Songfacts®:

• The "blood river" is Carnock Burn, which flows at the bottom of Finnich Glen in the Scottish village of Killearn, north of Glasgow. It gets its name because the water appears red.
  
  A section of the glen known as The Devil's Pulpit, named for a large red rock at the bottom, is a popular attraction that can be accessed by a stone stairway built in the 1800s. It's a treacherous descent known as Jacob's Ladder, in keeping with the biblical theme. Finnich Glen appeared in the 2014 "The Garrison Commander" episode of the TV series Outlander, where it plays the role of St. Ninian's Spring. This caused an unwelcome surge in visitors to the area, with many tourists sullying the natural wonder.
• In the song, Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale sings about going down to The Devil's Pulpit to pray. He wrote the song after reading about the area. "I thought that was the most inspiring, allegorical, wild place to write about," he said in a Songfacts interview.
• This is a track from the Bush album The Kingdom, which was supposed to come out in May 2020 but was delayed because of the coronavirus, which also put a damper on a planned tour. The band decided not to release the album until the pandemic was over.