Jet Black River is a song from Black Letter Days, an album by Frank Black and The Catholics which was released in 2002. It was recorded live to two track tape on the Frank Black and Catholics' recording studio, in Los Angeles.
It seems to me that the song refers to the plumbing of the earth's depths for oil. There are references to gasoline as well as to a 'home blow', which could be the geiser that a town was built around. Mining towns commonly spring up wherever there are natural resources; and fade away into oblivion when they are mined out.
This song has a special significance for me, because like so many other Frank Black songs, it can really get the blood pumping. It starts off with a foot-stomping bass beat and a sweet little piano melody, and flows on to a little bit of five fingered authentic Frank Black magic. With a length of a minute and fifty one seconds, no one would call it an anthem, but it's perfect for raising your mood before you leave the house for that date with the perfect girl.
Lyrics:
jet black river take me on
what's in-between is waiting on me
revealing caffeine ghosts
and giving up it's gasoline
I think I see the stacks of my home blow
sweet memories of dirty monochrome
but once again tonight we sing
jet black river's calling me
jet black river's calling me
jet black river's calling me
jet black river's calling me
Sources:
- Black Letter Days liner notes
- personal idiosyncratic knowledge of Frank Black