River Lea

Album: 25 (2015)
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  • Everybody tells me it's 'bout time that I moved on
    And I need to learn to lighten up and learn how to be young
    But my heart is a valley, it's so shallow and man made
    I'm scared to death if I let you in that you'll see I'm just a fake
    Sometimes I feel lonely in the arms of your touch
    But I know that's just me, 'cause nothing ever is enough
    When I was a child I grew up by the River Lea
    There was something in the water, now that something's in me
    Oh I can't go back, but the reeds are growing out of my fingertips
    I can't go back to the river

    But it's in my roots, in my veins
    In my blood and I stain every heart that I use to heal the pain

    Oh, it's in my roots, in my veins
    In my blood and I stain every heart that I use to heal the pain

    So I blame it on the River Lea, the River Lea, the River Lea
    Yeah, I blame it on the River Lea, the River Lea, the River Lea

    I should probably tell you now before it's way too late
    That I never meant to hurt you or to lie straight to your face
    Consider this my apology, I know it's years in advance
    But I'd rather say it now in case I never get the chance
    No, I can't go back, but the reeds are growing out of my fingertips
    I can't go back to the river

    But it's in my roots, in my veins
    In my blood and I stain every heart that I use to heal the pain

    Oh, it's in my roots, in my veins
    In my blood and I stain every heart that I use to heal the pain

    So I blame it on the River Lea, the River Lea, the River Lea
    Yeah, I blame it on the River Lea, the River Lea, the River Lea

    So I blame it on the River Lea, the River Lea, the River Lea
    Yeah, I blame it on the River Lea, the River Lea, the River Lea, oh

    River Lea
    River Lea (oh)
    River Lea
    River Lea (oh)
    River Lea
    River Lea (oh)
    River Lea
    River Lea (oh)
    River Lea
    The River Lea
    The River Lea
    River Lea
    The River Lea
    The River Lea Writer/s: Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, Brian Joseph Burton
    Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 2

  • Sean from Cape TownJust about to move to the UK and really cant wait to attend her shows,will probably love to drive to River Lea to see it myself.
  • Andrew From Close To The River Lea from North East LondonI was born and brought up within a mile of the River Lea and know it quite well (probably a lot better than Adele does!) The comment about "polluted waters" is not relevent. The lower part of the river (where I come from, near the 2012 Olympic Park) is exposed to some pollution, but is generally clean enough to have plenty of fish and wildlife. Some people swim in it, but I don't think it's really clean enough for that. The area where Adele lived has numerous reservoirs for storing the river water for supply to people in North East London.

    The point of the song is really a metaphor. We drink water in the area that we grow up in and some of that water becomes physically part of us. In the same way, the place we grow up in makes us who we are : how we talk, how we think, what we do. You can't change that, any more than you can pull the water from within your body. So the song is just about being the product of your surroundings, even if you move on to another place. It's not an in-depth commentary on our lovely River Lea (and I wish I could post you a picture of the river not far from Tottenham, which I took recently, so you could see how nice it is).
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