Here Comes The River
Patrick Watson — Wave
Last night, I was chilling with a Quebec regular weekly TV talk-show known as ‘Tout le Monde en Parle’ (Everybody talks about it). I will let you guess the most talked about subject during the show. Since the beginning of the confinement, the talk show finishes off with intimate performances of local artists.
Yesterday, Patrick Watson performed, ‘Here Comes the River’ on the piano.
Watson explained that it took him ten years to complete the song which was inspired from a photo postcard he had found in a Beijing market traveling several years ago.
Patrick Watson helped us visualize the picture by describing the postcard’s scenery to show:
‘A flooded street, with cars on the hood; a sad scene, but one that spoke a lot to me. I kept it in my pockets. I let the image settle in my subconscience, and only five years later I was able to write the first lines of the song.
The rest came to me by talking to my hairdresser. This philosopher friend of mine, who had gone through many difficult times in his life, said to me:
“Sometimes, the only way to break free and let things go, you need to flood until the flood is over, cry until you can’t cry anymore.”
And today, I want to share this beautiful discovery from Patrick Watson’s last album, Wave, out in October 2019. Better late than never.
Just let yourself hover peacefully.
Here Comes The River
The windows turned to fishbowls The city to seas The cars were drowning underneath your feet The children were swimming from the top of the trees Crowds of umbrellas were staring in misbelief Well Mary kept sewing Holding on to her TV Even if the water was rising past her knees
Now here comes the river Coming on strong And you can’t keep your head above these troubled waters
Here comes the river Over the flames Sometimes you got to burn to keep the storm away
Sometimes Sometimes you got to just
Nobody told you it was going to be this hard Something’s been building behind your eyes You lost what you hold onto You’re losing control There ain’t any words in this world That’s gonna cure this pain Sometimes it’s going to fall down on your shoulders But you’re going to stand through it all
Here comes the river Coming on strong But you can’t keep your head above these troubled waters
Here comes the river Over the flames Sometimes you got to burn to keep the storm away
Sometimes You gots to just
Songwriters:
Joseph Baron Grass / Jules Buckley / Mikhail Stein / Patrick Watson
Patrick Watson’s very touching and emotional live performance (Tout le monde en parle): 2020–05–10
About having a wave knock you over when you realize everything you have in life can be wiped away in a moment — and then learning how not to drown in the process.
During the making of the album, Patrick lost his mother, his longtime drummer left the group, and he and his partner separated.
Watson brought a notebook underneath the waves and composed tunes about melancholy while listening to the lonely hymns of mermaids.
The songs are about how sometimes you have to sing a love song to yourself when no one else will, allowing the sound carry you and learning to trust where you will land. It is very personal and intimate, and it is the most humble of all their records.
“It’s the difference between singing a solo at a stranger’s grave as a child and singing one at your own mother’s funeral.”
I strongly recommend Wave, Patrick Watson’s latest album. To soak up both its musical performances and lyrics it will take several listening sessions.
Melody Noir
Tell me where the wind is blowing ’cause that’s where the music’s going You are my big dark blue and I wanna swim all around you You are the sweetest melody I never sung
I feel like I know you but you’re just a ghost to me And when I sit beside your shadow somehow it comforts me You are the sweetest melody I never sung
You are my island of love, my remedy to rescue me You are a breeze of a song that carries me You are the sweetest melody I never sung
La la la la la la la la la lie la la La la la la la la la la la la La la
I’ve got a hole the size of your touch that fits in your arms as much And when I try to fill it up the hole gets bigger every time You are the sweetest melody I never sung
You are the sweetest melody I never sung
You are my island of love, my remedy to rescue me You are the breeze of a song that carries me You are the sweetest melody I never sung
Canta canta mi luna mi luna llena Esta melodía que es el abismo dentro de mí El abismo dentro de mí Mi luna mi luna llena
Songwriter: Patrick Watson
“Sing sing my moon my full moon This melody that is the abyss within me The abyss within me My moon my full moon” (Patrick Watson)
Enjoy!
Francine Fallara, 2020
