Songfacts®:

• Roger Clyne, who was lead singer of The Refreshments, wrote this song. Says Clyne: "I wrote a lot of that when I was camping with my girlfriend who later became my wife. We were celebrating life - our life and nature - outdoors, streaking around the river. It was really about going down to the river, let's go down together. And the river, of course, is another great metaphor for any would-be poet. It's a thing that's always changing, it's always there and always static. So a lot of those nonsense lyrics are just everyday details that lead down to the metaphor, that lead to the river; the ever-changing yet ever static thing that is life. I know that's probably even convoluting that song more, but it's not about heroin addiction, which one writer said. No, it's about celebrating life, and being there by the river."
• The Refreshments lasted only a few years, released 2 albums for Mercury Records, and came up with the theme song for the TV show King Of The Hill, which they also recorded. Clyne went on to form Roger Clyne And The Peacemakers, who signed to an independent label and developed a large following in the Southwest United States, where the band is from. (Get more in our Roger Clyne interview. His website is azpeacemakers.com.)