I’m a River
At first scan, “I’m a river” sounds like any other soulful song on the radio station but at a second glance, the song really begins to display its individuality. What makes this song unique is how it was composed. Most artists compose their songs in studios but Dave Grohl, the lead singer of Foo Fighter actually composed the songs while walking around in New York City. “I’m a River” was actually composed small parts by the Dave Grohl on the streets where he interviewed local musicians on the streets of New York City about their experiences in New York. Then, he used special phrases from their stories and insert those phrases into his song. Even though the phrases are from the street musicians of New York, Dave Grohl uses the phrases in his song because they are a part of his experiences in New York.
This song was released by the band Foo Fighters in 2014 as a part of their album, Sonic Highways. It was composed by the lead singer Dave Grohl as one of the eight songs about the 8 cities that the band visited. Every city they visited inspired its own special song and “I’m a River” was inspired by Grohl’s encounters in New York City. Grohl’s exploration of New York city can be clearly seen in the lyrics where he refers to specific Manhattan locations such as the Magic Shop recording studio that is in Soho, in the part “I found a secret behind a Soho door” and the Minetta Creek which is referred to as his reason “Beneath the subway floor”. In my analysis of the song, I was curious about what “the devils water” actually was so I researched it. What I found was that the “devil’s water” is actually the Minetta Creek that runs “Beneath the subway floor”. It was called “devil’s water” by the native Americans that lived in New York City at the time the river supposedly existed because they had disagreement with the colonists who lived near the creek. I think that the song refers to the River as “devil’s water” instead of its American name to arouse the curiosity of the listener with this weird name. It is also interesting that the video makes so many implicit references to New York City that you can only discern if you analyze the song thoroughly
This part of the lyrics makes specific reference to New York city:
There is a secret
I found a secret
Behind a Soho door
There is a reason
I found a reason
Beneath the subway floor
I found the water
The devils water
And walked along its shore
Although I like to think of the main line, “I’m a River” to meant to symbolize a person’s life in New York City, this line was actually inspired by the fact that under New York city, there actually used to be a real physical river: Minetta Creek. I like to think of this river that he describes is one that represents all things natural and uncorrupted by man by running underneath the man-made city I think the song’s main message is that underneath all the concrete that we see in the man-made structure of our city, there lies a mysterious and exciting narration that we have yet to explore.