What’s your favorite River song?
Joni Mitchell, “River”
Bruce Springsteen, “The River”
The old standard, “Shenandoah”
The Band’s “Cripple Creek”
Neil Young, “Down by the River”
Justin Timberlake, “Cry Me A River” (ok that one is technically not about a river…but it does flow!)
The spiritual, “Deep River”
Peter, Paul, and Mary, “Bamboo”
Eva Cassidy’s rendition of “Wade in the Water”
Billy Joel, "River of Dreams"
The Sunday School song: "I've got a river of life flowing out of me..."
Can you think of any others? I’m sure I could go on, especially if we’re talking spirituals and hymns, since the Jordan River is both a major player in many Bible stories, and a rich symbol of freedom from sin and oppression.
Indeed, most of these songs listed have to do with some form of escape - being spirited away by the current...for Joni it was existential - dreaming of a new life somewhere out there. For Bruce it was equalizing - escaping judgement from society. For Neil it was getting away with murder.
This is only natural: the metaphor of a river is obvious - a body of water that is revivifying because it is new every moment. It is a symbol of life itself: sometimes serene and other times dangerous with rapids; sometimes overflowing and sometimes dry. But always about the journey - think Huck Finn, and how he is transformed by the end of his river raft adventure.
I love this lyric from the Indigo Girls haunting song “Ghost”:
“And the Mississippi's mighty, But it starts in Minnesota At a place that you could walk across With five steps down. And I guess that's how you started - Like a pinprick to my heart. But at this point you rush right through me And I start to drown.”
We start off as just a trickle down the watershed, gathering speed, volume, and debris along the way, carving the landscape of our past, providing refreshment for plants and animals, and recreation for our companions. Then finally, we arrive at the ocean, released, united with the Source. As one who is baptized into Christ, no matter how meandering our journey is, we can trust that the flow will eventually take us home.
The secular songs such as those mentioned above might not know that when they panteth for the water with that longing for something downstream, their souls are yearning after the True Source. Billy Joel in his song "River of Dreams" is so close! He knows he's after something - trying to put his finger on it - but it eludes him, hence a river of dreams...sleepwalking to the shore:
"In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep From the mountains of faith To the river so deep I must be looking for something Something sacred I lost But the river is wide And it's too hard to cross. Even though I know the river is wide I walk down every evening and I stand on the shore I try to cross to the opposite side So I can finally find out what I've been looking for"
Made famous via the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou, the spiritual “Down to the River to Pray” has invoked the romanticized spirit of Americana: destiny, freedom of religion, freedom from slavery, a new land of boundless possibility, a New Man - unbound by sin. When I sing this song, I am in an American summer; I hear the locusts chirping and taste the honeycombs dripping - the same locust and honey John the Baptizer is famously associated with - that wilderness cousin of Jesus who prepared the way, who was the first to beckon us into the water.
The song personalizes the call - oh sister, oh brother, mother, father: let’s all go down - all us sinners. We are all now John the Baptist, calling each other to sink into the fount.
I sing “Down to the River” as a medley with another well-known spiritual, “I’ll Fly Away,” as they flow so seamlessly together. Though the metaphor shifts from water to air, it might as well be saying, I’ll float away, as the meaning remains the same: someday I will arrive on “God’s celestial shore.”
The days are getting warmer; the insects are buzzing and the weight of the world hangs thick around us like a muggy July night. When it gets too much to bear, head down to the river for a dip, and a prayer. Jesus awaits on the bank with refreshment.
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