Going down to the river’s edge. Then I am gone.

Hey folks, how’s it hanging?

I been riding all around Hell and half of Orange County, Texas, today. I was down by the river. It was a river as Neil Young might sing about: “Down by the river, I shot my baby,” seems so appropriate. For that is the Neches River I speak of today. Seems like someone is always shooting their loved one along the Neches.Or else they are dumping a body — whether they loved the person or not — in that same river or its nearby sister river, the Sabine. Nothing was calling me down to the water. No one I know of was saying“Take Me To The River,” as in the Delbert McClinton version of the 1974 Al Green song also done in a decent new wave by The Talking Heads.

I was just down along the river for no other reason than “working for a living.” I wonder why so many people turn their noses up to Huey Lewis and the News? Maybe it’s because a lot of his songs sound alike. I don’t know. I always liked some of his songs. Hell, you don’t have to be a fanatic to like a song.

Rivers seem to inspire a lot of songwriters. Perhaps my favorite river song of all time is “Big River,” the Man in Black Johnny Cash and his masterpiece ode to the big Missisip.

 “Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry/And I taught the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky/And the tears that I cried for that woman, they’re gonna flood you Big River/And I’m gonna sit right here until I die.”

Likewise, who can forget Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary?” “Rollin,’ rollin,’ rollin,’ on the river … ”

So much to say about the river. So many memories. But soon it was time to turn around. Work time beckoned