Story Behind The Song

We had a celebration one year in the little town where I used to live, and someone had the idea that we should do a little walking tour, with a map of all the interesting places. The only problem was that all of the interesting places had changed, fallen

Song Description

A bittersweet reflection on how things change.

Lyrics

River Town

Chorus:
We don?t have a core of engineers
Keeping our channel clear
Some of us are like islands
We stick around for years
Some of us are like sandbars
We come along and we disappear
From a river town, river town, river town

Here?s where the showboats used to dock
When Margaret was a girl
Here?s where the depot lay
Over there?s the foundation of the mill
This house used to be Sandy?s barbershop
The store used to house a shoe repair
This vacant lot was a hotel once
I guess there?s not enough market here

(Chorus)

Sandy?s gone and the store closed
The orchard died and Margaret moved away
But there?s new kid in the gray house
And we couldn?t afford the firehouse
But we built it anyway
And we?re putting in a boat landing
A fishing pier and a swimming beach someday
Some people say we?re losing ground
But it?s just a cycle spinning round
That?s what I say

There?s a chance that this old river will
Overflow it?s banks
A chance the nearby city will just
Open up it?s ranks
Swallow us in Quick Trip stores
Parking lots and drive-in banks
A chance that we?ll have no-one
But ourselves to blame or thank

(Chorus:
We don?t need a core of engineers...)