Ballad of Easy Rider

Listen while you read: (the quicker tempo version)

The river flows, it flows to the sea
Wherever that river flows, that's where I want to be
Flow, river, flow, let your waters rush down
Take me from this road to some other town

All he wanted was to be free
And that's the way it turned out to be
Flow, river, flow, let your waters rush down
Take me from this road to some other town

Flow, river, flow, past the shady trees
Go, river, go, go to the sea
Flow to the sea

~  Roger McGuinn (and Bob Dylan, uncredited) for The Byrds

Easy Rider was a classic movie, one that I should watch again, as I can't remember the last time I saw it. It may have been in 1969. In researching this post, I watched a clip of the end of the movie, and it was like I was 19 again, sitting in a dark movie theatre, devastated at what I'd just seen. It was one of those times when you want to turn back time and then hope for a better ending.

The story of this song's creation is legendary. Peter Fonda, who wrote, acted in, and produced the movie, asked Bob Dylan to write the theme song. Dylan declined, but wrote a few lyrics on a paper napkin and directed Fonda to give it to Roger McGuinn of The Birds. "He'll know what to do with it." And McGuinn did. He put Dylan's words to music, added a few more lines, and the rest is history. When Dylan saw the preview of the movie and his name on the credits as co-writer of the song, he called McGuinn and told him to remove his name. There are a few theories as to why he did this, but no one seems to know for sure, and of course, Bob's not talking, not even to the Nobel Prize people.

There are two versions of the song. I've provided a link to the one that is NOT on the soundtrack because I like it better. It has a quicker tempo, and to my mind, follows the river's motion better. It's a pretty song, though short.

The Columbia River is not short. Yesterday, we had our third encounter with it as we followed the Columbia River Gorge from Lyle to Portland and then returned to Seattle where we began two weeks ago. It was as beautiful a ride as we'd heard it would be. A certain sadness began to kick in, though, as we faced the reality that this road trip is just about over. The river may flow on to the sea, but we must return to the other coast, where other rivers flow.

And that's the way it turned out to be.