The River

This song gives me goosebumps - and I mean that literally. It has to be one of the most tender, heartbreaking, filled-with-love creations in the entire universe. My mind fills up with pictures whenever I listen to it, and the smell of wet rocks and freshwater and leaves. Old houses. Sex. And I get scared, really scared, that my own river will dry up some day. And if you think that sounds cheesy, then fuck you, because it's serious business.

~

I come from down in the valley
where, mister, when you're young
they bring you up to do
like your daddy done
me and Mary, we met in high school
and she was just seventeen
we'd drive out of this valley
down to where fields were green

we'd go down to the river
and into the river, we'd dive
oh, down to the river, we'd ride

then I got mary pregnant
and man, that was all she wrote
and for my nineteenth birthday
I got a union card and a wedding coat
we went down to the courthouse
and the judge put it all to rest
no wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle
no flowers, no wedding dress

that night, we went down to the river
and into the river we dived
oh, down to the river, we did ride

I got a job working construction
for the Johnstown company
but lately, there ain't been much work
on account of the economy
now all them things that seemed so important
well, mister, they vanished right into the air
now, I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care

but I remember us riding in my brother's car
her body, tan and wet, down at the reservoir
at night, on them banks, I'd lie awake
and pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
now, those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
is a dream a lie if it don't come true
or is it something worse

that sends me down to the river
though I know the river is dry?
that sends me down to the river tonight
down to the river
my baby and I
oh, down to the river we'd ride