Easy Flowing River

Alasdair Clarye

        All I remember of this is Jim Couza singing it to me in a parking lot ins. E. Massachusetts many years ago. I remember that he somehow imparted the heft of the harmony to me at the same time. I've sung it off and on with Ann Muir, so the 'cellamba part here is taken from her flute harmony. Jim said that Alasdair wrote it about the Thames River barges.

When you come afloat before the morning gulls
And you're towing through the summer weather,
And you keep no clock but the ebb and flow,
She's a gentle, easy flowing river.

Oh, I've punched my way through the deep Spring gales,
When you stand on board your barge and shiver,
And go creeping slow 'gainst the weight of water
With the ebbtide pushing down the river.

And it's cold on board in the Winter's dark
And you think that the night will last forever,
And you crouch and wait below in your cabin
'Til the dawn tide takes you down the river.

And I've stood on deck in the lightning storms,
When the big waves bump the boats together,
And the thunder shakes the sea below you (*)
And you're working on the open river.

Well, she ebbs and flows with her rain and oil:
When London's gone, she'll flow on forever.
To the sea and brine, to the black salt water,
She's a gentle, easy flowing river.

(Repeat last verse)

(*) I've seen this. -GB)

Easy Flowing River is recorded on the CD Ensemble