The Waters of March

"The Waters of March" is one of those insanely catchy pop songs--nearly a standard, though I think it was first written and recorded in the 60s by Antonio Carlos Jobim--that you'd probably know if you heard it. And if you didn't, you'd feel you knew it before it's over. I heard it at the end of the Seinfeld documentary COMEDIAN and it really stuck with me. Looking on www.allmusic.com, there are dozens of covers, and having heard snippets of several, I still vastly prefer the version from the movie, performed by Susannah McCorkle, a jazz singer and popular song interpreter. The lyrics are amazing, I think, really hitting on the light and dark in life in very simple couplets. To me, it's life-affirming, a real pick-me-up kind of song, and it was distressing to read that McCorkle took her own life in 2001, having kept chronic depression hidden for many years. Look at some of the tracks on her last album, like "Down" and "Scars", and you'll be pretty bummed out. I'm usually knowledgeable enough about pop culture that I rarely discover a musician who's died without knowing that fact first, so it's sad when that happens, like you could have been that one extra fan that makes them stay in the game or something. Anyway, here are the lyrics:


A stick a stone
it's the end of the road,
it's feeling alone
it's the weight of your load

it's a sliver of glass,
it is life, it's the sun,
it is night ,it is death,
it's a knife, it's a gun.

a flower that blooms,
a fox in the brush,
a knot in the wood,
the song of the thrush.

the mystery life,
the steps in the hall
the sound of the wind,
and the waterfall.

it's the moon floating free.
it's the curve of a slope.
it's an ant, it's a bee,
it's a reason for hope.

and the riverbank talks.
of the waters of march
it's the promise of Spring,
it's the joy in your heart.

the foot, the ground,
the flesh, the bone,
the beat of the road,
a slingshot stone.

a fish, a flash,
a silvery glow,
a fight, a bet,
the range of the bow.

the bed of the well,
the end of the line,
the dismay in the face,
it's a loss, it's a find.

a spear, a spike,
a point, a nail,
it's a drip, it's a drop,
it's the end of the tale.

the dew on the leaf,
in the soft morning light,
the shot of a gun,
in the dead of the night.

a mile, a must,
a thrust, a bump.
it's the will to survive
it's a jolt, it's a jump.

the blueprint of a house,
the body in bed,
car stuck in the mud
it's the mud, it's the mud.

a float, a drift,
a flight, a wing,
it's a hawk, it's a dove,
it's the promise of spring.

and the riverbank talks.
of the waters of march.
it's the end of despair,
it's the joy in your heart,

a snake, a stick,
it is john, it is joe,
it's a thorn in your hand,
and a cut on your toe.

a stick, a stone,
it's the end of the road,
the stump of a tree,
it's a frog it's a toad.

a sigh, a breath,
a walk, a run
a life, a death
the rain, the sun

a sliver of glass,
a life, the sun,
a night, a death,
the end of the run

and the riverbank sings
of the waters of march
it's the promise of life,
it's the joy in your heart

Note: I transcribed these from McCorkle's performance, and the lyrics are different in places from the lyrics I found online. She does sing some verses in Portuguese, so you can pick out "Joao" for "John" and such, but I left those alone. I just changed where I could tell she changed the lyrics, and they're mostly for the better. "The will to survive" is stronger than "the end of all strain", and so on.