Deep River (1)
(The original Deep River)
In a world of wasted wonder
Mindless madmen forced to blunder
and broadcasting introspection
with the limitless reflection
And for any good intention
Any good invention
There’s a thousand evil uses
I don’t even need to mention
Yeah we got the Walkin’ Blues
because we stole that pair of shoes
from some third-world labor pool
and now they laugh at what we do
And your traffic roars an ocean
The sidewalk stumbles broken
And your pockets jingle tokens
of dead presidents invoking
The poor are made of steel
and the railroad reveals
that sweet child behind the wheel steers
The engine starts to squeel
and pockets all she owns
She found the flesh around her bones
Immune to mud but not to stones
Laid to rest or lately thrown
Into that deep river
and I’m dying for a drink
and I just can’t wait forever
for that boat I’m in to sink
the house that I’m living in
to be consumed by flames
or better yet a hurricane
you can turn my weather vane
oh yeah you can turn my weather vane
oh yeah you turned my weather vane
but it’s a deep river
and I’m dying for a drink
and I just can’t wait forever
for that boat I’m in to sink
the house that I’m living in
to be consumed by flames
or better yet a hurricane
you can turn my weather vane
oh yeah you can turn my weather vane
oh yeah you turned my weather vane
the river flowin’ fast and
flooding can make us whole again
on and on there’s an angel
in the orchestra
and he’s playing songs
that none of us have heard before
and if you feel strong
why don’t you come and lend a hand
it’s not too hard to understand
cause after all we’re all in it together
I’m a child, I am old, I’m on an ocean going vessel
and if the sky should fall
we’d all need to seek shelter
we’re all in this together after all
we’re all in this together after all
all in this together after all
January 24th, 2006
With some of the more emphatic enunciations and more of a social conscious at the face of the words, this version of Deep River contains the unique first three verses that build up to the first chorus. I consider this the “immune to mud” set of lyrics, where the subsequent 2003 changes produced the alternate “Cleopatra” set of lyrics.
According to Pineapple this early variant of the lyrics was last-sung 4-23-03… until the night of 1-23-06 Lawrence, Kansas, when the band looked on the Annotated Lyrics Site and played Deep River with these words again.
Comments from the band indicated Deep River is still in flux with variations.
November 19th, 2006
Great version of Deep River 2002 on 10-19-02 Cayucos Vets Hall – Cayucos, CA (not on Archive.org)
Deep River (2002) return 1-23-2006 The Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS (last-time played with these lyrics before this was 5-2003)
Deep River (2002) played acoustic at Noe Valley Ministry 4-8-2006