By the River

I like rivers, I like rivers
Sailboats, fisherman, skinny-dipping swimmers
Kids turning rocks over catching lil critters
Eagle in the pine tree eyeballing dinner

My uncle used to cut school to hit the Susquehanna
Kept himself a rod and reel he hid up in the bramble
The school took attendance, it was quiet as a mouse
He was at the river pulling out a giant by its mouth

A river in the daylight is energy and life
A river in the dark can be a genuine surprise
You might find some lovers getting cozy on the shore
Or a cold-blooded psychopath disposing of a corpse

Sitting by the Hudson river talking to a ghost
"I wish that we could rock a beat and smoke an L at Tone's
I miss the way you rhyme and how you never had a clone
Ain't a motherfucker living that could ever crack the code"

I like rivers, I like rivers
Freight ships passing through old drawbridges
It looks so cool when you catch it from a distance
A little less cool when you stuck inside your Civic

I wonder what could possibly be lurking on the bottom
I look into the water and imagine all the options
A fish we never knew about, some rusty old jalopy
The murder weapon used to catch the aforementioned body

I seen a beaver chilling by the bank of the Willamette
We gazed upon each other undeniably enchanted
A wave of telepathic information through the filter
It said "when I go to heaven I want you to have the river"

He also said the others had agreed that I was chosen
Just don't mention it front of them as gloating is for no one
I'm pretty sure you don't have the authority to say this
But thank you, I accept, I'll have my lawyer draft the papers

I like rivers, I like rivers
Hard to put a price on water for the village
I jumped into the Amazon to launder all my atoms
The Chao Praya had me spilling coffee on the captain

My heart is the East River floating on a frisbee
That came in from the Long Island Sound to sojourn in the city
It's not the kinda water where you'd throw a Triple Lindy
If you get some on your skin they probably notify your siblings

I picture a scenario where someone's held me captive
And escape would mean to build a raft and navigate some rapids
I wonder if my training from the school of tv magic
Would beget some makeshift watercraft that make off for Damascus

In practice I have no desire get into the water
I like to know it's there in the event I ever wanna
Waterfalls, tributaries, Lichtenberg figures
Twilight fireflies, I like rivers