River Of Light

[Tom]

I've been listening to some of the songs from "Harmony" the past few days. The song that jumps out for me is "River of Light". This song is truly another Lightfoot masterpiece...
"Headin’ off on a river of light, be a part of a river at night."
"Nice to be on a river at peace, Headin’ down where the water runs deep, down deep where
the fish are asleep"

Gord still has the knack!

I haven't heard "The No Hotel" yet...isn't that the song many fans were raving about that he was doing in concert around 2001?

[joveski]

i agree about River of light... my favourite on an album i dont listen to that much

[Jesse Joe]

I agree Tom on, "River Of Light", he gets those poetic wheels in motion, on that one.

He does a great intro to, "The No Hotel," when you listen to it...

[ September 03, 2006, 10:33: Message edited by: Jesse -Joe ]

[DJ in MJ]

River Of Light and Shellfish are my top two favourite songs from Harmony.

[Tom]

Headin’ off on a river at peace, in the cool of an evenin' breeze,
Headin’ off on a river of light, campfire on a river at night.
Nice to be on a river sometimes, like a junebug travellin’ East,

Headin’ off on a ribbon of song, been away from the river too long, yeah
Good to be on a river somewhere, like a milkweed travellin’ there,

Headin’ off on a ribbon of dreams, be a part of a river it seems.
Can you tell me how long......must I travel?

I won’t be lookin’ up old friends
I won’t be lookin’ up old friends......Ever again!

I spent my life takin’ my time, and I can’t change any 'ol rhyme
Take a look at my river of light, be a part of a river at night.
Nice t’ be on a river at peace, like a junebug travellin’ East,
Headin’ off on a river at last, my tears will be all in the past, yeah
Good to be on a river somwhere, like a milkweed travellin’ there,
Headin’ down where the water runs deep, down deep where the fish are asleep, now
Can you tell me how long......must I travel?

I won’t be lookin’ up old friends,
I won’t be lookin’ up old friends......Ever again!

Trouble don’t mean nothin’ to me, and I had my share of TV,
Headin’ off on a river of light, be a part of a river at night, now
Nice to be on a river at peace, in the cool of an evenin' breeze,
Headin’ off on the silver moon light, maybe love’ll find me tonight, yeah.
Good to be on a river somwhere, like a milkweed travellin’ there.
Headin’ off on a ribbon of dreams, be a part of a river it seems.
Can you tell me how long......must I travel on?

I won’t be lookin’ up old friends,
I won’t be lookin’ up old friends......
Ever again!
Ever again!
Ever again!!

This is how I hear "River of Light"...the lyrics I relate to most is "I won’t be lookin’ up old friends......Ever again!" Sounds like a retirement dream to me. lol
Since moving to Florida 5 years ago, it's alot harder for me to get into Gordon Lightfoot music. His songs seem to fit in more with crisp, colder weather...not hot 90+ degree days & palm trees! When "Harmony" was released I downloaded "Inspiration Lady", which was a fine song, however, I was probably going through a valley in my relationship at the time & didn't see my wife as much of an inspiration.

Video for Inspiration Lady

I recently got some more songs from the album & immeadiately fell in love with "River of Light". The second best song for me is "Sometimes I Wish" followed by "End of All Time". I hope it's not his last album.

[ September 04, 2006, 17:50: Message edited by: Tom ]

[Jesse Joe]

This looks like a place where a man could find Peace.




This Tom, is a perfect pic for, "River Of Light."
What a beautiful photo. ~ Jesse.~

[ September 05, 2006, 04:53: Message edited by: Jesse -Joe ]

[Sydney Steve]

Tom writes :

Sounds like a retirement dream to me. lol

I love "River of Light" - the best on Harmony easily IMO ...but I reckon the song is a about death - a rather permanent type of retirement....

The metaphors abound in there about the journey and the fact that it is a solo one.

There I've lightened up another thread!!! :D

Thats my take anyway...

[Shutup and Deal, I'm Losin']

River Of Light and Sometimes I Wish are the best songs on Harmony.

[Tom]

Originally posted by Sydney Steve:

The metaphors abound in there about the journey and the fact that it is a solo one.
[/QB]

Sydney Steve, I guess you can make an argument for the song being about a "permanent retirement", but I don't. He may be asking how long he'll have to "travel on" solo...but he's still looking/hoping for a special lady to travel with him: "Headin’ off on the silver moon light, maybe love’ll find me tonight"


Jesse-Joe...yes, if that were me in the picture, I'd just keep following that "river of light" to the Source.....somewhere east of midnight!


I'd rather be in Biscuit City
With my banjo in my hand
Than take a big vacation
In some foreign land
Cause the sound of my own breathing
has been turning to a sigh
If it were not for misfortune
I would be in Biscuit City by and by
If it were not for misfortune
I would stay in Biscuit City 'til I die

[Peter Bro10]

I was going to start a new post and pose a question on this topic, but instead decided to "search" old posts to see what's been kicked around before. Sure enough, here we are.

This song, just the melody that is, delete the lyric for now...) is mesmerizing.

Lyric is deep... I favoring an iterpretation that has "the river of light" as a metaphor for Life.

But the last post before this raises an entirely new quetion for me... Is Biscuit City a real place or is it fictional?

Always one more question....

[Borderstone]

I like that one too but it still doesn;t top my favorite from Harmony,"End Of All Time".

[Cathy]

That's my favorite too, Borderstone.

[johnfowles]

Originally posted by Peter Bro10:
But the last post before this raises an entirely new quetion for me... Is Biscuit City a real place or is it fictional?

Always one more question....

and always the chance of one more answer Peter!!!
this was aired a while ago see
http://www.corfid.com/ubb/ultimatebb...=003618#000000
with pictorial evidence from Bruna Silverheels

Bru had managed to find a large jpg that she quickly snapped whilst in Rhode Island of the road sign and here is a resized
version of the complete picture:-
which you can see above it was then then fettled by yours truly I opened im my favo(u)rite picture editing program(me) MGI Photosuite and discovered that not only could I crop it and
resize it but I realised I could then also rotate the resultimg smaller portion to produce Tada Tada:-

[gretschviking1967]

Originally posted by Tom:
I've been listening to some of the songs from "Harmony" the past few days. The song that jumps out for me is "River of Light". This song is truly another Lightfoot masterpiece...
"Headin’ off on a river of light, be a part of a river at night."
"Nice to be on a river at peace, Headin’ down where the water runs deep, down deep where
the fish are asleep"

Gord still has the knack!

I haven't heard "The No Hotel" yet...isn't that the song many fans were raving about that he was doing in concert around 2001?

I agree! Great song with a cozy title! My fave is, of course "Inspiration Lady". Once again, coziness prevails!

That's the one thing I have always loved about Gordon Lightfoot's music. It's cozy. One of my favorite pastimes is to drive around on a cool, breezy, sunny, colorful Autumn day in Pennsylvania listening to Lightfoot. My iPod of course, features every Lightfoot album..........with bonus tracks added by me, thank you! That makes for one amazing journey!


Ahhhhh yes.....

[bjm7777]

By and large, Harmony is Lightfoots most honest work since Waiting For You. I agree that River of Light is a masterpiece from the master himself - rather a stately sound, with his trademark "E no 3rd drone", as he calls it. As a sidebar, I'm fifty, and I find playing that "E no 3rd" chord harder on my fingers all the time - but I don't have anywhere near his practice time. Back to the subject, I am moved by the lyric "I won't be lookin' up old friends ever again..." - powerful stuff...