His songs have been performed by a number of other musicians including "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton,"Cajun Moon" by Randy Crawford, "Clyde" and "Louisiana Women" by Waylon Jennings, "Magnolia" by Jai, "Bringing It Back" by Kansas, "Call Me the Breeze" and "I Got the Same Old Blues" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "I'd Like to Love You, Baby" by Tom Petty, "Travelin' Light" and "Ride Me High" by Widespread Panic, "Tijuana" by Harry Manx, "Sensitive Kind" by Carlos Santana, "Cajun Moon" by Herbie Mann with Cissy Houston, and "Same Old Blues" by Captain Beefheart.
Cale was born on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was raised in Tulsa and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1956. Along with a number of other young Tulsa musicians, Cale moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, where he first worked as a studio engineer.
The Leathercoated Minds was a 1966-67 psychedelic studio-based band masterminded largely by Snuff Garrett and J J Cale. The band produced one album, A Trip down the Sunset Strip, co-produced by Cale and Garrett
Finding little success as a recording artist, he later returned to Tulsa and was considering giving up the music business until Clapton recorded "After Midnight" in 1970. His first album, Naturally, established his style, described by Los Angeles Times writer Richard Cromelin as a "unique hybrid of blues, folk and jazz, marked by relaxed grooves and Cale's fluid guitar and laconic vocals. His early use of drum machines and his unconventional mixes lend a distinctive and timeless quality to his work and set him apart from the pack of Americana roots-music purists."
Some sources incorrectly give his real name as "Jean-Jacques Cale". In the 2006 documentary, To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J.J. Cale, Cale talks about Elmer Valentine, co-owner of the Sunset Strip nightclub Whisky à GoGo, who employed him in the mid-1960s, being the one that came up with the "JJ" moniker to avoid confusion with the Velvet Underground's John Cale. Rocky Frisco tells the same version of the story mentioning the other John Cale but without further detail.
His biggest U.S. hit single, Crazy Mama, peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972. During the 2006 documentary film To Tulsa and Back Cale recounts the story of being offered the opportunity to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand to promote the song, which would have moved the song higher on the charts. Cale declined when told he could not bring his band to the taping and would be required to lip-sync the words to the song.
Cale died on Friday, July 26, 2013, at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California, after suffering a heart attack.
River Runs Deep
J.J. Cale Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The river runs deep and the water is cold as ice
I go down there every chance I get
It's where my baby she met her death
And the river runs deep and the water's cold as ice
Ain't no woman gonna make a fool out of me
Ain't no woman gonna make a fool out of me
She's at the bottom of the river bed
And the river runs deep, the water's cold as ice
No cheating woman gonna get a good man down
Cheating woman gonna get a good man down
Running 'round like a silly fool
You're gonna end up at the bottom of the pool
The river runs deep, the water's cold as ice
The lyrics of J.J. Cale's song 'River Runs Deep' are loaded with dark imagery, that of a cold, deep river which claims the life of his beloved. The river is depicted as unforgiving, so distant and so melancholy that the singer of the song is drawn to it, much like a moth to a flame. Despite knowing that the water is cold as ice and the river is dangerous, the singer goes down there every chance he gets, perhaps as a way of coping with his loss.
The lyrics also appear to be a warning against unfaithful women. The singer suggests that no cheating woman is going to make a fool out of him, and that they are doomed to end up in the same state as his beloved. It could be that his fear of being rejected and betrayed by women stems from his own emotional scars that he has acquired in the past. The chorus is repeated twice, adding to the mournful and haunting quality of the song.
The song is known for its simplicity, as Cale delivers his message without any adornment, his voice barely above a whisper. While the music may seem simple, its effectiveness cannot be denied. Overall, the song is an ode to the power of loss, both in love and life.
Line by Line Meaning
Well, the river runs deep and the water is cold as ice
The river is deep and has a very low temperature.
The river runs deep and the water is cold as ice
The river is still deep and has a very low temperature.
I go down there every chance I get
The person frequently visits the river.
It's where my baby she met her death
The person's significant other died at the river.
And the river runs deep and the water's cold as ice
The river remains deep and has a very low temperature.
Ain't no woman gonna make a fool out of me
The person will not let a woman make them a fool.
Running 'round, that's what they said
Others have accused the significant other of cheating.
She's at the bottom of the river bed
The significant other is dead and at the bottom of the river.
And the river runs deep, the water's cold as ice
The river is still deep and has a very low temperature.
No cheating woman gonna get a good man down
A cheating woman will not bring down a good man.
Cheating woman gonna get a good man down
A cheating woman can bring down a good man.
Running 'round like a silly fool
The woman is running around foolishly.
You're gonna end up at the bottom of the pool
The foolish woman will end up dead in the water.
The river runs deep, the water's cold as ice
The river remains deep and has a very low temperature.
Lyrics © CARLIN AMERICA INC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: J.J. Cale
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind