She is known for the emotional sound of her ballads. Some of her most popular songs include "Angel", "Building a Mystery", "Adia", "Possession", "Fallen", "I Will Remember You", and "World on Fire". Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four Juno Awards.
Her first album Touch was released in September 28, 1988, recorded in 1987-1988, Vancouver, Canada. The album received both critical and commercial success and included the hit song Vox. During this period she co-operated with Tom Ferris and Dean Russel of Moev, who discovered her as a singer. She contributed backing vocals their 1990 album Head Down and embarked on her first national concert tour as an opening act for The Grapes Of Wrath, another Tom Ferris's band.
Her second album Solace (1991) was a real breakthrough in Canada, spawning the hit singles The Path of Thorns (Terms) and Into the Fire and being certified double platinum for sales of 200,000 copies in Canada.
In 1994 her third album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy quietly became Sarah's international breakthrough, scaling the charts in a number of countries. In the United States, the album was a steady seller that stayed in the middle ranges of the pop charts for almost two years.
Sarah's fourth album Surfacing, released in 1997, brought her international success, selling over 11 million copies worldwide. Still in the spotlight from the album, Sarah launched the highly popular Lilith Fair tour, which helped launch the careers of several well-known female artists.
Her next record Afterglow came out in 2003; it contained the singles Fallen, Stupid, and World On Fire. It was her first album of new material in six years. Sarah took a few years furlough to start a family with her husband and drummer, Ashwin Sood.
Her Holiday album Wintersong came out in October 2006. The album consists of eleven new recordings of well known Christmas songs as well as seasonal favorites interpreted by Sarah. The title track Wintersong is an original work of Sarah.
McLachlan's first studio album of original material in seven years, Laws of Illusion, was released on June 15, 2010. It features 10 new songs in addition to the previously released tracks "U Want Me 2" and "Don't Give Up on Us. The first single Loving You Is Easy was released on April 23, 2010. It was followed by Forgiveness, released on June 30, 2010.
Rivers of Love
Sarah McLachlan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sides make you bleed 'til you're white as a dove
Don't bother to bring all the baggage you cling to
The porter will free you
Before you come through
The doorway that cleanses
The darkness that mends
And it all comes down to leavin' it all behind
Moving on to the rivers of love
And never be lonely again
How long have you waited?
How long 'til you drown?
The rules and directions
The twists and corrections
Take toll on the highs, we still strive 'til we die
To seek out the one love, the one that we dream of
The one may be there with you everyday
Alone and untethered
And free of all ties
Free since the day you first cried
And it all comes down to leavin' it all behind
Moving on to the rivers of love
And never be lonely again
How long have you waited?
How long 'til you drown?
But it all comes down to leavin' it all behind
Moving on to the rivers of love
And never be lonely again
How long have you waited?
How long 'til you drown?
How long have you waited?
How long 'til you drown?
Sarah McLachlan's song "Rivers of Love" talks about the journey towards finding one's true love. The song is filled with metaphors and imagery that describe the struggles and sacrifices that one makes in order to reach one's destination. The lyrics suggest that the journey to find love can be difficult and painful, but once we find it, we will feel free, untethered, and no longer lonely.
The first verse of the song talks about a tunnel that leads to the rivers of love. The tunnel represents the journey one takes to reach their destination of finding true love. The portrayal of the tunnel as sides that make you bleed and turn white as a dove suggests that the journey will not be easy and will take a toll on us. However, once we pass through the doorway that cleanses and mends our darkness, we can smile at the end.
The second verse talks about the rules and directions, and the twists and corrections that we encounter in our quest for love. Despite facing difficulties and struggles, we continue to strive until we find our one true love. The lyrics suggest that we may already be with the one we dream of, but we need to break free from the baggage we cling to and the ties that bind us before we can truly find happiness.
Overall, Sarah McLachlan's "Rivers of Love" is a powerful song about the journey towards finding love. The lyrics use vivid imagery and metaphors to convey the struggles and sacrifices that one makes in order to reach their destination. The message of the song is that, despite the pain and difficulties we may face, we should continue to strive towards finding love and never give up.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a tunnel that leads to the rivers of love
There is a path that takes you to the place of pure, unadulterated love, where everything is whole and pure.
Sides make you bleed 'til you're white as a dove
The journey to get there may be hard, full of hardship, scars and pain, but once there, it's a place of peace and lightness.
Don't bother to bring all the baggage you cling to
Leave behind your troubles, worries and concerns behind you, as they only weigh you down and keep you in the darkness.
The porter will free you
There is someone there to take care of the things that hold you back, that weigh on you and to help you to let go.
Before you come through
Before you go through the door to where love resides.
The doorway that cleanses
The portal to the rivers of love is a place of purification, where all that is negative and impure is washed away.
The darkness that mends
The void and emptiness within us, the wounds that we have, are healed by the light and the love that reside there.
It's easy to smile in the end
Once you get to the place of love, everything is easy, everything is good, and there is no need to worry or stress.
And it all comes down to leaving it all behind
To reach the rivers of love, you need to let go of all negativity, all the things that hold you back, and all the weights that you carry.
Moving on to the rivers of love
Get up and move on to this place of love, a place where everything is good, and bad vibes do not exist.
And never be lonely again
Once you reach the place of love that Sarah McLachlan sings in 'Rivers of Love,' you will never be lonely again because you have a permanent flood of love.
How long have you waited?
How much longer are you willing to wait for love?
How long 'til you drown?
How long until this cloud of loneliness and feeling like your drowning disappear?
The rules and directions
The journey to the rivers of love may be complicated with rules for entry, and directions to follow.
The twists and corrections
During the journey, there may be unexpected turns and course changes that you must quickly adjust to and follow to make it to the end.
Take a toll on the highs, we still strive 'til we die
It is a journey that takes toll on us both mentally and physically, but still, we persevere, in trying to reach that place of love hence we might never give up until we die.
To seek out the one love, the one that we dream of
The purpose of this journey to the rivers of love is to search for the love that we dream of, a love that is pure and free from any negativity.
The one may be there with you every day
You could have the one love every day around you but haven't found it yet.
Alone and untethered, and free of ties
The one love that we find at the rivers of love is a love that is untethered, free from any bonds or ties, and is independent.
Free since the day you first cried
The love is free from the moment one is born, but as we grow it becomes difficult to find it, and once we find it, we feel like we are born again with renewed energy, life, and excitement.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Sarah McLachlan, Pierre Marchand
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
atolm1
My favorite song on the new record. So beautiful. Sarah at her best. Makes me cry. She sings to my heart in a way no one else can.
Graham Daw
Great musician and wonderful arrangement.
1979WSchamps
She is truly the most beautiful woman alive with the most soothing voice I've ever heard.
Harry Prater
I love every song she does !! Sarah is awesome !!
winogirlll
Love this song and I loved the underrated cd.
Anthony Carroll
ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! One has to take time to recognize the purity of good music when its newly released. This is hard to come by...
Kathy Ng
Love the lyrics.
Sammuel1977
Too hard to admit a tear ran down my cheek when i heard this for the first time today.. Too much dust in the air.. The song is amazing.
Tae KooK
This song isso soothing ...I always love being lonely ...😔
Philip Vanderhoofven
Perfect song for starting over and leaving it all behind. "Rivers of Love" could be the opening theme song for 007 movie!