D-Squared

I wrote this after a trip down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon with some very dear friends. Ostensibly it is about the river but, of course, it’s really about the Big Trip that we’re all on. This is our most requested song, appears on two of our CDs, and has been included on several compilations, most notably the Smithsonian Folkways release, “Songs and Stories of Grand Canyon”.

There’s no stronger wind a-blowing than the one that blows tonight
Up the canyon from the desert hey it don’t know wrong from right
It don’t give a damn about your convictions or what deity you endorse
If you run up your abstractions it’ll blow you plumb off course
You better row

From the snowmelt in the Rockies, from the San Juan and the Green
The Colorado herds her children like souls into the stream
You can take the wild ride if you choose flushed like so much sand
But keep your eyes peeled downstream this ain’t Disneyland
You better row
You better row

Now the river rocks and rumbles as it rolls down through the ages
And shatters any sense of scale when it turns back the pages
And the ruins of your history, civilizations in their prime
Are swept into an eddy, they were just a wink in time
You better row

So if time is what you’re after, if that’s what you think you lack
Take all the time you want here you might not be coming back
You can lift your eyes in wonder as you drift from shore to shore
But when the river snakes it’s savage tongue, you better grab an oar
You better row
You better row

Did you think that you could come here and fail to be impressed
With the terrifying beauty of the earth when she’s undressed
Did her passion leave you breathless, did you find the truth you seek
And when you hit the hole at Lava Falls was it difficult to speak
You better row

It’s an adolescent fantasy and we really ought to lose it
‘Cause acting like we’re in control we’re destined to abuse it
But the lyric that the rocks will echo long into the night
Is you may dare to dam the river but you cannot stem the tide
You better row
You better row

Now I know you know the parable of the sailors out at sea
There were four men in the gunnels, there was room for only three
And if my friend you don’t believe we’re all in the same boat
How long can you tread water, how long you gonna stay afloat
You better row
You better row
You better row
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily merrily merrily merrily
Life is but a dream
Life is but a dream
Life is but a dream

You can play a sample of this tune:
[audio:row.mp3]