The River

I'm beginnin' to think the river is a metaphor...

I don't remember where the inspiration came from, but at some point I got the idea to write a song about life, love, etc. that's carried along by rivers. 

For me and the missus, there have been rivers that flow (WORDPLAY!!) near, in, and around our relationship. We got engaged on a rooftop overlooking the Ohio River. On our travels back and forth from the middle of the country (Nebraska) to the middle-but-not-middle of the country (Ohio), we always crossed the Mississippi. (The first time, I think, was when we were moving from North Carolina to Nebraska.) And now we live a stone's throw from the Big Muddy—the Missouri River.

Also, I am increasingly a river rat. We now have two kayaks, which is two more boats than I've ever had, and I've been putting the miles on them. The fellas and I, and sometimes my eldest daughter, or whoever will go with me, are paddling on lakes and rivers and what have you as much as we can. Including the Missouri.

And I feel like this is a permanent thing...and I kind of feel like we've arrived, in that we have permanently established ourselves here in lovely mid-Mo. So there's a sort of...gentle finality and peace when I think about that waterway. And it jibes nicely as a stand-in for the second half of my life. 

Here's the song:

Lyrics:

Got all of my scars on the Ohio River.
Water took everything I didn't want to give it
Tried to pull me under and hold me til I drowned
Beat my body on the rocks, but I'm still around
Pledged my love to you on the Ohio River
Whatever flowed through me made my whole soul shiver
They said "rebellious daughter," they said, "foolish son"
They said we got married when we were too young
Hey, river flow. Maybe we should say a little prayer before we go

We struck out on our own, and we were never feeling finer
Spent a little time in North Carolina
Don't get stuck in High Point, gotta choose whatever's best
Pack up the Toyota and point it to the West.
Now the mighty Mississippi got nothing on me
We crossed over that bridge and we set ourselves free
Got landlocked for a while in Nebraska
Answer to a question that I didn't even ask ya
Hey, hit the road. But maybe we should say a little prayer before we go

Now I'm on the Big Muddy with a paddle in my hand
Dunno where we're going or where we're gonna land
Oh Missouri River please carry us home
Carry us, carry us, carry us home
Hey, river flow. We say a little prayer of thanks before we go

Got all of my scars on the Ohio River.
Water took everything I didn't want to give it
Tried to pull me under and hold me til I drowned
Beat my body on the rocks, but I'm still around
The mighty Mississippi got nothing on me
We crossed over that bridge and we set ourselves free
God's country gave us everything we ever wanted
Headed down south but the roads were all flooded
Now I'm on the Big Muddy with a paddle in my hand
Dunno where we're going or where we're gonna land
Oh Missouri River you can take me away
Home is wherever we're together that day
Feels like a dream when everyone you love is coming with you down the stream…

Now we're on the Big Muddy floating into the sun
Guess when we got married we weren't too young

A note about that curious first line about the Ohio River: I do not look back especially fondly on my pre- and early adulthood years. There was a lot of good, don't get me wrong, but I was angry, scared, frustrated, and/or depressed for way too much of it. It's complicated. There was a lot of pain, and when we left the state to head off to grad school, it was in the midst of a profound and (still) quite painful break with the community that had kept me alive all through my teen years. 

So...scars. And although I've picked up a scar or two in our stints in North Carolina, Nebraska, and (for the last decade) Missouri, the overwhelming feeling(s) I have for those places are positive. Thus, (almost) all of my scars? From my time in Ohio. 

For the music nerds

This song is in D major. I arrived at the key and chord progression immediately. As in, I thought "hmmm song using rivers as a metaphor for life would be neat," at around 2am one night, and the first thing I did was quietly strum D, A, Bm, and G. And the melody was right there right away, too. Weird.

The Ohio bit tumbled out immediately, as did the whole "floating on the Big Muddy" thing. 

Everything else took a while. I had that four-chord progression just workin' for me. I eked out a few lyric lines I liked, but nothing too cohesive. Pretty quickly I made myself come up with a second chord progression for some aural diversity. (I always do this.) Again, it was kind right there waiting for me to pluck it out of the ether:

Em, A, D, F#, Bm, G, A…

Nice change of pace. I figured I would make it the chorus or something. 

But I've begun tinkering with this idea of evolving chord progressions in songs. Like, instead of just playing the same short chord progression over and over again all the time, I start with a progression that's shortish, and then when I bring it back there's more to it, and then I do that again once or twice. (Or it's just a little different every time.)

I used that above progression between each verse. It comes around four times total. Like this:

Em - A - D - F# - Bm - G - A

Em - A - D - G - A - Bm - F# - Bm - G - A

Em - A - D - G - A - Bm - G - A - D - F# - Bm - G - A

...they all hinge on where that non-diatonic F# chord lands. You never know where it's going to show up.

Then, the last time we hear it, it goes back to the original short version. I was worried that it would sound weird, but I think it works out such that it sounds completely normal to the ear, but subtly it keeps you on your toes. And verrrrrryyyyy gently reinforces the idea of travel, always moving and growing.

Also: I ended up not writing a chorus at all. All of the words are in the verses, on that D - A - Bm - G progression, and then the Em progressions happen in between. And I play harmonica on them. (Really, any lead instrument could solo on those passages. But if I'm playing alone, harmonica it is.)

Also also: For reasons I'm still not sure of, I made this recording pretty chill. I fingerpick most of it, and there's no percussion in my head. But it's kind of begging to be big, innit? I think it would sound great big. But that's something to try out live sometime. 

Meanwhile, enjoy the rivers' flow.