Bobryanmusic.com: The Tracks

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What a gift this life is! And this world we get to walk through.

If I have a "Home Town" it's O'Fallon, Illinois, some 16 miles from the Mississippi. From the time of my childhood, that river has figured into my thoughts. The Great River Road. The Aorta of America. The Big Muddy.

Written April 1994 after a trip to the Twin Cities with Helen. We were steaming down the Mississippi in a paddle-wheeler and saw a blue Heron gliding over the water on the opposite bank. Beautiful. The song started to write itself then.

Like the river, it picked up a little bit of this and that along the way. I have stood overlooking the St. Anthony Falls up at the top, I've stood looking at the delta down below... and I've wandered the streets of St. Louis right about in the middle. All the sights and smells and sounds that go with that river have crept into my blood over the years. I miss it, living out here in the dang desert, believe me.

Life on the Mississippi:
everybody smiles up and down that River Road
for miles and miles and miles.
Muddy water underneath a big Midwestern sky,
running all day, every day,
never running dry.
I love to see the power of that river running through
just the way I always hope
My heart runs through to you.

Life on the Mississippi:
see how the river calls clear on down to New Orleans
from the St. Anthony Falls.
Dixie Jazz and the Mardi Gras, the smell of the barbeque,
black earth of the heartland;
East St. Louis, toodle-loo
I love to see the power of that river running free,
just the way I always hope
your love runs down to me.

Life on the Mississippi:
huckleberry fine;
paddle wheels and packet boats
and the mighty Southern line.
Great Blue Heron gliding like an arrow on the air,
every green leaf waving
at the One who put it there.
I love the way the river runs unbroken through the land
just the way my heart is held unbroken in your hand.