My Top 1000 Songs #700: By This River

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.] 

Back when I started this blog in 2019--mainly as a daily morning exercise to get myself writing each day when I was working on my book (which, hey, right there on Amazon.com, go get it!)--one of the first pieces of music I wrote about was Brian Eno's remarkable, slightly schizophrenic 1977 album Before And After Science. It was Eno's last vocal album for many years, as he moved entirely into instrumental ambient music, and the two sides of the LP reflected the schism between his taste for arty rock music and gentle atmospheric pieces.

The quiet second side in particular is one of my favorite runs of music ever. I've already included the album-closing "Spider & I" on this list (way up at #26!), a deliriously evocative little number, and now I'm returning for "By This River," another wispy, gentle soundscape. Like "Spider," it's ideal for my lifelong bouts with insomnia, a hushed lullaby to ease me into sleep, yet beautiful and touching and something I want to hear all the way through even as sleep beckons. No, it has no place on a list of great rock & roll songs, mostly solo piano that sounds more like classical music with some vocals laid on top, but it's three of the most perfectly tranquil moments ever pressed onto vinyl.

Not a song I ever imagined would be available in a live version, but here it is, from 2021:

Feelies-adjacent band Speed The Plough with their own take on the song:

Here's another cover:

And another one: