, I-89 passes just to the west of Meriden.
Fantastic song. I think it's about the singer remembering his childhood best friend's death, wishing the friend could still be here ("Play it again and again–it cuts off at the ending though. Tell me I’m always gonna be your best friend. Now you said it one time, why don’t you say it again?"), and more abstractly, the loss of his innocence. For the first time, all the adults in his life failed him. The friend may have been murdered, I suppose, by the "very bad men." The singer called for help but the "adults" that were meant to save him were just kids themselves ("the volunteer team–ah, they’re just kids of eighteen, and it’s the worst thing they’ve seen") and they couldn't help.
He recalls how his father, another "adult", tried to comfort him ("Maybe they told you ‘bout the summer sky, maybe they said there’s a great gold spirit in the summer sky or all your friends (all your best, best friends) are gonna gather around your bed at night") but ultimately it was still "not even close to alright."
Love this interpretation. I think the other kid dies in a frozen river and the rescue party's tied to a tree.
Love this interpretation. I think the other kid dies in a frozen river and the rescue party's tied to a tree.
The only question I have is why does the dad say, "we'll make it into a choice somehow?" I thought that had something do with homosexuality (but that's because I mistakenly thought "My Season" was all about two gay teens). Did the narrator or the father knock the kid into the river and now the dad and child have to get their stories straight?
The only question I have is why does the dad say, "we'll make it into a choice somehow?" I thought that had something do with homosexuality (but that's because I mistakenly thought "My Season" was all about two gay teens). Did the narrator or the father knock the kid into the river and now the dad and child have to get their stories straight?
"Oh, son, I saw you getting knocked down" "I'll be your fighter...
"Oh, son, I saw you getting knocked down" "I'll be your fighter and you'll be my mirror" "We'll make it a choice somehow"
Because to sell someone down the river is to betray their trust.
"Because I know it's scary, baby."
I take this song as the story of a young boy around 13-14 in a small town who is in love with his male best friend, wants to be close to him, but is not out of the closet, never gets a chance to connect with him intimately...I'm a little fuzzy on whether the other boy ends of either just going deep into the closet and closing all doors, or leaves to a camp or boarding school, or commits suicide.
"We lie awake at night in a tent and I say, Tell me about your uncle and his friend because they seem like very bad men. Well we oughtta keep away from them."
They're boys having a sleepover and the narrator wants to get closer, and wants to talk about taboos..."your uncle and his friend" implies "your uncle and his boyfriend/partner", the "they seem like very bad men" is a way to cover up the curiosity.
"Tell me I'm always gonna be your best friend. Now you said it one time, why don't you say it again? All the way down the line to where the telephone ends come on and shout it on down the wire."
The hurt you feel by having someone say "yes, I care" and then backing away...please, please, say it again. Let me know you love me. Shout it to me, I want to hear it.
"Though it's not all right. It is so far from all right. We'll make it into a choice somehow. I don't know, but you'll have a choice somehow."
The choice is about sexual orientation...something you can't choose, but desperately want to when you're young and afraid and closeted. It's telling that it says "you'll have a choice" as opposed to "I'll" or "we'll"...the narrator is going forward with their orientation, the other boy is fighting it...this is giving comfort to the boy the narrator is in love with, telling him what he wants to hear.
"Maybe they told you 'bout the summer sky, maybe they said there's a great gold spirit in the summer sky or all your friends (all your best, best friends) are gonna gather around your bed at night. Well that'll make it all right because it is still so far from all right."
Talking about why the other boy is afraid to be gay or come out of the closet; his family and friends are going to be in heaven around him when he dies if he lives a good, straight life, and he'll be in hell if he's gay. It's still far from alright now because they can't have their love. This is also potentially the place where he's talking about the boy he loves having killed himself, I hope you're in heaven because you didn't get involved with me, maybe that makes it alright, but I don't feel alright (not as sure about that).
@clarkma5 As for the suicide take...the search party "it's the worst thing they've seen, they're standing around that tree, and I'm so sorry that I can't stop crying". This boy the narrator loves ran away from home and hung himself from a tree on a cold fall night. "I felt like a solid ghost, I ran and then I could not slow"...the narrator sees the boy he loves hanging dead from a tree and feels so terrible, and runs and runs until his father finds him. And it sounds like his father knows what's up, and gives him a heart-to-heart...
@clarkma5 As for the suicide take...the search party "it's the worst thing they've seen, they're standing around that tree, and I'm so sorry that I can't stop crying". This boy the narrator loves ran away from home and hung himself from a tree on a cold fall night. "I felt like a solid ghost, I ran and then I could not slow"...the narrator sees the boy he loves hanging dead from a tree and feels so terrible, and runs and runs until his father finds him. And it sounds like his father knows what's up, and gives him a heart-to-heart "oh son, this is so terrible that you've gone through this when you're so young and tender and just tossed into the viper pit of life and love and reassures him "I'll be your fighter and you'll be my mirror. And you'll be all right because I'll be right here. Oh kid, now I'm not going anywhere. I swear I'll try to not be going anywhere."
It's a beautiful song.
I think you guys are way off, especially clarkma5.
This song is about losing a best friend in early adolescence. The "deep deep river" is his adulthood, carrying him away from the magic of childhood.
The first verse is at his friends funeral in early December, or fall. All of the dead kid's friends are his pallbearers, and friends and family tell stories of his short life. ("All your days in a line"). But even as they celebrate the kid's life, the narrator feels no relief ("it's not even close to alright").
The kid's uncle is some sort of criminal, and one gets the feeling that the narrator is worried for his friend.
The next part is either a car crash or the kid hung himself and the narrator found him. One wonders if maybe they had a clubhouse of sorts in the woods, Bridge To Terebithia style. Regardless, the narrator witnesses his friend leaving, and it breaks him. His father finds him and comforts him, explaining the afterlife in hopeful terms. But it doesn't make it any better.
As the song ends, the narrator realizes he will not be going "down the deep river" with his best friend. Smh. The song just kills me every time.
I think you guys are way off, especially clarkma5.
This song is about losing a best friend in early adolescence. The "deep deep river" is his adulthood, carrying him away from the magic of childhood.
The first verse is at his friends funeral in early December, or fall. All of the dead kid's friends are his pallbearers, and friends and family tell stories of his short life. ("All your days in a line"). But even as they celebrate the kid's life, the narrator feels no relief ("it's not even close to alright").
The kid's uncle is some sort of criminal, and one gets the feeling that the narrator is worried for his friend.
The next part is either a car crash or the kid hung himself and the narrator found him. One wonders if maybe they had a clubhouse of sorts in the woods, Bridge To Terebithia style. Regardless, the narrator witnesses his friend leaving, and it breaks him. His father finds him and comforts him, explaining the afterlife in hopeful terms. But it doesn't make it any better.
As the song ends, the narrator realizes he will not be going "down the deep river" with his best friend. Smh. The song just kills me every time.