Rivers of My Fathers

"Rivers of My Fathers" is a song by American vocalist

"Rivers of My Fathers" is a

"Rivers of My Fathers" is a

As the opening verse and chorus suggest, "Looking for a way out of this confusion/I'm looking for a sign, carry me home/Let me lay down by a stream and let me be miles from everything/Rivers of my fathers, could you carry me home." In his interpretation of Scott-Heron's lyrics, music writer and author Mtume ya Salaam explained "Gil sings of 'looking for a way out' out of the cold, hard city; he wants to 'lay down by a stream' that is 'miles away from everything.' But he’s too far away from home, there is no way out—instead of warm, open fields and flowing waters, there is only brick, asphalt and mortar." Following several vocal deliveries of whole choruses, the narrator pleads to the "river" to take him home, which is revealed at closing seconds of the song as Scott-Heron silently says "Africa".^[3]

Interpretation

Due to its lyrical content, critics and music writers have made interpretations and comparisons of the song to Toni Morrison's 1977 novel Song of Solomon, as their themes both adhere to ancestral and cultural identity. Writer Mtume ya Salaam has also made this comparison, as he later stated in an article for the website Kalamu:

In the last passage of one of Toni Morisson’s best-known novels, a young Black man named Milkman Dead steps off of the side of a cliff and either does or does not fly ... The one thing about the book I’ve never forgotten is the final image: that of a Black man flying home ... In African-American culture, the image of a man or woman flying away to some far-off land is as common as it is archetypal. Given the way most Black Americans arrived here in the Americas, it’s easy to understand where and how the myth originated. It isn't as easy to understand it's [sic] persistence. For me, Gil Scott-Heron’s "Rivers Of My Fathers" captures the essence of 'the flying dream' better than anything else I’ve seen or heard save the dream itself. The lyrics, the melody, the arrangement—all of it gives me the same feeling I get whenever I think of Milkman standing high above everything, waiting for weightlessness to spirit him away.^[3]

— Mtume ya Salaam

In addition to its recognition for the literary allusion to Songs of Solomon, "Rivers of My Fathers" has been recognized by critics and music writers as one of Winter in America's best recordings, as well as one of Gil Scott-Heron's best compositions.^[5]

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.^[1]

• Gil Scott-Heron – vocals, producer
• Brian Jackson – piano
• Danny Bowens – fender bass
• Bob Adams – drums (
  traps
  )
• Jose Williams –
  engineer
  , production assistance

References

Bibliography

• Eric Weisbard, Craig Marks (2003).
  ISBN 0-679-75574-8
  .
• Gil Scott-Heron, Brian Jackson (1998). Winter in America (Rumal-Gia) CD reissue booklet. liner notes. Ruma-Gia Ltd./TVT Records, 23 E. 4th Street, New York, NY 10003.