“The Riverbed” – Owen Pallett fansite

Owen Pallett → In Conflict → “The Riverbed”

Lyrics

Heart, heart in your mouth, hand on the paper
With the new work that you’ve found
The gift of your depression bears you down, down, down
And when you wake for the sixth straight day with the tanqueray
You will rise, rise again, and drink again
Hurtle hurtle into the breach
Let your body fall out of reach

On the day that you find your 30s have left you childless
Remember when you meet your coupled friends with unease
The world will forget all the good they have done
And the world’ll forget any good you have done
Hurtle hurtle into the breach
Let your body fall out of reach

Out of thought, out of house, out of your mind
Lay your head, lay your heart next to mine
And try to admit that you might have it wrong
Try to admit that you might have it wrong
Thunderhead, oh thunderhead
I will be your riverbed

Lyrics revisions

On the day you can no longer bear the weight of your depression
Let the sadness push you down, further down
→
Heart, heart in your mouth, hand on the paper
The new work that you found
The gift of your depression weighs you down, down, down, down

Hurtle hurtle over the breach
Turn you into some kind of freak
→
Hurtle hurtle into the breach
Let your body fall out of reach

Meaning

Owen is childless in his 30s and the relevant line continues the theme from “I Am Not Afraid”.

“The world’ll forget any good you have done” is intended to be liberating, not cynical. [source]

Composition

“I wanted to have this consistent E-flat V chord, just this E-flat and B-flat repeated over and over again, to create this almost monomaniacal quality that the song was not really gonna go anywhere. And then as the song goes on, the bass descends and the violins go up, and eventually the orchestra comes in at the end, [so the song is] starting from one point and diverging outward in both directions. It was meant to sound almost as if you were seeing curtains open up very, very slowly.” [source]

“The fourth verse, the instrumental verse, is a shout-out to the Mountain Goats, who are the masters of this device.” [source]

Music video

The music video for “The Riverbed” is directed by Eva Michon and stars Jim Pallett, Meredith Thomas, Ryan Poole, Ashton Tierney, Josh Weber, Owen Pallett, Evan Williams. It was released on February 28, 2014.

The concept for the video comes from Owen’s fear that, when he is old, his music will provide him with the same financial situation that it does now, which is less stable than a regular job. His uncle Jim, who plays the main character, is in that type of situation as an actor in Los Angeles who rides the subway. [source] Owen himself plays one of the jerks in the background.

Owen said, “He’s very talented so I thought ‘I would love to put him in a video.’ We had been entertaining that thought for a long time, that he would be in it. Then, when the song was written, we thought of the part and the video as being written for him. At 63, he looks like he’s in his 50s. He’s a very fit guy into meditation and yoga. It’s a great opportunity for him to shine.” [source]

“I just think that the standard currency of give and take that is expressed in a lot people’s day-to-day lives is concealing a deeper social currency, that people often can’t really get in touch with. In that song, too, I’m hoping that it can realistically talk about my personal experience with alcoholism and kind of being childless in my thirties, find some correlations between that and the sort of mental state and thoughts a person my uncle’s age is going through. The video is not at all autobiographical, but it is a little reflective of some of the things that come out of my uncle Jimmy’s mouth or mind… The thin veneer that people have towards that beta-male rage.” [source]

Live video

Aug 11, 2013 @ London

Apr 2, 2013 @ Milwaukee

Dec 9, 2012 @ ATP

Sep 15, 2012 @ Supercrawl

Personnel

Owen Pallett, Robbie Gordon, Matt Smith: music
Owen Pallett: ARP 2600, Nord G2X, violin, viola, voice
Brian Eno: additional synths, chorus
Robbie Gordon: drums
Matt Smith: electric bass
Leon Taheny: Arturia Minibrute
David Wrench: mixing

Owen Pallett → In Conflict → “The Riverbed”

Lyrics

Lyrics revisions

Personnel

Performances