From the recording Bowlahoola
We All lie down in the River
A talking song - I like them (Big Bad John, Park Life, Shifting Whispering Sands, and, the greatest of them all - Win Night Out with a Famous Paranoiac). A descendant of the Victorian music hall monologue: 'there's a one-eyed yeller idol to the north of Kathmandu...'
With a big-ass shoutathon chorus (I thought of Nemesis, but only a bit).
I had an experience with the Severn Bore which is a natural phenomenon near where I live. Basically, the river (and the Severn is a big-ass, best-not-mess river alright - 2nd biggest tidal range in the world - after the Amazon) goes backwards at certain times of the year. I know - very cool eh? Not really though Actually, it's a wave that starts out at sea and just heads upriver at Very Specific Times - there are charts online that can tell you to the minute when the wave arrives and how big it's likely to be.
People wait for it, in wetsuits and with surfboards and ride it for a bit, in an unexciting very English way. It's quite a slow wave, the Severn Bore, some might say a bit bor... sorry. It's not that people want to ride it like some Hawaiian breaker, for a rush - it's more like they want to commune with the River God (or goddess, actually - she's called Sabrina. Really - a Roman thing). To immerse themselves in/hang out with this River Behaving Unusually. And I thought about baptism and water purifying you and the idea of Orwell's 'Inside the Whale' - 'a womb big enough for an adult'.... and Russel Hoban's 'Department of Capitulation and Unconditional Surrender'.
It's better if we all Lie Down, you know... mmmmm.
Lyrics
WE ALL LIE DOWN IN THE RIVER
you never know how close the end is
or how far round the bend is
but you have to find the good place in the head
and I thought I saw you going where the mighty river was flowing
but it might have been somebody else instead
when you're taking on the pressure: vexed to sobs and all in anguish
(it's better if we all lie down)
take a load off in the water (bring a snorkel; bring a sandwich)
(it's better if we all lie down)
WE ALL LIE DOWN, YES WE ALL LIE DOWN, WE ALL LIE DOWN IN THE RIVER
well u wonder what they're thinking
in the river when they're sinking?
A merciless baptism in the weeds.
If you're tortured by your ego
you can lose it where the sea goes
in a fluvial contemplation of your deeds.
It's a dodgy world that's out there and the ugliness abounds
(it's better if we all lie down)
But the rivers full of noises: there's a million pretty sounds
(it's better if we all lie down)
WE ALL LIE DOWN, YES WE ALL LIE DOWN, WE ALL LIE DOWN IN THE RIVER
so you're straining every sinew
- and we know you've got it in you -
but you cannot fight with chaos and decay
Why not feel the current take you
where a friendly whale awaits you?
and the mermaids are all singing in the bay?
As for earthy kinds of passion i believe I've had my ration
(it's better if we all lie down)
for the river it submerges
all those disconcerting urges
(it's better if we all lie down)
WE ALL LIE DOWN, YES WE ALL LIE DOWN, WE ALL LIE DOWN IN THE RIVER