River
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit Lyrics

The river is my savior
The river is a source of salvation for the singer.

'Cause she used to be a cloud
The river was once a cloud floating above, but now provides a different kind of comfort.

She's happy just to lay there
The river is content to keep flowing and fulfilling its purpose.

When she used to be so proud
The river used to be majestic and full, but is now more subdued.

And even when she dries up a thousand years from now
The artist will still feel a connection to the river, even if it is long gone.

I'll lay myself beside her and call her name out loud
The singer wants to be close to the river and acknowledge their bond.

The only one I'll ever need
The singer trusts the river above all else.

Wash my head when I've been sinning
The river is cleansing and purifying for the artist's guilty conscious.

Wash my knuckles when they bleed
The river can heal physical wounds as well as emotional ones.

Protect me from my neighbor
The artist wants the river to shield him from a dangerous neighbor.

All his jealousy and greed
The neighbor's negative qualities are a source of fear for the singer.

Take the body to the delta
The artist may need to dispose of a corpse in the river's delta region.

Hide the weapon in the weeds
The singer wants to conceal a weapon in the river's vegetation.

The river hears my secrets
The singer trusts the river to keep his innermost secrets.

Things I cannot tell a soul
The singer feels that he can't confide in anyone else.

Like the children that I've orphaned
The artist has been responsible for causing harm to innocent children.

And the fortune that I stole
The artist has taken money that wasn't rightfully his.

The neighbor who asked questions
The singer has had a nosy neighbor who has been asking questions about him.

'Til he washed up on the shore
The neighbor has either drowned or washed up on the river's shore.

But I've done the law some favors
The artist may have acted as an informant for the authorities.

So nobody has to know
The artist has kept his public image untarnished.

Now I'm tired and I just can't get to sleep
The artist is exhausted and restless.

I've been a wolf among these sheep for all my life
The singer has been deceitful and dangerous to those around him.

The lake of fire it consumes me in my dreams
The artist is tormented by guilt and fear.

And last night I woke up screaming at my wife
The singer's nightmares are so intense that they're disturbing his spouse.

She's running to the sea
The river has a goal of its own and is always flowing towards the ocean.

And to reach her destination
The river has a purpose to fulfill that it can't deviate from.

Is to simply cease to be
The artist sees the river's ultimate goal as not really being alive anymore.

And running 'til you're nothing
The artist is comparing the river's life cycle to the way he feels about his own existence.

Sounds a lot like being free
The singer believes that the river's fate is actually a state of freedom.

So I'll lay myself inside her
The singer wants to be fully immersed in the river.

And I'll let her carry me
The artist trusts the river to guide him to whatever his own fate may be.