Molly Jones

What does she get for all the love she gave you

There on the ladder of regrets?

Mighty river, give her all she gets

The first verse introduces us to three of the main characters of this song, "she" who we automatically associate with a woman, "you" who is probably this woman's lover (which for clarity's sake we'll interpret as being a man) and the "mighty river".

The song opens with a question, Paul asks directly the character "you" what "she" gets as a reward for all the love "she" gave him. while Paul is asking this question "she" is standing on a ladder of regrets.

It sounds like all "she" is doing is give and give without getting anything or not much in return, hence the "ladder of regrets".

"She" is apparently in a relationship of sorts with this "you", but is unhappy because even though "she" gives her love to "you" it doesn't look like "she" gets much of anything in return, only regrets. We don't know why "you" isn't giving "she" the love which she very much craves, at least not yet. We might need to get to know the characters a little better to find this particular detail out.

Paul then invokes the "mighty river" and tells it to give her ("she") all she gets. In everyday English, "give someone what they get" can sound punitive ("give them what they deserve") but in this case it's more likely that Paul is asking the river to give her what she deserves which is to say the love "you" hasn't been giving her back. There is a certain weirdness to this line, why would Paul be asking this river we still don't know much about to supply "she" with love she clearly has been craving from someone else? It's even weirder because the river disappears from the next two verses. We may need more context from the song before fully analysing this line.

What does she get for all the love she gave you

There on the ladder of regrets?

Daytime nightime suffering is all she gets

The answer to the question asked in the first verse is answered here, all "she" gets for the love she gave this mysterious "you" is pain by day and by night.

Where are all the prizes for the games she entered

With little chance of much success?

Daytime nightime suffering is all she gets

"She" entered many games probably orchestrated by "you", games that were hard to win or rigged because the chances of success weren't high. Paul is asking where the prizes and the rewards are for participating in these games. It's interesting to note that Paul doesn't say "she" has won any of the aforementioned games and yet he's implying that "she" should still receive prizes for even taking part in them. It makes me think that these "games" were not something to be won or lost, but were instead a bit of a dance between two people, two lovers, with the "you" being the main instigator and "she" taking part in them. And yet all "she" gets for taking part in them is daytime and nighttime suffering.

Come on river, overflow

Let your love for your people show

Come on river, flow through me

Let your love for your people be

You are the river, I am the stream

Flow mighty river through me

This verse is very tricky so let's slowly go through it and discover what it might mean.

The first thing to notice is that we're undergoing a change of scenery. "She" who has been the main character of the song so far, disappears in this verse. In her stead we have the "river" that was introduced to us in the first verse, the second is that Paul is no longer an omniscient narrator but he himself is now a character in the song: "me", "I". So we now have four characters in this song: "she", "you", "river" and "me", Paul himself.

This is all rather confusing. Where has "she" gone? Weren't we talking about her suffering? The sudden reveal of Paul as a character in the song when we had so far been thinking he was just the narrator is also destabilizing, what might this all mean?

These questions will be answered as we continue to analyze the song.

Come on river, overflow

Let your love for your people show

After reading these first two lines we understand that Paul is personifying the River, he's treating it as if it were a person with feelings they're suppressing, not only that, he's egging it on: "come on river" he says, "overflow". The river feels love but it doesn't show it to "his people", it doesn't let its love "overflow" because it's contained, hidden.

Come on river, flow through me

Let your love for your people be

Paul himself enters the picture. He's still egging the river on but this time he's telling it to flow through him and from what we've learned in the previous two lines, the water of this river is the love it feels and this love only becomes visible to the people when it overflows. When Paul says to the personified river to flow through him he's actually telling it to let its love flow through him (Paul).

Paul wants to feel the river's love.

He then says "Let your love for your people be". Paul is once again asking the river to show its love to his people, to let this love be and since he wants the river to flow through him this line implies that Paul himself is one of those "people" he's talking about in this line.

You are the river, I am the stream

Flow mighty river through me

These lines are the pivotal point of the song and hold a lot of meaning.

The river, which Paul had previously personified, is now getting associated with the "you" that we'd seen previously in the song. The "you" that is the lover of "she". The "you" that makes "she" suffer because while "she" gives "you" all her love, "you" doesn't give back what he receives from her.

Sounds familiar?

The river, just like "you", doesn't let its love show (or "overflow" as Paul put it). The people, Paul included, crave the river's love, just like "she" craves love from "you".

Paul with this line has just given us the key to fully understand the characters he has presented us that had seemingly nothing to do with each other.

"You" and the "mighty river" are one and the same. The story about "she" suffering because of "you" was just an allegory for the suffering Paul himself is undergoing because of the river and its choice not to show its love, as he has explained with the lines "Come on river, overflow, let your love for your people show. Come on river, flow through me, let your love for your people be" that we have previously analyzed. He craves love from it -or at this point shall we say him- just like "she" craves love from "you".

Since Paul fused together "you" and the river with the words "you are the river" and since Paul has put himself in the position of craving for the river's love, we can come to the conclusion that Paul himself is also probably the "she" that craves love from "you".

But who exactly is this "you" that has been making Paul suffer so much? I found a possible answer to this question contained in the second half of the very same line we've been analyzing, but to understand what Paul is possibly getting at here I'm afraid we'll need to go on a bit of a journey so please bear with me while I slowly go through this.

Let's start by defining what the two bodies of water cited in that line are:

River: A river is a natural, flowing body of water that follows a distinct path, usually moving downhill from higher elevations (like mountains) toward a lower body of water, such as an ocean, lake, or another river.

Stream: A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large streams are usually called rivers, while smaller, less voluminous and more intermittent streams are known, amongst others, as brook, creek, rivulet, rill, run, tributary, feeder, freshet, narrow river, and streamlet.

As you may have already understood the main difference between these two bodies of water is the size. When a stream is big enough it is described as a rived instead.

So is Paul talking about two different bodies of water here? One large and mighty river and a smaller stream? Possibly, but I don't really think that's the case. There's another explanation to what Paul might be getting at here.

You see, the stream Paul talks about can also be interpreted as a "stream of water", which has a different meaning from the word "stream". Here's the definition:

Stream of water: Stream water refers to the water that flows naturally within the bed and banks of a continuous channel, such as a brook, creek, or river.

You may already see what I'm getting at here. If we take this definition then the stream is in and of itself part of the river.

Now let's get back to the song and the line we're currently analyzing.

You are the river, I am the stream

Paul is identifying himself with the stream. No tricks here, he's being very direct. The implications of this line are however quite mind-blowing and practically impossible for me to fully describe so pardon me because words are probably going to fail me soon.

The river (which we now know is a mysterious person that has made Paul suffer because he doesn't let his love show when that is exactly what Paul is carving) and the stream are one and the same. The stream flows inside the river, the river is the stream. This line speaks of a shared identity, a shared soul and as far as I know, Paul, while looking into his eyes, "dissolved" into one other person and one other person only.

With only one person has he ever had such an intense bond, a bond so deep and everlasting that he talks and sings about it to this day. You only need to look at his recent slip of the tongue "his spirit is still in mine- in me" to understand what I'm getting at here. I think he's talking about John.

This song from 1979 perfectly captures the various mood changes and feelings Paul was apparently going through during this period and that we can find in his songs from the time; feelings like the pain and suffering of "arrow through me", the urgency of "Morse moose and the grey goose" and the hopefulness of "with a little luck" and "coming up", which I believe are all songs possibly written about and for John. All those feelings are present in the song we're currently analyzing.

Paul and John have always liked to play with identity, no need to look farther than lines like "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together" from I am the walrus and "the walrus was Paul" from glass onion (which I don't really have the strength to analyze right now, my brain is already breaking because of this song, I can see why Paul was so proud of it.), so whenever I see a lyric that plays with identity, my gut reaction is to take a look at their bond to see if it fits the general tone of the song, especially if it's a Paul song. And their relationship and what they were going through emotionally at the time this was written, do fit this song particularly well.

Flow mighty river through me

Remember, Paul is the stream. Here he is asking the river, John, to flow through him. He's asking John to be one soul in two bodies again. He's asking John to get back together in their most quintessential and unique way.

Now we have the necessary context to fully analyze the third line of the song which sounded pretty weird but now takes on another, more complex, meaning.

Mighty river, give her all she gets

Since Paul has merged the characters of the river and "you" in one with the words "you are the river" and since in this analysis both "you" and the river are John and "she" is Paul, what comes out (with some poetic license on my part) is something like this: "John, please give me what I deserve (your love) what little you're giving me now is not nearly enough and because of this I suffer day and night".

Back to where we left off:

What does it pay to play the leading lady

When like the damsel in distress

Daytime nightime suffering is all she gets

We're back to the "she" character but now it's easier to understand what Paul is telling us. For clarity's sake I'll now start interpreting "she" as Paul himself.

What's the point of being a main character in their mind games when Paul suffers day and night like a damsel in distress? I don't know exactly what kind of mind games Paul and John were playing in the 70s but from the looks of it they were quite the complicated ones and especially in the late 70s left them both feeling miserable.

It's also interesting to note that Paul has taken the role of the woman in this song, he feels silly like a damsel in distress, unable to save himself from the situation she's been thrust in and dependent on the hero to save her.

No less, no more

(No less, no more)

No sea, no shore

(No sea, no shore)

No sand, no pail

(No sand, no pail)

No fairy tale anymore

Paul gets no less and no more than daytime and nighttime suffering. There's no sea, no shore, no sand, no pail (we could analyze the sea and what it means to both John and Paul but this analysis is already long enough) and no fairy tale anymore.

The bit about the fairy tale is particularly interesting. There are multiple interpretations that I find likely:

Referencing the previous line about the damsel in distress, Paul could be saying that he's tired of these games they've been playing, he wants John to stop beating around the bush and do something already in regards to their relationship.

It could also be referencing the Beatles, their very own and special fairy tale that is no more, along with their youth. He could be saying that they're too old to still be playing games.

Another likely interpretation comes from a story Paul has shared about calling John on the phone in an attempt at mending their relationship in the late 70s. He said that John was suspicious of his motives and kept asking what he really wanted and during the conversation John apparently angrily told him "you're all pizzas and fairy tales!" (Paul had been talking about what he was going to eat and about reading fairy tales to his kids). This remark deeply hurt Paul who after weakly replying with "Oh, fuck off, Kojak" slammed down the phone. It wouldn't surprise me if he's referencing John's own words here. Possibly telling him that he's ready to actually have an adult and serious conversation about their relationship, that he's ready to mend it and for them to be together again if John wants to.

Come on river, flow through me

Don't be stopped by insanity

Come on river, overflow

Let your love for your neighbors grow

We've already talked about the meaning of the first line so let's focus on the second one. Paul who is asking the river, John, -and here I'm going to use an euphemism- to get together again, is also basically begging him to not be stopped by insanity. We know John was paranoid, we've just gone through a story of him being suspicious of Paul's real motives when all Paul actually wanted to do was catch up and possibly mend their frayed relationship. Paul knows that one of the main reasons they haven't made up yet is because of John's fraught state of mind, here he's asking him to push through it, to see reason and to "flow through" him.

"Come on river, overflow" again, egging him on to give into his feelings.

"Let your love for your neighbors grow" Paul is not the only one that has been deprived of John's love. The entire world has been. He's telling John to remember that there are other people outside, be it his neighbors or the American population, he's hoping for John to reinvigorate himself, to at least set foot outside of his house more often.

You are the river, I am the stream

Flow mighty river, through me

Daytime nightime suffering

Is all she gets

Daytime nightime suffering

Is all she gets

Daytime nightime suffering

Is all she gets

What does she get for all the love she gave you?

Repeating the most important lines. They could be one again if John wanted them to be. Paul suffers day and night because of John. What does Paul get for all the love he gave John?

As a little treat there's also this