Songs
Down By The River
Description
"Down By the River" is a song originally composed, performed, and released by Regina Spektor. One of Regina's earliest songs, it was performed live potentially as early as 1998 (exact date unknown, sometime between 1998 and 2000 per Papa's Bootlegs. The song has never been professionally recorded or released. Prior to its live version release on Papa's Bootlegs on 2022-08-26, it was previously unknown.
Official Releases
There are no known official releases associated with this song.
Music Videos
Demos
There are no known demos associated with this song.
Live Performances
This song has no known live performances.
Lyrics
Down by the river
The children will play
Their mothers will wash their hands from the blood
Their fathers will tell them tales of the past
Their fathers will hold their hands in the dark
Little hands in the dark
Singing, Oh Lord
Your altars are needed most
Near the gallows
Your altars are needed most
Near the gallows
Rising from the ground up to the sky
As hanging bodies try to fly away
And nobody knows why they are tied-
Down by the river
The shore’s lined with ghosts
Too many boats never reaching a coast
And in this country
Too many people drew borders
That other people
Others can’t cross
Down by the river
The shore’s lined with ghosts
Who don’t even know that they’re ghosts
Singing, Oh Lord
Your altars are needed most
Near the gallows
Your altars are needed most
Near the gallows
Rising from the ground up to the sky
As hanging bodies try to fly away
And nobody knows why they are tied-
Down by the river
The children will play
Their mothers will wash their hands from the blood
Their fathers will tell them tales of the past
Their fathers will hold their hands in the dark
Little hands in the dark
Singing oh man
Darkness comes and darkness goes
But everybody knows
Lord, your altars are needed most
Down, down, down by the river
Singing, Oh Lord
Your altars are needed most
Near the gallows
Your altars are needed most
Near the gallows
Rising from the ground up to the sky
As hanging bodies try to fly away
And nobody knows why they are tied-
Down by the river
The children will play
Their mothers will wash their hands from the blood
Their fathers will tell them tales of the past
Their fathers will hold their hands in the dark
Little hands in the dark
Singing oh man
Darkness comes and darkness goes
But everybody knows
Lord, your altars are needed most
Down, down, down by the river
Song Facts
Release Status:
Released
Originally By:
Original
Collaborators:
Solo
Alternate Titles:
N/A
Written:
Unknown
Demo:
N/A
First Official Release:
First Live Performance:
N/A
Last Live Performance:
N/A
Song Stats
First Known Date:
N/A
Last Known Date:
N/A
Time Between First Known Date and Last Known Date:
Time Between First and Last Performance:
never played live
# of Appearances on Official Releases:
1
# of Times Performed Live:
0
Themes & References
Trivia
Media Features
There are no known media features associated with this song.
Concert data provided by
