Jazz and Traffic #2, Sidewalk Poetry #60: Abbey Lincoln's "The River"

Check out Jazz legend Abbey Lincoln's song about an L.A. freeway, "The River."

Lincoln was interviewed describing the song: "I used to live on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles", she recalls. "It's a really busy freeway and I used to hear all this traffic in the night and in the morning. It sounded just like a river."

It's the best song about a freeway that I've ever heard. That's not saying much, but still...

The lyrics follow:

The River, by Abbey Lincoln

There's  river on the freeway
Where four winds blow
From the city to the countryside
Winding to and fro

In the morning and the evening
Tide begins to swim
And the red boat runs and races
And its signaled by a bell

A hollow metal vessel
And it vibrates and rings
The river runs and races
To bring the many things

It carries on the surface
Of a running racing tide
There's a river on the freeway
You can take it for a ride

All you have to do is enter
From some designated lane
And you ride till your off ramp
Signals that you're home again

The the river starts receding
And it murmurs now and then
In the lull before the coming
Of the tide that's rushing in

There's a river on the freeway
And the river has a song
And its based upon a ditty
And its murmured by the throng

There's a river on the freeway
And its signaled by a bell
There's a river on the freeway

Sha ba ba da be da da e da da de da de....

Sometimes the night is silent
For a moment there's no sound
Except perhaps a cricket
Beeping on the ground

Or a human zooming motor
An engine now and then
Doing 90 miles an hour
Breaking limits, getting in

There's a river on the freeway
And the river has a song
And its based upon a ditty
And its murmured by the throng

There's a river on the freeway
And its signaled by a bell
There's a river on the freeway
Underneath a magic spell