Heather Nova is the Bermudian Songwriter who grew up on a boat in the Caribbean and went on to sell over 2 million albums in her 15 year career to date. She has released seven albums and has opened for artists like Van Morrison and Neil Young as well as performed with artists like Sarah McLachlan. She has also had hit records with co-writes featuring artists like ATB (Renegade), and Eskobar (Someone New).Her brother is the Reggae singer Mishka.
By the end of the 1980s, after leaving RISD, Heather moved briefly to New York City (where she unsuccessfully tried to interest some major labels in a demo including Columbia , who rejected her, only to sign her five years later ), before moving to London, England. She has British citizenship due to her Bermudan origin. In 1990, she released her first recording, an EP called 'Heather Frith' — she had not yet changed her name by then. The name change came a year or so later after several gigs in the Netherlands, where, after finding out that the Dutch have trouble pronouncing "Frith," she chose a name that would be easily pronounceable in every European language, "Nova," her Canadian mother's maiden name.
The new name debuted in 1993 with her second EP 'Spirit in You' and her first full album, 'Glow Stars'. The success of the album led her to record and release her first live album, 'Blow', the same year, which she supported by a tour of Europe. A year later in 1994 she released what many consider to be her finest work to date, the emotional yet jagged album 'Oyster', for which she toured for almost two years. Another live album, 'Live from the Milky Way', was released in 1995, and after its release she toured for nearly three years straight, twice joining Sarah McLachlan and others on the North American Lilith Fair, which is a music festival with only female performers. Heather is also a frequent performer at European music festivals such as Roskilde.
In 1998, the long-awaited follow up to 'Oyster' was released. After the release of 'Siren', Heather took a break while various television show and film soundtracks licensed some of her songs and her record company (Sony Records/The WORK Group) released various singles from the album, which received only moderate play on America's MTV2, Europe's MTV and Canada's MuchMusic and on mainstream radio, although she was popular on college radio. Also during this time, she recorded a version of the often covered Billie Holiday song, 'Gloomy Sunday', for the German WWII drama Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod. In 2000, she released yet another live album, called 'Wonderlust'.
Over the years, Heather has written and recorded over a hundred songs, so that her albums are selected from work that has often already been performed live, rather than being conceived during rushed songwriting sessions. Half the songs on 'Siren' had been written during the 'Oyster' sessions and were frequently played live prior to being committed to a studio session, and most of the songs for 2001's 'South' were written between 1999 and 2000 while she was on hiatus from touring. With the release of 'South', she returned to the international spotlight with an appearance on the soundtrack of the John Cusack movie "Serendipity", a couple of music videos, and a collaboration with Swedish band Eskobar, for a song called "Someone New", also released as a video, which proved so popular that it was played primarily on America's MTV, not just MTV2 (which is normally reserved for less-popular songs). 'Storm', Heather's fifth studio album, was released in late 2003 on Big Cat Records, as was 'Redbird', released in 2005.
In 2002, she self-published 'the sorrowjoy', a 72-page book of her poetry and drawings. An album of the same name was released in March 2006, which featured Nova reading the poems from her book set to ambient music. The album has only been available for purchase at concerts beginning with the Intimate Evening tour, from the fan-run websites, HeatherNova.Net and HeatherNova.De, and from the official website, www.heathernova.com.
The album Storm was released in 2003. It was a more refined album, using Mercury Rev as Heather's backing band. The album was Top 5 in Germany and Top 10 across Europe. It was an album of dark ballads, marking a step away from the polished sound of South. It was also Heather's first release on her own record label, Saltwater Records. Despite being pregnant, she toured hard with a new line up and band, before returning home to Bermuda. (A live DVD was made of these concerts (live at the Union Chapel)
River Of Life
Heather Nova Lyrics
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On the wings of time
But it was not our time
I wanted to lie for a while
In the fields and dream
But it was not to be, oh yeah, cause
Even though it's hurting, even though
And sometimes you got to let love slide
Oh, with the river
The river of life
I wanted to hold you so long
In the dark till dawn
But I could feel you go
I wanted to sing
In my head I could hear a song
But it was not our song, oh yeah cause
Cause sometimes you got to let love go
Even though it's hurting, even though
And sometimes you got to let love slide
Oh, with the river
The river of life
Sometimes you got to let love go
Even though it's hurting, even though
And sometimes you got to let love slide
Oh, with the river
The river of life
Oh yeah
But sometimes you got to let love slide
Oh, with the river
The river of life
The river of life
The song "River Of Life" by Heather Nova is a poignant reflection on the complexities and challenges of love. The lyrics convey the struggle of holding onto someone you love, only to realize that it's not meant to be. The opening lines, "I wanted to feel like a bird, on the wings of time, but it was not our time" paint a picture of a desire to escape the limitations that come with love and to soar freely - something that is not possible when bound by love. The metaphor of a bird on the wings of time highlights the fleeting nature of love, and suggests a yearning for permanence and timelessness.
The lyrics go on to describe the pain of letting go of love, and the disappointment when things don't go the way we had hoped. The lines "I wanted to lie for a while, in the fields and dream, but it was not to be, oh yeah, cause sometimes you gotta let love go, even though it's hurting, even though" underscore the regret and longing experienced when we lose someone we love, and the courage it takes to accept that it's time to move on. The song's refrain "the river of life" invokes an image of a natural and inevitable force, drawing us along and carrying us forward towards an unknown future. As much as we may try, we cannot change its course, and must surrender to its current.
Overall, "River Of Life" speaks to the universality of the human experience of love, its joys and its pitfalls, and the importance of letting go when necessary in order to move forward.
Line by Line Meaning
I wanted to feel like a bird
On the wings of time
But it was not our time
She longed to fly free and unburdened through time, but fate would not allow it with her love.
I wanted to lie for a while
In the fields and dream
But it was not to be, oh yeah, cause
She wished to rest and drift off into reverie amidst nature, but it never came to fruition.
Cause sometimes you got to let love go
Even though it's hurting, even though
And sometimes you got to let love slide
Oh, with the river
The river of life
There are moments when love must be allowed to depart, in spite of the agony it brings, and other times when it flows away like the river that is life itself.
I wanted to hold you so long
In the dark till dawn
But I could feel you go
She yearned to embrace and cling to her love all through the night until daybreak, yet sensed their inevitable separation.
I wanted to sing
In my head I could hear a song
But it was not our song, oh yeah cause
She craved to release her voice in song, but it was not the melody that connected her and her companion together.
Sometimes you got to let love go
Even though it's hurting, even though
And sometimes you got to let love slide
Oh, with the river
The river of life
There are moments when love must be allowed to depart, in spite of the agony it brings, and other times when it flows away like the river that is life itself.
Oh yeah
But sometimes you got to let love slide
Oh, with the river
The river of life
The river of life
Sometimes, one has to allow love to take its course, following the same path as the river of life itself.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Heather Allison Frith
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind