Today’s slow drag is with “The River in Reverse,” the only song with a solo writing credit from the collaboration with Allen Toussaint on the album of the same name, “The River in Reverse,” released in 2006. The songwriting, as mentioned, is credited solely to Elvis Costello.

Show Notes:

Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/slowdragremedy

Email: slowdragwithremedy@gmail.com

Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com

Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag

References:

Elvis Costello Wiki Resource, “The River in Reserve”: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/The_River_In_Reverse_(song)

“The River in Reverse”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71YLX4pUMW0

“The River in Reverse” acoustic solo performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZLZ5H-fjao for the Preservation Hall Foundation in 2020 https://www.preshallfoundation.org

“What Does it Mean to Have Grit”: https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/what_does_it_mean_to_have_grit

A list of a few Imponderables: http://www.unm.edu/~jerome/imponder.htm

“Beware of Nominalization” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNlkHtMgcPQ

Purchase “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday” https://www.amazon.com/Most-Terrible-Time-Life-Thursday-ebook/dp/B07XLXS5PL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y4SGCT62WPEK&dchild=1&keywords=the+most+terrible+time+in+my+life+ends+thursday&qid=1608873405&sprefix=The+Most+Terrible+Time+in+%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1

 

"The River in Reverse" Lyrics

How long does a promise last?

How long can a lie be told?

What would I take in exchange for my soul?

Would I notice when it was sold?

 

Wake me up

Wake me up

Wake me up with a slap or a kiss

There must be something better than this

'Cos I don't see how it can get much worse

What do we have to do to send

The river in reverse

 

Every man a crawling kingsnake

Every girl a half a heartbreak

Every woman sold into shame

To any son without a name

 

Are your arms too weak to lift?

Another shovel on the graveyard shift

Here comes the flood if you catch my drift

Where the things that they promised are not a gift

 

If man falls through the mirror of a lake

They fish him out quick and they call him a fake

Give him all the temptations he can take

Tie him up high 'til his bones break

 

Wake me up

Wake me up

Wake me up with a slap or a kiss

There must be something better than this

'Cos I don't see how it can get much worse

What do we have to do to send

The river in reverse

 

I thought I heard somebody laugh

Look out your window

They're chasing shadows in the dark

They're counting widows

 

I felt a sliver of glass

Saw a cross in splinters

I felt the truce of spring

Dig me out of the trench of winter

 

So count your blessings when they ask permission

To govern with money and superstition

They tell you it's all for your own protection

'Til you fear your own reflection

But the times are passing from illumination

Like bodies falling from a constellation

An uncivil war divides the nation

So erase the tape on that final ape running down creation

Running down creation

 

Wake me up

Wake me up

Wake me up with a slap or a kiss

There must be something better than this

Wake me up

Wake me up with a slap or a kiss

There must be something better than this