Down By The River

The speaker describes going to a river to wait for a meeting with the “good Lord.” At first, the story of this presence was something they had heard but could not believe. After hearing the birds’ message, the speaker feels persuaded and sets off with hope and joy. The repeated plan to spend the day by the river gives the lyrics a calm, expectant mood.

The river seems to be a place for prayer, reflection, or a spiritual encounter, rather than merely a location. “Waiting for the good Lord to pass my way” suggests hoping for a sign or a moment of closeness with God. The three singing birds act as messengers: their song changes the speaker’s doubt into belief. “Gone for the day” simply means the speaker will be away all day, but it also emphasizes their wholehearted commitment to this journey.

The lyrics leave open whether the birds’ message is understood as a literal event, a religious sign, or a poetic way of describing a change in faith. The mention of the speaker’s mother is also unclear: she may have sent the birds in a spiritual or symbolic sense, or the line may express the speaker’s feeling that the message came through her. In either reading, the focus is less on proof than on the speaker’s new willingness to believe and seek.