[Verse 1] I was born where the two creeks meet Rust-red clay Hand-me-down shoes Skipping rocks like skipping days Back when summer felt like it Might never move [Verse 2] Granddad’s truck on the gravel road Windows stuck Radio hum He said “Boy This water remembers Every name it’s ever carried Every stone it’s ever cut” [Chorus] Rivers run through me Cutting their lines in my sleep All that I’ve lost All that I keep Every bend Every memory Rivers run through me Rivers run through me [Verse 3] College town by a wider stream Steel-gray flow Bridges and trains I learned how to leave a place Before I learned How to remain [Verse 4] You were there with your boots half-laced Laughing loud Hair in your eyes We drank cheap wine on the concrete bank Watching boats drift past Under bruised blue skies [Chorus] Rivers run through me Cutting their lines in my sleep All that I’ve said All that I mean Every vow Every in-between Rivers run through me Rivers run through me [Bridge] I thought I could dam it Build my walls high Change my name Change my town But the current keeps calling Soft at first Then a roar Then a drown [Verse 5] Got a kid now with your crooked smile Plastic pail Tiny bare feet He asks me where the water goes When it disappears Under the street [Pre-Chorus] I kneel down Feel the pull Mud on my knee Throat full [Chorus] Rivers run through me Cutting their lines in my sleep All that I’ve hurt All that I’ve healed Every truth I tried to conceal Rivers run through me Rivers run through me [Bridge] From the melt of distant mountains To the mouths of quiet bays Every choice I thought was random Falls in line like drops of rain All the faces that I’ve fallen for All the fights I couldn’t win They are carved into the shoreline Of the person I’ve been [Verse 6] One day I’ll be ash and dust Folded in To some dark green bank Let the kids tell stories Half wrong Half right About the mess I made And the thanks I never gave [Chorus] Rivers run through me Cutting their lines in my sleep All that I was All I’ll remain Every joy Braided with pain Rivers run through me Rivers run through me [Outro] Long after my name is gone And the stones forget my feet Something of me keeps moving on Under roots Under roads Under fields of wheat Rivers run through me Rivers run to sea
