The River Lyrics

I've never seen the West Coast

That edifice of young dreams

But if it gave into the salt and coral

I could describe it as from memory

For it's stronger than the Eastern Winds

Who snared their share of Gatsbys

Who stirred the prose and pens of authors

But scarcely rustles now the elm leaves

I found the conscience of the city washed up by the river

Where the crackle of words and the murmur of language

Keep the old men warm as the sounds burn to soot

You hear the train whistle crying cause there's no need to use it

Should the stones on the bank become an audience

And patron to the medley of sound in the cityscape chorus

To hear the songs of the city, in her age and weather

Know they've come for her hits from when she used to be better

Within the park there is a fountain

In a court by the trees where the footsteps resound from the bricks underneath

Such that the person approaching seemed larger to me

Than the man who appeared to augment the gleam in the shallows

And the tarnished light flickered in the main road

And the sweet, soulful notes of the Auto Ensemble, though dimmer and hollow,

Begin their big swing in the sweltering summer

The conscience of the city washed up by the river

Where the crackle of words and the murmur of language

Keep the old men warm as the sounds burn to soot

You hear the train whistle crying cause there's no need to use it

Should the stones on the bank become an audience

And patron to the medley of sound in the cityscape chorus

To hear the songs of the city, in her age and weather

Know they've come for her hits from when she used to be better

Stay around now