The Way Of The River

Many years ago I sat down with a friend to write a song around the symbolism of a river. He had posed the idea to me after several years studying Buddhist principles. We'd often meet to drink coffee, dive through his extensive Frank Zappa vinyl and talk about his studies. This particular afternoon had been spent ruminating around one simple aspect of his 'no-self' study that he had summed up to me in one sentence.

"A river is always a river, but it is never the same." 

As seemingly simple as this statement sounds, it sparked a deep analogy that rooted down into the perception of our own identity and the world around us. I've never forgotten the door that opened that afternoon. My perspective had shifted, and it's memory has stayed with me over the years. The symbolism of a river is a powerful one, and it has echoed throughout my lyrics ever since.  It had firmly planted the seed of my fascination with the notion of impermanence.

'Riverway' was mostly written from and about memories and memories are very strange things. They bend and stretch back into our past, echoing moments charged with the vitality of life. Yet, like a river, memories much like ourselves are constantly moving, forming and re-forming. I've come to imagine that the task of expressing memories of feelings or experiences is to re-invent them once again. To strike a new mark, with a flash of paint, a movement in dance or an expression of song...

"I'm on my way back to find out

Just what could have changed if I'd said it out loud

And maybe there's something in the quiet times

And it's spinning us round

And it's keeping our eyes wide open

And it's making this sound

Right back into the Riverway"

In many ways 'Riverway' follows my last release 'Get Your Fire' like a familiar echo. Despite marking a nostalgic look back to 'Get Your Fire's' contrasting reach forward, 'Riverway' is essentially about presence and connection; an autobiographical, feel good, folky, upbeat song that wanders back to a time of simply being; a time of freedom when sun soaked open roads and lush deep forests mixed with a stirring sense of infinite possibilities.

Appearing towards the end of the album 'Fell For The World', it pauses in a joyful look back before the last two songs take us far away. A look back into a memory of vibrancy, vitality and adventure. I wrote 'Riverway' to describe how, through my own experiences  on the road, we can all fall deeply into ourselves and the world around us in the same gesture. How our observations and experiences  in one aspect of our lives can be absorbed and become lessons and inspiration  through another lens. Ultimately, it acknowledges that a grounding reverence of this life is right here in front of us, waiting for us to let go and listen.

"I found myself adrift among the waves

No stars to pull me in

Cut loose

But I'd been saved"