Water Songs

Playlist

Facebook Post

I have always been drawn to the water whenever a difficulty appears in Life. I walk from my home in Bella Vista, Philadelphia down to the Delaware River river front when I find myself in a place with nowhere to turn but inward. I’ve contemplated this answer, being drawn to water, to inner turmoil:  is it the constant motion of water, or its depths, that reduce my feelings of loss and loneliness. I can’t convene the answers to that question, but somehow it has always given me purpose and been my last answer to personal hardship. 

A few years ago an old friend had recommended to me that I should be close to water, or in it.  She was recommending it as something powerful that would support, and heal me, through the loss I felt while going through divorce. 

A few years ago, another old friend, who I had recently reconnected with, suggested it as a part of her own routine to keep herself centered and slow everything down. I took both friends’ advice and mixed it with my own. Water is a Life force.

In July of 2021, after noticing some common Water themes in a variety of Peter Gabriel & Beach House songs, I decided on investigating how lyrical themes employing water references were being evoked in song. 

I posted on Facebook asking for friends to suggest any songs they loved about water, or ones that offered particularly strong water imagery. 

Specifically, I looked for songs featuring bodies of water: Rivers, Seas, Oceans etc. and not so much rain, or drinking water examples. 

Water activities like boating or swimming could be included, they almost naturally have some water imagery within those.

I avoided most songs that were strictly metaphorical examples or just comparisons of something else to water. 

I used a few other guidelines: 

• I only used one version of a song (unless a cover version echoed the original or felt iconic enough that it would be weird to leave out). 
• Most of these songs have lyrics, though if I knew there was Water meaning attached to certain pieces I would use instrumental tracks too. 
• Jazz Standards, which could have hundreds of versions of the same song, were a bag too large. I would limit those to one or two versions at most.
• Likewise in certain genres of music water can be a frequent theme: Gospel, Country Blues etc. and I knew I couldn’t dip into everything, so I tried to include the most compelling and obvious choices where I could, but it was in no way comprehensive.

Even with those limitations this collection came out to 130+ songs, including a few long form pieces. The songs are of no particular genre or style, water is a ubiquitous topic. 

This playlist is in no way to be considered as comprehensive, or complete. You can consider it the tip of an iceberg. Creating an opportunity to view these themes across many songs which I annotated (in most cases) with lyrics, song key and brief assessments of how I interpret the themes in the song.

It is a great listen! I found a lot of worth in listening to these songs collectively and choose to listen to the playlist when I cook, vacation or as a background list with family or friends.

My writings, about these songs, include a brief observation of its meaning to me, any themes I find central and musical/historical details that seem relevant or interesting. 

I tried to include links to the artist, lyrics and recognition of the song’s Key.

I identified some ways that I thought water is used in songs before the playlist was created: Life, Love, Loss, Faith, Reflection and Purpose. 

Feel welcome to post links to other examples of Water songs in the comments, I’d love to hear more.

The Songs:

Sun Kil Moon – “Like The River” – C Major – A song I used for my wedding procession. The lyrical imagery felt similar to the action, friends and family observing the walk to the ceremony. My wedding was by the Ocean, in the song the friends and family are watching as the couple floats down a river.

“They’re floating downstream like swans in the sun

Surrounded by friends and lovers

We watched on with smiles beaming so bright

The river behind them, the fading daylight”  by Mark Kozelek

Kozelek’s voice and the sort of lazy Neil Young sounding electric guitar bring me to that place of returning from the water. Tired, sun baked, fulfilled and it has the sense of family and friends, which usually accompany the vacations spent by the water.

Hamza El Din – “A Wish” – This song has a love themed lyric, but it  is speaking about memory, reminiscing about home and the wistful transformation of time. 

“As the sailboats drift to the sound of the drum,

we gather and talk at the date palm tree.

On the grass in the shade of the largest tree

of the green island in the river,

a beautiful person, sweet as honey, comes to rest

in the country where we harvest love,” by Hamza El Din (translation)

Hamza explains in the liner notes to A Wish : 

“In 1964, my village, Toshka, was flooded by the completion of the Aswan High Dam, 

creating the vast Nubian Lake, called Lake Nasser.” 

He describes being away from his home when this happened, the displacement of the people and current changes (at the time of the recording) occurring in the region. Here Water is memory. I find this a frequent theme occurring within this collection of songs. The song is in G Major. It is repetitive, with a bit of a drone quality, which can musically symbolize the flow of waves. 

Billie Holiday – “How Deep Is The Ocean” by Irving Berlin – In including this song I definitely cross the lines of it being metaphorically about water, but the entire song relies on that metaphor. Comparing the expanse of water to the depth of one’s Love feels vital and ubiquitous thematically. The song starts in C minor and ends in Eb Major. This particular version is one of my favorites. Billie Holiday is the best at turning a lyric into something deep and the arrangement is perfect.

Genesis – “In the Rapids/It” – Peter Gabriel has many water references in his songs. This song “In the Rapids” is paired with a non-water song “It” and the clip features a cool illustrated video. In The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway the story/libretto follows the main character on a surreal search through New York City for his brother. At the end these songs describe him being carried away in the rapids of a river , reaching out for his brother and discovering it is not his brother he found, but himself. The imagery includes both feeling lost in water and discovering oneself on a journey with a different intention. The song is a cathartic moment that is a release/resolution for the entire piece. The harmony isn’t traditional but it rests on D Major and ultimately segues into the 2nd tune without really resolving.

Fred Neil – “The Water Is Wide” – Lost in a dream. The guitar’s Chorus effect sounds like water, as does the harmonica. And the beat is at that gentle rocking tempo that sounds like waves rustling against the shore. The lyrics describe Love as being carried by the Ocean, sharing/building a boat to carry that Love and the passing of time in the relationship. I didn’t really know about Fred Neil, or this song, before this project. I think the song was recommended by my cousin Tom and it floored me. Really a classic ballad and his riveting, rumbling voice telling its story. In A Major with a slow paced climbing chord progression.

Led Zeppelin – “The Ocean” – An abrupt tidal wave riff that crashes and changes the building of feelings the Fred Neil song created. Jarring transitions can be symbolic here, mimicking the changes in the water. The lyrics of this song are a little tossed together, something that makes them more singable I think, but less sensical. 

Ellen_McIlwaine – “Underground River” – This song is actually about meeting Mrs. McIlwaine’s (& my) hero Jimi Hendrix. But the theme of Water as Memory is present. She is suggesting the Underground River is her own mind, and preserving that memory and influence.

“Keep the memory of his face here in my underground river, secret place.” 

by Ellen McIlwaine 

It’s in C minor and stylistically fits well in following the Led Zeppelin song.

Antonio Carlos Jobim – “Wave” – This is an instrumental version, but this song, and all Jobim songs, have wonderful lyrics. It is very much a Love song, the kind that professes and desires Love.

“And now I know, About that wave that rose in the sea

And about the stars, That we forget to count

Love lets itself to be surprised, While the night, 

Comes to wrap us around” 

by Antonio Carlos Jobim

It is in D Major, but starts with a D minor vamp. The switching between Minor & Major keys is not being used in that typical way – as a way to musically emphasize the ambiguity of Love or to contrast the feeling of being in Love, with discovery of it being unrequited. In”Wave” it is used to create an openness in the music and a sort of happy/sad wistfulness that is characteristic of some Brazilian music.

Beach House – “On The Sea” – We arrive at one of “the” songs, also one of “the” bands, that propelled me to investigate these Water themes in music. I listened to Beach House’s music every day for 2 years between 2019-2021. It was my break up/loss music. It felt healing and I still return to it for that, though it is also love language music for me now. Music that holds conceptions of Love that I value. I do love Mrs. LeGrand’s voice, its sourness and the simplicity of their music brings me to an emptiness, a smallness in the scope of the World, that I associate with the enormity of the Sea and feel deeply at the end of vacations, when it is time to return to “life”.

“out on the sea, we’d be forgiven

our bodies stopped the spirit leaving

wouldn’t you like to know

how far you’ve got left to go” 

                      by Victoria LeGrand

This song is in Eb Major, a positive sounding key, but addresses deep themes of mortality, accounting for ones’ life and letting go. I do let go of a lot when I spend time at the Ocean, it is a constant and immediate action. Something I retained from living in Scituate, Ma. one school year in ‘82(?). The Sea being so vast, that my own worries are as easy to let go of as to cast a stone into the Ocean.

Dirty Three – “Distant Shore” – An instrumental. The Dirty Three may have originated in water; their sound evokes it so strongly and this song (and the album it comes from Ocean Songs) make the references clear. Jim White, the Dirty 3’s drummer, has a rolling, crashing, wave-like approach to the drumming, a sense of perpetual  motion. The violin offers an ancient, deep feeling of longing as it swims through the rhythms. Their songs could be sad, modern Sea Shanties. In C Major, but the slow tempo and drone-like style feel minor in tone. (Superficially, Major Keys = Happy and Minor Keys = Sad – this is too simplistic a description, but often is a correct observation.) 

About 20 years ago I saw the Dirty Three in concert at The Upstage in Philadelphia. It was a vibrant show, they titled every song using the same, long poetic name which was a hysterical interruption for such moody music. I have several people intersecting in my Life now, who were also at the same show, it was a memorable show.

Roberta Flack – “The River” – A bright and positive song expressing the river as a metaphor for Life and a connecting force for all of us. It’s in Eb Major and funkier than most of what we’ve heard so far. It isn’t necessarily spiritual, but I can see people hearing it that way. Mrs. Flack uses other metaphors, in the same way the River is used – ancient voices, smiles and stars all bringing happiness and connection between all people.

Bobby Darin – “Beyond the Sea” – Probably one of the most obvious, Popular songs chosen for  this list. Jack Lawrence changed the lyrics to the melody for  “La Mer” by Charles Trenet into an English language love song and Bobby Darin made that song famous in 1959. Classic songs (written in the Great American Songbook style) usually express universal messages, offering optimism and telling relatable stories that anyone can connect with. It fits with an escapist mentality and is always general enough that average people can put themselves into the point of view of the lyrics. The thought of your lover waiting and watching the ships go by, wondering where their other is, is an example of that song writing approach. In G Major and with a sense of exuberance, the person will see their love eventually.

Peter Gabriel – “Down the Dolce Vita” – This song has some of my favorite Rock band with Orchestra concepts, yet also has Funky wah-wah, Disco-ish sounding guitar. And it is probably the only Pop tune with a Classical Percussion Soli? It is also the 2nd Peter Gabriel song I’ve posted here, so far. It is in Bb minor, but this is an intense, brooding minor instead of a sad feeling one. “Dolce Vita” is “Sweet Life” and though Gabriel is a Fellini fan, this song is not a shout out. The plot of the lyrics is not particularly connected to “The Sweet Life”. Unless Gabriel is using it as a sense of mortality, instead of an extravagant lifestyle. Gabriel mixed theatrical elements in his performances, as well as in his song writing, the story here is about 2 characters debating their mortality on a Sea journey, but perhaps also on a sinking ship? Again the ideas of mortality in the water surface. Meeting your maker.

Sun Kil Moon – “Ocean Breathes Salty” – And now a second Sun Kil Moon performance, but a cover of a Modest Mouse song. Kozelek is tuned to Db here. The lyrics are ponderous and inscrutable, I’d describe it as a tell-off song about someone you gave up on, but still loved at some point. There are two Ocean references, the brilliant line that serves also as the title and the line “Where the Ocean meets the Sky”. Both acknowledge the enormity of the Ocean (it breathes!), and World, and how in comparison personal problems become insignificant.

Al Green – “Take Me To The River” – An iconic song with a driving beat, a river can feel like a train too, that constant rushing forth motion. In some ways this echoes the previous song, but it is more grounded. There are baptismal references, with love and redemption from a break up blended togeterh. It ends on an A Major chord, but it also has a Blues quality to it.

Bruce Springsteen – “The River” – In E minor – which may be the water key. An incredibly iconic song that I recall my Mother singing along to.

“We’d go down to the river, 

And into the river we’d dive

Oh down to the river we’d ride” 

by Bruce Springsteen

It’s a wistful song about aging, lost youth and growing up with strong memories of one’s glory days. The imagery begins with reminiscing about youth and being carefree, young and swimming. The song ends with the River being dry and the memories becoming wistful.

Otis Redding – “Sittin’ On The Dock of the Bay” – A perfect song and yet also unusual. So popular, it was one of the first songs I thought of for this collection. Yet it is really about sitting by the water, doing nothing and being reflective. The song is so relatable, we all do this near the water, stop and reflect, feel small and clear our thoughts. It’s in G Major (E minor’s relative) and It is a warm song, content and happy. The whistle softens tit even more, but there are two lines that offer something bittersweet – making the song more accurate, but also tilting it towards too real.

“I have nothing to live for, Looks like nothin’s gonna come my way”

“And this loneliness won’t leave me alone” 

  by Otis Redding

It’s almost a retirement song, and those sentiments surprised me as I generally recollect the song as an ode to idle time.

Peter Gabriel – “Washing of the Water” – A third Gabriel song and from a later period in his career. In C Major, but slow and ponderous. It is also reflective about one’s life. Gabriel uses a lot of religious imagery in his songs and this one features some baptismal metaphors. The water cleanses and yet the river is carrying him along, allowing him to let go. To heal. Perhaps the song addresses a sense of mortality, as the river is being asked to take him away.

Beach House – “Turtle Island” – An abstract song about (childhood?) memories. It’s beautiful and moves drunkenly. The organ has a carnivalesque sound which matches the tone of the lyrics. I want these lyrics to be about playing with a childhood friend: in nature, frogs, playing in the water and hide and seek, but LeGrand is more cryptic than that. It could be more about adult memories and her turns of phrase seem to emphasize the vagueness of memory. I’d still place this as a Water = Memory song. 

Turtle Island in Lake George, NY

I’d bet there are a lot of “Turtle Islands” in the World, but there is a Native American story of North America being Turtle Island. The other Turtle Island I found was in North Carolina. These could be reference points or it could just be an island that kids named Turtle Island when playing and nothing official.

Talking Heads – “Take Me to the River” – An echo cover of the previously heard Al Green song. It really works in the same arena as the original, but with the Talking Heads sound. Funky, but quirkier too. Both versions feel iconic for me, I think I reference this one first (growing up in the 80’s), but I prefer the original more.

The Cure – “From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea” – By my memory The Cure has many rain and storm songs. I recall some recordings of rain being mixed into songs on the album Disintegration and I think the video for “Just Like Heaven” involved running about on cliffs near the Sea. This song, in E minor, I was not familiar with. It has the drone-y, repetitive quality of the Cure sound and features swirling, distorted guitar. Lyrically it feels like 2 songs. Initially a Love Song recalling the desire to be in Love and using the Sea imagery as the infinite opportunity that new love offers. After the screaming guitar solo, it switches to after the affair, reflecting with doubt on the feelings that sparked the love originally.

Björk – “Oceania” – You can count on Bjork to push the boundaries of song writing. Here she is  a personification of the Ocean as Mother. The lyrics swirl. The Ocean may be singing to the Land and her children, which also covers the immensity of time and space. Sounding primordial. Musically Bjork adventures too. The arrangement features electronic drips and bubbles and vocal choirs that sound a little Bulgarian. The song is not exactly in a Key, the sounds are too pointillistically rhythmic, but a Bb minor tonal center could work if you need one. Collectively the sounds evoke a sense of the swaying of seaweed. I think Bjork has more water related songs, but none others appeared in my searches. Also, Bjork is fashionable and she wore the Ocean to the Olympics for this song. The dress had an immense, maybe, 70’ train?

Modest Mouse – “The Ocean Breaths Salty” – An Echo song, but the original this time. Vibrantly different from the Sun Kil Moon cover version. It rocks and has an angularity that the quiet, pensive version we heard earlier does not. It starts in E minor, but ends in C Major. The singing style here makes the lyrics clearer, there is a see-sawing of meaning in the lyrics, which is playful in tone. The last line becomes something totally different in this abrupt, clipped manner, it’s more happenstance than indictment. 

“You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste the afterlife?” Modest Mouse

Peter Gabriel – “I Go Swimming” – Silly and light. There haven’t been too many of those types of songs so far. An ode to that desire we all get in the Summer. Water memories, framed with a very 80’s beat. I think it could have been a sort of an anthemic song, if it were deemed more profound. It is easy to sing along with and I think it would be designed to include audience participation during a concert. It’s in E major and the childlike lyrics feel even brighter because of it.

The War On Drugs – “An Ocean In Between The Waves” – The segue from Peter Gabriel to this exposes the coped 80’s beat here, it is faster but it has the same feel. It’s oblique harmonically starting with a 2 chord vamp between F and G minor, but it changes and gets more complex eventually ending on the G minor chord. It’s a Love/Memory song and the reference to the Ocean is really only in the last line. It’s a strong last line, and a worthy title.

“And I can barely see you, You’re like an ocean in between the waves” 

                                                                          The War on Drugs

Beach House – “Dive” – Another Beach House song! Newer but still residing in their signature dream world. Victoria LeGrand described, in an interview, how important that nature is to her and her song writing and I discovered it as a theme in many of their songs. This one is less focused on those themes, yet there is this one line. 

“in, high over the ocean, waves crash mechanical motion” Victoria Le Grand

I think the song idea is diving into Love. Alex Scully delivers with a Pixies-like driving beat at the end.

The Dirty Three – “The Restless Waves” – This is “THE” Dirty Three song that comes to mind when I think of the Dirty Three. It’s in C# minor and it rhythmically swirls along. The pace reminds me of the thin sheet of water left behind after the wave is recalled to the sea, sinking into the sand. Their sound concept seems entirely drawn from its sense of flow and building of a mood, very often in a tide-like pulse.

Tom Waits – “The Ocean Doesn’t Want Me” – A creepy one! Similar in tone to an earlier Tom Waits song “What’s He Building Over There”. It’s all clicks and clacks, pots and pans rhythms, so I’m not sure Key matters, but the dislocated, eerie guitar in the background is doing something in F# minor (sometimes). It reminds me of an Edward Gorey cartoon (and thus my Grandmother Rhea), but the poetry is living there too! 

“The ocean doesn’t want me today

But I’ll be back tomorrow to play

And the strangles will take me

Down deep in their brine

The mischievous brain gels

Down into the endless blue wine

I’ll open my head and let out all of my time

I’d love to go drowning

And to stay and to stay

But the ocean doesn’t want me today” 

by Tom Waits

Phil Phillips & the Twilights – “Sea of Love” – I’m not sure if it is because it is following the Tom Waits song, or the pitchy vocals in the intro, or maybe it was used in a horror film at some point, but I still find the creepiness continuing here. Tom Waits has covered it too, for the film of the same name. It is really a beautiful song about reminiscing with your lover, though the “I knew you were my pet” line probably should stay in 1959. It was, at least, meant sweetly I think. It’s in G and the first half of the chord progression arpeggiates with a rising harmonic sequence that returns it to a positive feeling.

Leonard Cohen – “By the Rivers Dark” – In F minor, though a synth pop vibe balances against his dark, baritone voice. Cohen’s lyrics are poetic in this very atmospheric tale. The water reference is mostly in the setting, but also a catchy enough line to claim the title. The river of Babylon, in the dark being hunted, having his wedding ring cast into the wind – everything seems reflective of personal accounting. My sense is reckoning for cheating on a spouse or similar indiscretions.

Joni Mitchell – “River” – The poetry continues and this was another one of the main iconic songs I thought of initially for this song list. The lyrics portray another story, but the River is freedom and escape. Joni writes music differently than others, the imagery is so vivid here and I’ve contemplated the lyrics many times. It gives me the feeling of being alone on the Holidays and wanting to escape the restraints of family and youth.

Pentangle – “Lord Franklin” – This is a folk ballad about Sir John Franklin who died attempting to traverse the Northwest Passage by sea. The song is from 1850 and also known as “Lady Franklin’s Lament” and “The Sailor’s Dream”. Pentangle plays it in D Major. The book, and TV Series based on it, The Terror imagines that real life futile event.

Christy & Emily – “Ocean” – I love the rippling instrumental transition and then the Bolero at the end. The lyrics seem childlike and about recalling youthful times. In E Major. It feels like a trip to the Beach song.

Beach House – “Elegy to the Void” – In B Major, but ends on an Ab chord, there is a harmonic shift mid-way through the song. Everything rides the even pace of the beginning chord strums, which are wavelike. LeGrand’s lyrics are poetic too, but blurry and at their best feel dreamlike and inscrutable. Deciphering them is necessary, but whatever she writes, it sings well and makes me feel things.

“deep beneath the waves
lilies of the day
garden of remains
diamond maiden chained” 

by Victoria LeGrand

Fraser & DeBolt – “Broad Daylight Woman” – Wow! Deep lyric alert!!! 

“I visit my woman at midnight

I bless the day we found the stream we live by

the stream of consciousness

and when innocent people come between us

the same stream will clean us and leave us shining

shining like the ocean,” 

by Fraser & DeBolt

The music has a The Band-like vibe, layers of organs, and soulful feeling. 

“Two bodies floating in a pool of ecstasy”

by Fraser & DeBolt

That’s a serious lyric! I guess they are a somewhat obscure group that people who have heard of them (Philadelphia Folk Fest people) rave about. These lyrics make me want to explore their music further.

Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Born on the Bayou” – I grew up near Olmsted Park, part of the Emerald Necklace, in Boston. A thin river that trickles alongside a multi-lane commuter road, we used to call it the “Muddy River” when I was a kid. In my early 20’s I had an apartment right on the edge of the park and a friend from Houston – 6’5”, skinny as a rail, and hysterical, Gabriel V. – He came over once and asked if it was a Bayou that I lived near and I said “Nah, it’s just a dirty river” He said, “Yeah a Bayou”. Lessons learned. This is another one of the obvious songs that came to mind when creating the list. And it feels more swampy than water-ish to me, but it is very clearly referencing water and includes that frequent “birth” aspect of water songs.

Orphaned Land – “Ocean Land” – Heavy and Biblical seeming, also about a flood. Possibly Noah, but I could imagine it referencing the parting of the Sea in the Ten Commandments too. The band promotes Peace between the three main Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The song ends with “Hayya ala el-salam” which translates to “Rush to prayer” after acknowledging the flood as a message from God’s hand.

Joni Mitchell/Willie Nelson – “Cool Water” – Another Echo song. I’m realizing that the echo song (or cover) is usually coming before the originals on this particular play list. Joni’s version of this wonderful Country song is very different. I almost didn’t recognize it in this form. I appreciate the efforts and the collaboration, but the original is a masterpiece with really vivid musical symbolism within its production. 

Peter Blegvad – “Daughter” – In D Major and primarily reflective of being a parent lyrically. But watching my daughter swim and fall in love with water was a special moment in my life. I can consider it a pretty important milestone in a child’s life and water is part of the experience. This song captures that feeling in a simple, almost bashful way. A sweet and bright song.

Linda Ronstadt – “Blue Bayou” – Another echo before the original. A love lorn, wistful and homesick version. It describes the Bayou as home. Builds a deep sense of contrast between the natural space of home to working in a City, and desiring simpler times that include a long lost love. In C Major.

Huong Thanh & Nguyen Le – “Drifting on the Water” – Beautiful and somewhat caught between worlds. A Jazz guitarist, Vietnamese Pop/Cabaret singer, it feels like a Pop duet in Vietnamese. It is languid, in the key of A and though not translated readily, the consensus is it is about Buddhism and impermanence. I think that is a common theme in Buddhism using nature to describe our own relevance in the World.

Princess & the Frog (Film) – “Gonna Take You There” – Dr. John is performing this, but I’m not certain it is his song. It works well as a device in the film, which makes Louisiana a fairy tale  type setting. I do question the “Zydeco/Cajun” feel they credit the song having, to me it’s been  rhythmically stiffened. Again it is good for the Film, but maybe on its own it needs something deeper.

Roy Orbison – “Blue Bayou” – A quick echo featuring the original. I dig on the arrangement more here. It sounds older and it has a certain dreaminess that I live for. I can understand how people really fell for Ronstadt’s voice in the other version, but I favor this one more. A nice little stretch of Bayou tunes. His version is in F Major.

Molly Lewis – “Oceanic Feeling” – Fun song and video. The whistle does create a wonderful watery vibe. And musically one could hear this in a Tiki bar or some other 50’s exotica kitsch easily.

Lyle Lovett – “Bayou Song” – Lyle builds an exquisite, poetic song again reminiscing of Bayou’s and childhood or old memories. It is an expansive song that hits on many themes of life-giving waters, connection to the water and youthful fun in the water, the mystery of it.

“The kids ‘cross the road said, “we’re going to the bayou

Where there’s water that moves without making a sound”

There’s a spirit covers a bayou, a surface, quiet and calm

Slow, dark, vertigo water, swallow me, feed me, float me to a land” Lyle Lovett

Sidsel Endresen & Bugge Wesseltoft – “River” – Some experimental music from Norway. Both of these artists are new to me, and both are categorized as Jazz artists, though for this I wouldn’t have guessed that from this recording. The song is pensive and has a slow flow. Lyrics were unavailable so far, but my gleaning says it is sort of honoring the water as it reflects the flows of Life.

Dirty Three – “Black Tide” – Closing in on the entire album here! It’s in D# minor, which is definitely a specifically chosen key for stringed instruments (or specifically an alternate tuning?). The guitar and the violin are out of phase yet echoing each other. It reminds of the way that waves cross each other, overlap, and react as they conflict.

Cynic – “I’m But a Wave To…” – Another group I am unfamiliar with and I found a guitar tab, but not the lyrics. And I can’t really decipher the lyrics, musically it is very tight and twisting. It’s from an album called Focus and I’d say the sound quality is that too, very focused. There are some surprising softer and contrasting synth parts in between intense guitar work, snarling vocals and propulsive rhythm section work. 

Pearl Jam – “Amongst the Waves” – Pearl Jam has a lot of water references in their songs. I recall one of their earliest videos having a lot of surfing in it. I sort of questioned that back in the 90’s because I considered them from Seattle, but I think some were from So Cal. This is very much a Love song referencing water, riding it, surviving it. It’s in E, but the chord sheet has a strange need for a capo? 

Anna Domino – “Lake” – I didn’t know of her beautiful song and I think it reaches for the enormity of Life and the smallness of our lives.Tthere are some powerful words here. 

“In this place, wide and endless

Surrounding the lake

Where the water waits silently

I walk in place

Once begun

So tell me now

I’m swept in your wake

I can’t stand on in silence

Walking to the other side of the lake

I know somehow all your sufferers and tyrants

Walked this way

In the sky, pale and empty

No wind ever blows

And the flowers of dreams

Slip by as I go

Looking back

So tell me now

I rush in your wake

Can I follow you in silence?

Walking to the other side of the lake

It seems somehow we have finally arrived

To turn away

So tell me now

While I’m swept in your wake

I can’t stand on in silence

Moving towards the other side

I know somehow we have finally arrived

So tell me now

I’m swept in your wake

Will we know it when we get there?

Searching for the other side of the lake

It seems somehow every sufferer and tyrant

Walked this way

So tell me now

I’ll dive as you say

Breaking this silence

I will reach the other side of the lake

And see myself like Ophelia in flowers

Drift away

So tell me now

I rush in your wake

Can I follow you in silence?

Walking to the other side of the lake

It seems somehow we have finally arrived

To turn away

So tell me now…” Anna Domino

There is loss here, but also a sense of life and I’m swept away in her song. She was on Factory records, as was Durutti Column, so more compelling music to discover. The song plays with Keys but starts in B. Other Versions! Lake Lake

Sting – “The Wild Wild Sea” – Sting also has many water references in his music and this period is when his music got more complex. I enjoy both his visceral Pop Rock and this dreamy, introspective side of his music. It reminds me of Peter Gabriel in its narrative, which is both riding the Sea in a ship but also swimming in memory. In Ab Major.

Focus – “Moving Waves” – Another unknown to me, what a beautiful art song. Proggy in a Classical direction. Thoughtful lyrics.

“Moving waves the wind has left you

And Twas still in commotion X2

We are still repeating the world it’s taught us

It moves our whole being to ecstasy 

Waves why do you all become excited

And then all calm together

Because behind our individual action there is one impulse working

Because behind our individual action there is one impulse working

Rising waves what motive is behind your impulse

What motive is behind your impulse

The desire to reach upwards” Inayat Khan

In F minor and I expect it sounds different than the remainder of the album, one of those surprising little mysteries.

Tommy Emmanuel and Jorma Kaukonen – “Deep River Blues” – Another post-original echo cover, and it being a blues I expect hundreds of versions of this song. It is very much a vehicle for the fingerpicking here and also the Blues which is so centered historically in the Mississippi Delta has water references as a consistent theme. This version is in E.

Jane’s Addiction – “Ocean Size” – This song is wave-like and it brings me back to High School. I guess it could also be called a “feeling yourself” song, but as compared to the enormity of the Ocean and its constant action. The rhythmic feeling has a sense of the crashing descent of waves too.

Robbie Basho – “Lost Lagoon Suite” – A Roots/Americana, 12 string guitar, suite in D minor. Basho sounds like he is improvising from a sketch here and I think he describes it as a suite more based on its duration, than as a collection of themes. It rolls along, perhaps finger picking a guitar is itself a wave like action. The jangling harmonics of the 12 string often sound as if there is more than one person playing and Basho is relentless.

Elis Regina & Tom Jobim – “Aguas de Março” – Translation – A litany of life. The Waters of Life. And for me a truly unique and perfect song. The silliness and argumentative style of the duet really delivers feelings that make sense, more than I think the literal meaning of any of the lyrics. But the cascade of poetic incidents coupled with the humor offer me a vitality I don’t find anywhere else, and there is no one better than Elis.

Laurie Anderson – “Muddy River” – E minor – Apocalyptic flooding. It’s from 1994, which makes it feel prophetic climate wise. Musically it is really sparse, featuring only voices and percussion. The lyrics aren’t specifically depressing, more as a matter of fact, picking it up and surviving in a new world perspective. There is a loneliness within the spaces of the arrangement, the multiple voices that form another unusual duet, first separate then together.

Nick Drake – “River Man” – Drake’s gentle, beautiful quietude and intimate mood create a pretty perfect song. Orchestrated and gently swirling through the arrangement. It’s in 5/4 but feels natural, as the best odd times songs do. I’ve debated if rhythmic, or strumming, patterns – the core basic counted feeling of the song would have specific wave related rhythms that could match (naturally, like the rhythms of the World influence our Musical patterns unconsciously). This song does, but I’m not sure I’ve noticed anything more than the natural human acknowledgement that there are beats in all the rhythms of life, or that lots of rhythms evoke waves, because naturally occurring patterns are part of our world. I have lately wanted to sample rain/gutter rhythms and see what can be created with them.

The Who – “I Am the Sea” – D# minor – A quick “found sound” wave track that segues into other songs on the Quadrophenia album.

Beach House – “Salt Water” – In Bb – A quick dreamscape comparing dreaming about love as being in the saltwater. At some point in her youth, Victoria LeGrand lived on an Eastern Shore Maryland farm and I think some of the natural influences on her music stem from there/then.

Passion Pit – “Swimming in the Flood” – Similar to the preceding track, the swimming in the flood here is swimming in the overwhelming flood of love feelings. It has a dance, electronic drums vibe which is pretty fresh for this playlist. Not a song, or band, that I am familiar with, but pretty cool.

Doc Watson – “Deep River Blues” – E. The original? Unlikely, this is just the first most well known version – a decent, casual historiography of “Deep River Blues” title. Songs  change over time and Doc’s might be the version people expect when they call that song. A classic blues with a pretty interesting tale of how it became this version we hear from Doc Watson. Nice fingerpicking and as Watson expresses the reflection of the environment of the Delta in the music at its origin.

Bitchfork – “Ever Never” – Pretty catchy, local, Philadelphia, contribution to the list, recommended by the composer and I appreciate having those type of personal suggestions. Also a shit kicker!

Band of Horses – “The Great Salt Lake” – Key of Ab. An unfamiliar tune, and band, that was recommended for this list. It’s a hazy reflection of people on a boat, searching for a watering hole, and if things aren’t working out that way, believing they could stand on the Great Salt Lake. I went on a cross-country trip as a kid and The Great Salt Lake was both my goal location to visit and disappointing – hot, itchy, hazy and sterile.

Florence + The Machine – “What The Water Gave Me” – C-/Eb. Apparently the song is named after a Frida Kahlo Painting and the lyrics describe Virginia Woolf drowning herself.

I think I find some of the connections between the two inspirations for the song. I’d also never know that information without discovering the guidance leading to that pair of details.

Robbie Robertson – “Somewhere Down The Crazy River” – C- 

A song I really absorbed when the record was released. The unusual back up voice, it is one of the BoDeans, really tricked it for me and for my Mother too. It was a sing-along type song but one that has some of the eerie storytelling quality of an older Blues or in “Hotel California” territory. Robbie’s voice is also very distinctive here, showing a deeper range than he usually sings with.

Muddy Waters – “Mississippi Delta Blues” – G Blues. 

“Well, it gettin’ Late on into the evenin’ and I feel like, like blowin’ my home

When I woke up this mornin’ all I had, I had was gone

Late on into the evenin’, child, I feel like, like blowin’ my home

Well now, woke up this mornin’, all I had was gone

Well, Brooks run into the ocean, the ocean run in, into the sea

If I don’t find my baby, somebody gonna sure bury me

Brooks run into the ocean, men, that old ocean run into the sea

Well now, if I don’t find my baby, somebody sure gonna bury me

Well, minutes seemed like hours, but don’t it seem like days?

Seems like my baby would stop her old evil way

Minutes seemed like hours, an hour seemed like days

Well, now, seems like my baby, now, whoo-hoo well, boy

Would stop her low down ways”

A hard song to find information on, the title is so ubiquitous it is a style in and of itself and Muddy Waters has water in his name. The lyrics do all the explaining they need to do, as a Blues song should.

Bendik Hofseth – “Waterfall” – F – Apparently Mr. Hofseth is a saxophonist and I’m not sure how much of his material contains lyrics, this has some very distinctive musical choices that suggests he is coming from a non-Pop music decision making process. The song sort of resides in the 80’s/90’s SophistiPop sound that Sting and others were doing. It appears he is also the singer here and it is a nice song, self reflective, releasing oneself from responsibility. It has the unusual line “No more Hoover Dam” which has to be a first, remove these impediments Bendik.

Joanna Newsom – “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” – B – Lovely poetry put to music. The Sea and its creatures just fit the tone of a morning with a loved one and the music feels close to awakening by the Sea. The alliteration device in the title strongly affirms that connection, it is something Newsom uses elsewhere, in other titles, and I think it carries a wavelike meaning into the song.

The Who – “Sea & Sand” – A – Another Quadrophenia song, the water themes are thick on that recording and at some point the film arrives in Beachy Head, coastal England. The lyrics are half about the drifting, loitering quality of being at the Beach. Avoiding home, responsibility and lacking plans, but it also switches to a clear responsibility to the narrator’s girlfriend and being stylish. An interesting juxtaposition, one that may rely on the rest of the film for better context.

Nolwen Leroy – “The Song of the Sea” (film) – C or G? A really wonderful theme song from the animated film. The film itself delves into much sea imagery and legend, which fits the theme of this song too. It’s somewhat of a lullaby, or soothing song. In the film the children lose their mother to the Sea, but she returns as a Selkie. 

Anderson Paak – “The Waters” – G# minor – Here the waters are metaphoric, the rise to fame and fortune and not quite resulting in what one might expect. The Gospel influenced water themes are strong in this music. The R&B/Hip Hop genres lyrically seem to be less influenced by the water  theme – is it more adjacent to Gospel influences or the water influence on Gospel music itself? It’s nice to have some different perspectives on these themes offered and that idea of stepping into cold water, an internal debate with an inevitable submission, is a fertile one. I think there is another layer of meaning here connected to Gospel interpretations too, but I am less familiar with those religious roots.

John Hartford – “On Christmas Eve” – C# minor – A sweet little song and as with Joni Mitchell’s “River” it connects the water themes and Christmas. Being from New England I rarely think of the Holidays as warm, water accessible or in the light of what a Southerner might experience. I know its perspective based and I can immerse myself in the building of a different tone, enjoy the refreshing take, with these 2 perspectives vying in the song. 

Wendy & Bonnie – “By the Sea” – E minor – Teen break ups by the Sea. The Ocean’s movement, its tidal pull, is in a constant state of leaving and coming. A great metaphor for a break up, eventually love will return but it is pulled out to sea frequently. Wendy & Bonnie, teens when this song was written, are Californians. I debate if it seems like West Coast Ocean relationships are more prominent in songs – (We did not delve into Beach Boys much, Surf Music or Surf Rock for this collection, probably because the surfing seems to be the primary theme and the shear quantity of water/surf music)

This Mortal Coil – “Song To The Siren” – In Bb, as the original is, but featuring slight twists to the lyrics. You need a hypnotic voice for a song regarding the Sirens, it must deliver on a voice that could call sailors to their doom, and these voices do. I think this cover version does more to create a haunting atmosphere than the original, but both versions deliver on the voices. This version feels like you are caught in a mist.

Tim Buckley – “Song To The Siren” – Back to back echo. Bb. The original brings the same feelings forth. Such a beautiful lyric that can easily be switched to detail the failure of relationships, but describes a really beautiful point of view that could be from the Odyssey. It is a perfect piece, working on a variety of levels and layers. It works as myths and legends do, and probably those began in songform too. Myths offer a story that we can relate too – magical, mysterious, comforting and transforms the typical into something we can fictionalize and accept.

Patti Smith – “Pissing in a River” – Futility. With a Punk lack of romanticism and a twisty (like a river) meaning of a relationship. Smith is trying to raise the level of the water in the river by peeing in it and through the course of the song wonders what the partner is going to do to help and eventually the futility of trying to do it is the futility of the relationship.

The Who – “Drowned” – C – Another Quadrophenia tune, and another Who Power Song! The entire Opera/Film has significant water relationships throughout, including a reflective ending where the main character debates Life by the Ocean (exactly how I have done numerous times). It has themes of disillusionment, abandonment and the ending is ambiguous. Set, in part, in Brighton

There are themes of shore towns, particular off-season shore towns, that really resonate with the film themes too. As the lead character does at the end of the film I spent a week, with no money, in Dover and contemplated the Ocean from a cliff (& a saxophone) many times – it was truly a formative experience, affirming the smallness of my place in the World. Something I appreciate about the Ocean, it sets the scale of the World nicely.

TLC – “Waterfalls” – Eb – One of the biggest hits on the list, so popular, but also kind of trite. I don’t believe I have heard of the idea of “Chasing Waterfalls” as a thing – rainbows and windmills and such, but waterfalls not so much. The theme is brief narratives of people dying from things like AIDS and essential from living too fast. I guess the song for its day was groundbreaking, but the stories seem very basic and undeveloped in the lyrics to me now.

Paul McCartney – Waterfalls – B – I was unfamiliar with this song before researching the TLC song and noticing it. I can imagine a world where TLC played around with McCartney’s song and came up with something fresh. I guess the Waterfall reference existed before the TLC song. This version of that theme seems to be being used to dissuade a partner from leaving the relationship. Any of those times in my life dissuasion was sort of a last, futile attempt – never worked out and made myself feel very little in the scope of humanity. Seems more legit in song language than in reality. Maybe the waterfall is originally an English reference? Also this chorus is tuneful, but weak in meaning.

Mick Ronson – “Life’s a River” – E – So many songs relating to idle time by the Ocean. The inevitability of life, while whittling away at inconsequential action and intentional boredom/meditation. I can see that connection musically, but I wonder if it is overly drawn from vacationers and should be contrasted by songs of people who work the Sea? Are the songs about being by the Sea also the songs people listen to at the Sea?  Also the idea of being lost at sea, the monotony, the continual lack of anything to see except where the sea meets the sky. It’s a forced isolation, but we choose that isolation (even if you are with people there are still moments of inner space at the beach) and we wouldn’t want to be trapped in it for any extended period. There are a few who want to beach bum though. Perhaps enough of these songs exist that I could see it as a common theme to water songs generally.

Sting – “Love is the Seventh Wave” – G Major – More of that SophistiPop I was mentioning a few songs ago, from the master of that style. The poetry is good here, the idea of deeper meaning and the next wave offering deeper meaning, love being one of those waves. Sting sort of reclaims one of his titles from “Every Breath You Take with Me” which he employs with different meaning here. I guess he wanted to use it for an actual love song. Sting was also in the film Quadrophenia, before he was in the Police. 

Beach House – “Rain in Numbers” – D Major – The line “I will haunt you for the rest of your life” is really key here, the water meanings are all tone setting. And honestly there is not much more than those two elements to the song. It sets a great mood though.

The Pogues – “Sea Shanty” – C Major – A very modern sea shanty at that.

“Dear dirty London in the pouring rain

I wish to God I was back on the sea again

Though that belongs to the world of never will be

there was never a wilder bastard than me on the sea” by Shane McGowan

The lyrics continue to redeem bawdy truths and brag about oneself. McGowan is connecting the old forms aligning it with new forms, which maybe felt unprecedented, but actually have historical threads running through. I definitely support the idea of songs for studying history.

Van Morrison – “And it Stoned Me” – G Major – One of the great, bleary, song recollections of youth – fishing, getting soaked in the rain, unlaid plans and hopping in the “Swim”. Morrison also equates it with getting stoned, but here as a natural high, created by life. And ain’t that the truest kind! And don’t those youthful memories often reside in those moments that truly stoned us, blissed out, never-ending days. What a great theme.

Antonio Carlos Jobim – “Waters of March” (in English) – A translated echo. The translation, by Jobim himself, features Northern Hemisphere adjustments like “Spring” renewal and “thawing of Winter”lines and the end of Summer rains that are described in the Brazilian verses, because the seasons fall differently in the Southern hemisphere. Specific, natural to Brazi, features like plant names and such were augmented to reflect other listening audiences. This song is such a testament to Life and growth that these changes don’t really affect its meaning. It is interesting to consider the imagery/language relationships and how they  can be used to engage an audience – as it does in film and comedy.

Stevie Ray Vaughan – “Texas Flood” – (G Blues, tuned down F#?) – It’s modern Blues because it is SRV, but it is a classic Blues-feel all the way here. I used to try to imitate the shuffle feel of this tune when it came out in the 90’s (and I was focused on guitar). I am writing this particular section a few weeks after the terrible flooding that occurred in Texas and the song takes on new meaning, particularly considering those were high flood warning areas. It gives the song new relevance.

Pearl Jam – “Oceans” – D – I believe Eddie Vedder is a surfer and though the lyrics are certainly about 2 people, the descriptives feel very in tune with a surfer navigating the water. Maybe surface philosophy is a person – wave relationship? There is a sense in this song of how one can let go of control, perceive the tides and waves and direct themselves towards something. A strange mix of control and letting go of control that is at play within the water.

The Cure – “The Same Deep Water as You” – E minor – So dark, The Cure’s specialty. It’s a love song, but it uses the idea of deep waters as the emotional path to being with someone. A test, people have drowned before, those who weren’t capable of the feat.

The Beatles – “Octopus’s Garden” – E Major – This is an echo contrast, silly after the previous tunes depth and going from minor to major (“The Minor fall, the major lift” L. Cohen). I consider the ability of the Beatles to convince adults to sing absurd lyrics (as here) as well as children to sing along with sad ballads (“Eleanor Rigby”) an important key to the Beatles’ success. Also Ringo was gifted at silly songs, he has a natural goofy sensibility.

The Standells – “Dirty Water” – E Major – This is the Boston anthem I grew up with. The Charles River, the Fens, Olmsted Park and water ways that weave their way through the fabric of the city. It was a legendary plan for the City and something I perhaps took for granted growing up as “the way things are” only to discover that some other places I’ve been do not value green spaces at the same level as Boston does. I think the dirty water has been cleaned up since I moved away.

Hot Tuna – “Water Song” – G Major – Beautiful guitar work and with a strong rolling feeling that evokes the sense of waves. It kind of rambles along and works within tempo and feel to create whatever water energy it is trying to develop.

King Crimson – “Lady of the Dancing Water” – E Major – Sort of dreamy lyrics that I thought might veer into a Lady of the Lake reference. They don’t, but King Crimson can reach for the fantastic often enough, it doesn’t need to be explicit to offer the scent of something. This theme appears to be an original King Crimson creation, but it has me thinking about how water legends & myths can connect in these songs too.

Robbie Basho – “Eagles Sails the Blue Diamond Waters” – A shimmering guitar piece which evokes the wide, open space quality of water areas. His voice is kind of soaring and crying above the guitar pulses. Basho investigated other religions and cultures, including Native American cultures. I think this was his way of integrating some of those influences in his music.

Eric Anderson – “Blue River” – F  Major – The lyrical references are pretty simple here, it is meant to be a folky type tune, but maybe the cultural aspects of that are foreign to this composer. They feel flat and the references mix with boating on the river, keeping them safe and not to get too deep. Many of the lines feel designed to fit the rhyme, not turn a phrase. 

Ween – “Ocean Man” – E Major – Similarly here, really building with simple rhymes, yet intentionally being absurd transforms that approach into something fun. The mixture of ideas, including the interpolation of food and cooking methods with Beach imagery goes off pretty weird, as Ween is prone to. It is hard to write something strange without it being dismissed, Ween are particularly adept at writing great weird songs and they always give a sense of playfulness in their song writing.

Johnny Cash – “Big River” – F (Blues) – Johnny! With some strong ballad lyrics, over a Blues harmony, but not lyrically structured in the classic AAB way. The water here is a big river (probably the Mississippi based on the location references) but also something he creates with his tears, which he taught the Willow to do (cry). I also think touring musicians, at a certain time, needed to drop location references to connect with audiences.

Led Zeppelin – “When the Levee Breaks” – E Blues-ish – An old song, originally recorded by Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929, about a 1927 Mississippi flood. Flooding is a significant theme within these songs. The natural force, displacement, destruction, disaster and ultimately change transforming the places it passes through.

Paul Motian – “How Deep is the Ocean” – An instrumental echo. I love this bleary modern version of the song. The lyrics we heard before, but this instrumental version captures a wonderful tone and has an elusive quality, like the melodies are water slipping through your hands.

The Staples Singers – “Wade in the Water” – A Major – One of the most important Spirituals and with Baptism generally the emphasis on water appears in a lot of Spirituals. There are of course many other water references in the Bible from Biblical floods and rains, the Arc, etc. There are also many versions of this song that could appear here, but the Staples Singers are worthy representatives.

Dennis Wilson – “Pacific Ocean Blues” – D minor – A surprise, to me, that the lesser known Wilson brother released a killer solo album. He still focused it deeply on the Ocean and California. I avoided the entire Surf culture thing so far, because the water reference is embedded and would send this already massive project spiraling beyond control. The lyrics are strange here, I can’t decide if it is somewhat nature preservationist, cryptic or just a dark smattering of imagery.

Dinosaur Jr. – “Pond Song” – G Major – Stoner hazy, but I think with some depth beneath the surface. Some songs paint around the corners and let you imagine, or invest, the center with meaning. This feels like a bleary recollection of a day on a pond with friends and lovers, where thoughts bubble up amidst the play time and then drift away.

Jimmie Rodgers – “Mississippi River Blues” – C Blues – Fair to say the Mississippi river’s importance to American Music can’t be overstated. Individually the Delta Blues being critically formative to American music and so influential to Classic Rock. The relationship of Steamboat River Culture and its dissemination of Jazz, and Louis Armstrong, upriver. The importance of all those cities close to the river: NOLA, Memphis, Kansas City, Chicago etc. We gravitate to water ways and places. The water imbues life and culture by its presence. I go to the water when I need to feel emotional containment – to shrink my feelings and recognize my smallness as a person in the scope of the world. This song is about being drawn towards that all important river.

Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – “Wave” – Original recording lyric echo. G Major. There are many versions of this song as well and this is the first recording, but not necessarily my favorite. This version is lighter, I find it such a beautiful and deep, love song. I tend to appreciate the more ruminative versions. My favorite Bossa Nova balances a mix of wistful, happiness, with a tinge of sadness against a light and airy musical tone. This version was a huge success though and probably many people’s first version. 

“You can’t deny

Don’t try to fight the rising sea

Don’t fight the moon the stars above and don’t fight me

The fundamental loneliness goes

Whenever two can dream a dream together”

                                               By Antonio Carlos Jobim

The Doobie Brothers – “Black Water” – D Major – Another Mississippi reference to strengthen my earlier observation. A joyous song, no cares, playing in the water – and well captured. It also reminds me of the early 80’s, raiding my Dad’s records, WBCN – one of those songs you were aware of from the radio.

Peter Gabriel – “I Go Swimming” – A different enough studio version echo to include here. There is something so stiff about the rhythm in this version that it makes me think more of childhood playing than watery feelings.

Kermit the Frog – “On My Pond” – Initially these lyrics read as the sanctuary place that water spaces hold for me. Then it turns into an early anti-littering, environmental preservation song. Those two themes go together pretty well. Kermit was pretty consistent with creating iconic songs.

The Lyre Ensemble – “The Flood” – Really haunting Greek music, though I think more interpreted and not exactly traditional in this instance. The Lyres they use are historically accurate though and her voice is incredible. I enjoy honestly interpreted historical recreations. This song is a sung version of the flood narrative from the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh.

Sons of the Pioneers – “Cool Water” – E Major. An echo you may not recognize (Willie/Joni version from earlier). If you consider the year of its recording, 1941, you will find this is a truly magical and modern use of studio arranging and recording techniques. It surprises me to discover that occurring in early Country Music, as I tend to think there is a sort of Country = natural, simple documentation style recording. But not here! They evoke wide spaces and layers with the reverb, ripple-like vibrato in the voices and they evoke many aspects of water just playing with sound. I believe the poem/lyrics were written earlier, 1924, and may have included social commentary around the time of the Great Depression.

Brian Eno – “By This River” – Bb/G minor (I don’t know what these chord/key/capo problems are – makes no sense) – But an incredibly beautiful song that evokes a timeless quality. Restfully lazing on a river side. Eno creates incredibly deep and vivid moods, a true tone painter, here is as good as any to evoke that aural/visual effect. His ambient works have roots in some of the places he explored as a songwriter/composer earlier in his career.

Susanne Abbuehl – “My River Runs To You” – Lyrics by Emily Dickinson put to song by Mrs. Abbuehl. Desolate desperation in the face of love being inevitable. Being drawn towards the expanse of love. This song evokes a mood like no other and centers me around thoughts of who I love, musically and lyrically and all in Mrs. Abbuehl’s gorgeous voice. She does a lot with such a short poem. Transportive. I find myself imagining wind whipping surf at the mouth of a river, I find myself walking to my love, inevitably, uncontrollably.

“My River runs to thee—

Blue Sea! Wilt welcome me?

My River wait reply—

Oh Sea—look graciously—

I’ll fetch thee Brooks

From spotted nooks—

Say—Sea—Take Me!” 

                         By Emily Dickinson

Milton Nascimento/Elis Regina – “Cais” – A paired echo. And I am not sure I can survive this song following the previous song, the 2 (3?) pieces really touch deep places in me. To be clear this is Milton’s version paired with Elis’s cover version (which I heard first) and she inverts the form beginning with his ending. It creates a palindrome-like form, which for me works beautifully, like surface ripples being seen from above and then a submerged perspective. Again inevitably following, becoming?, Love and describing it as water, the pier, the unknown.

“For those who want to let go

I invent the pier

I invent more than what loneliness gives me

I invent a new moon to brighten

I invent love

And I know the pain of throwing myself

I wanted to be happy

I invent the sea

I invent in myself

The dreamer

For those who want to follow me

I want more

I have the path for what I’ve always wanted

And a pickup ready to leave

I invent the pier

And I know just when to throw mysеlf” 

                                      By Milton Nascimento – English Translation

Hermeto Pascoal – “Musica da Lagoa” – A spontaneous, improvisation documented that needs to be seen to be understood. It is a really short clip, but miraculous music made with, and in, water. In a lagoon, a bunch of Brazilians and glass bottles create a mini-wind symphony then are joined by a team of natural creatures, fluttering into the final performance. Just as miraculous that it was filmed as that it happened at all.

Simon & Garfunkel – “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – C major. One of the most iconic songs on the list and it can hold itself in any genre. I’ve heard this original and then also Folk, Gospel, Choral, Pop versions. Good songs can do that, change style and still be evocative. In the lyrics the water reference is related to challenges in life where the narrator promises their support and an unconditional love.

Serafina Steer – “Skinny Dipping” – A sort of lovely awkward flirtation. The water references are more recollections for the story, but on the other hand we all have these dreamy, recollections both in the water and regarding feelings for others. In a sense the tone creates the imagery for me and it evokes similar memories for me.

Carol Kleyn – “Rivers’ Calling” – Mrs. Kleyn appears as a Mermaid, or Selkie, on the album cover of Return of the Selkie and I believe there are several water themes on both the album and in other songs she composed. She was a 60’s Sunchild harpist, but this song is from the eighties and she is weaving themes of environmental conservation and love for the Earth.

Laurence Vanay – “Underwater Light Reflection” – The throb of the organ evokes a sense of ripples in water and in contrast the bright, plucky guitar does too – though more drip like. A very dreamy and floating type of song. All the sounds filled with a blurry shimmer. 

Emmylou Harris – “Beneath Still Waters” – G Major – The sense of waters hiding things underneath its surface comes up frequently and often is used metaphorically for aspects of relationships. In this song those depths hide that the love has ended. It’s an elegant, but simple, design for the song and well crafted.

Dennis Wilson – “River Song” – Bb – Somewhat similar in simplicity to the previous song, but not as elegantly crafted and with a different sentiment. Wilson is first desiring to be like the big, beautiful river – and is  in awe of its scope. Then, and also found in the other Dennis Wilson song, is a sort of wanting to return to nature. The lyrics here compare the river to the city and the city holds up unfavorably. I think this album is generally a blunt call to return to nature, something that Wilson may have been in conflict with internally himself at the time.

Meshell Ndegeocello – “Clear Water” – C Major – Another self comparison song with the internal persona being like water. In this case peaceful and wise, settled – as in finding your inner self. In some ways I sense an apology to the listener, as if because  the narrator is away from themselves. 

Abdullah Ibrahim – “Water From An Ancient Well” – The song spouts  idea of water being drawn from the same well for generations, always the same source, but different water each time it’s drawn. It also makes you consider the  life-giving properties of water and the social constructs built around water sources. It’s truly magnificent and awe evoking to imagine how we relate to nature and it’s easy to ignore the necessities that feel so available to us in modern life. Water remembers.

Randy Newman – “Louisiana 1927” – G Major – A ballad about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

Newman interpolates some metaphors about the displaced being “washed away” in the aftermath by the political forces. Amazing that he sneaks Plaquemines into the lyrics! Recognizing historic floods, like those occurring in Texas in 2025, by revisiting the historical occurrences we can and should be able to inform our future. Songs often contain history that written accounts do not, and the combination of music and story can complete a more deep understanding of the facts. Or be a record for the future.

Plaquemines, La. 1927.

The Watersons – “Barney” – An old ballad, with several title variations and a long history of interpretations. A tale of a person waiting to hear from their partner who has emigrated across the Sea. So much imagery with the sea relates to longing, particularly from older cultures. There is something about its vastness that holds all the promise and also an infinite emptiness that plays towards hope. It’s one of the core themes that continually re-appears on this list.

Enrico Rava – “By the Sea” – An incredible vibe is attained on this song. It moves with flow, has a lyrical trumpet melody and then some oblique electric guitar sounds that play around with delay effects. That play creates a freely rippling effect where the sounds often collide and become indecipherable from each other. Wave forms.

Kate Bush – “The Ninth Wave” – Lyrics – One of my favorite works, by one of my favorite artists. There are many water allusions across this song cycle. Fog, weather, ice (& being trapped beneath it) and most strongly the image of the narrator, a woman lost at sea, drowning, who sees herself as an older woman. Her future self encourages her to live and the things she has to live for. When I first heard this I was stepping out of a shower, the Hounds of Love album was on (and this, the second side, is a collected work though that is not explained anywhere on the album) “Under Ice” came on and I had to stop and sit. Just listen. There is no music like this and then it segues into the piano of the next song which morphs into course 80’s electronic sounds that  intruded on the vibrant, intimate place I was in. Kate Bush intended that harsh contrast, it is a masterpiece. I have contemplated this music deeply, for decades and hope you all can spend some time with it. Very beautiful, very immersive.

The Ninth Wave painting

*7/12/26 – Wow! If you made it this far you enjoyed an immersion in song, art, poetry, lyrics, maps, animation and music about the water, some of you may have even contributed to this immense, incomplete playlist! It only took me 6?! years to finish it. But it was a labor of love, and something I love and listen to when I am enjoying vacations and family times. Water songs feels like a subject everyone can find an interest in or has a favorite song about water. It is a great collection of music too. Yours wetly! D