Download "The River of Dreams"
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams We're all carried along By the river of dreams "The River of Dreams" was the biggest hit from the River of Dreams album and had come to Billy in a dream, like many of his songs. He explained that he woke up one morning and had the tune in his head, and it just stayed with him through his morning shower and the rest of the day. He could not shake it, so he wrote the song. As Billy stated in this article from Psychology Today: "When you wake up singing a song and having a certain rhythm running through your mind and you can't get rid of it, it means something. I've always found it's best to follow up the initial impulse when something is that strong."
Billy has stated that he often dreams in sounds, colors, and shapes. In the same article, he said that as a kid: "So when kids would come into school and say I had this dream about a monster or I had this dream
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Words and Music by Billy Joel
In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep From the mountains of faith To a river so deep I must be looking for something Something sacred I lost But the river is wide And it's too hard to cross And even though I know the river is wide I walk down every evening and I stand on the shore And try to cross to the opposite side So I can finally find out what I've been looking for In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep Through the valley of fear To a river so deep And I've been searching for something Taken out of my soul Something I would never lose Something somebody stole I don't know why I go walking at night But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life Until I find what it is that I've been looking for In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep Through the jungle of doubt To a river so deep I know I'm searching for something Something so undefined That it can only be seen By the eyes of the blind In the middle of the night I'm not sure about a life after this God knows I've never been a spiritual man Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river That runs to the promised land In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep Through the desert of truth To the river so deep We all end in the ocean We all start in the streams We're all carried along By the river of dreams In the middle of the night . . . Billy discusses "The River of Dreams" on SiriusXM.
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that I saw you or somebody died, I had a nightmare ....I thought to myself, 'Gee, I have a completely different kind of dream. I dreamed a melody or I dreamt a great rhythm or a chord pattern or symphonic fragment for a song.' It was always music but it wasn't always the same kind of music. I have had literal dreams like other people but more often than not it’s an abstract kind of dream.’’ This article also discusses the origin of the song from a dream.
"The River of Dreams" is an upbeat gospel-inflected song with a jangly guitar and congo drums providing the rhythm. Musically, the melody is as catchy as any of Billy Joel's songs, and the piano-driven bridge is also irresistible, an ear worm. It is reminiscent of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" or Paul Simon's collaborations with Ladysmith Black Mambazo who later did a cover version of "The River of Dreams" on their 1997 album Heavenly. "The River of Dreams" is also reminiscent of a 50's doo-wop song and could have fit in, at least musically, on An Innocent Man.
Lyrically, Billy is "searching for something" and clearly there is a spiritual angst or doubt behind the words, though Billy himself has stated he is unsure what the song means. It is "so undefined" that he cannot clearly see what it is. While there is some deeper spiritual meaning here, for me the lyrics suffer a bit from metaphors that are somewhat trite ("valley of fear," "river so deep," "desert of truth") for what thematically is a more searching or anguished song. The topic could have used a more impressionistic lyric, which Billy does masterfully in the final song on the album, "Famous Last Words."
But don't listen to me. What do I know? The song was a huge hit, reaching #3 on the charts and earning a Grammy Nomination for Record of The Year. At the Grammy Awards ceremony in 1994, Billy and his band gave a bravura performance of the song (see vide0 below), highlighted by Billy counting off the "millions of advertising dollars" wasted during the pause in the song. Billy, ever the clever wise guy, was mocking the network's earlier decision to cut off Frank Sinatra's acceptance speech for a Grammy Legends award in order to go to a commercial. Billy also performed the song on SNL, see video.
An interesting alternative "percappella" version of the song can be heard here.
"The River of Dreams" is an upbeat gospel-inflected song with a jangly guitar and congo drums providing the rhythm. Musically, the melody is as catchy as any of Billy Joel's songs, and the piano-driven bridge is also irresistible, an ear worm. It is reminiscent of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" or Paul Simon's collaborations with Ladysmith Black Mambazo who later did a cover version of "The River of Dreams" on their 1997 album Heavenly. "The River of Dreams" is also reminiscent of a 50's doo-wop song and could have fit in, at least musically, on An Innocent Man.
Lyrically, Billy is "searching for something" and clearly there is a spiritual angst or doubt behind the words, though Billy himself has stated he is unsure what the song means. It is "so undefined" that he cannot clearly see what it is. While there is some deeper spiritual meaning here, for me the lyrics suffer a bit from metaphors that are somewhat trite ("valley of fear," "river so deep," "desert of truth") for what thematically is a more searching or anguished song. The topic could have used a more impressionistic lyric, which Billy does masterfully in the final song on the album, "Famous Last Words."
But don't listen to me. What do I know? The song was a huge hit, reaching #3 on the charts and earning a Grammy Nomination for Record of The Year. At the Grammy Awards ceremony in 1994, Billy and his band gave a bravura performance of the song (see vide0 below), highlighted by Billy counting off the "millions of advertising dollars" wasted during the pause in the song. Billy, ever the clever wise guy, was mocking the network's earlier decision to cut off Frank Sinatra's acceptance speech for a Grammy Legends award in order to go to a commercial. Billy also performed the song on SNL, see video.
An interesting alternative "percappella" version of the song can be heard here.
Videos
Music video for "The River of Dreams." © 1993 Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Watch more videos on BillyJoel.com or Vevo's YouTube channel.
Watch more videos on BillyJoel.com or Vevo's YouTube channel.
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Billy and the band perform the song at the 1994 Grammy Awards.
Billy explains how he wrote "Lullabye" and "River of Dreams" (audio only). This is from a Master Class in 1994 at Princeton, on Disc 4 of The Complete Hits Collection.
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Live version of "The River of Dreams" from Frankfurt, Germany (1994).
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