I can't count the number of times I told my students about the role of rivers in the development of early civilisations. In my three years of teaching history to high school students, talking about rivers is a favourite topic to discuss. Aside from the usual benefits of rivers, one thing that really captured my interest and fascination is the uncertainty of rivers. It flows. And flows. And flows.
The other day, while I was tending to my plants, I heard Fairport Convention's version of The Ballad of the Easy Rider. The song is about the succumbing to the powers of rivers to flow and take a person to the sea. Instantly, the song made what I was doing more exciting and fulfilling. Being one with nature— digging the earth and transferring seedlings—is similar to being taken by the river to another place.
The Ballad of the Easy Rider is not the only song about the river that's found on my playlist. Every year, I try to find a song about rivers just so I can grow a river-centric playlist perfect for when I'm stuck at home and in need of a quick getaway. Moon River is one of the first river-related song on my playlist. It is a song I first discovered when I saw Breakfast at Tiffany's many years ago. Back then, I was amazed by the opening scene of the film because it reminded me of what it felt like going to school really early. Those early mornings were different from what our neighborhood looked like during the rest of the day, so leaving our house while the rest of the neighborhood were asleep felt like having a rare encounter with a person that rarely shows up on occasions.
Of all the songs on my river playlist, the saddest is Bob Dylan's Red River Shore. It's a song I discovered early last year through an online discussion. A person from the online discussion mentioned this as one of Bob's saddest song. Back then, I was into Blood on the Tracks so I can't believe that he wrote a song sadder than the tracks from his 1975 album. When I gave Red River Shore a try, I remember feeling bad because it reminded me of characters from a show I saw when I was very young. In that show, the characters weren't able to come into the same conclusion so they parted ways and built their own separate lives. It was a show that never left me because it's not everyday that a 7-year old child would encounter a show like that. It makes you wonder.