# Song Lyric ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196 "2017-11-10T05:31:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/1 "2017-11-10T05:31:43Z")
What the hell does\* “Like a river flows Shirley to the sea” \*mean? 😕 Is it about smuggling drugs or getting rid of a witness to a crime? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/2 "2017-11-10T05:33:43Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > What the hell does\* “Like a river flows Shirley to the sea” \*mean? 😕 Is it about smuggling drugs or getting rid of a witness to a crime? 😕 Is American joke funny ha, yes? The lyric is “Like a river flows surely to the sea”, if we’re talking about “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/3 "2017-11-10T06:12:10Z")
Where else is the river going to flow Shirley to? Most of them eventually hit something you’d describe as a sea. ETA: [Robert Plant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBzuYNK95sM) is my cite. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/4 "2017-11-10T06:43:02Z")
And don’t call me, surely. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/5 "2017-11-10T11:50:18Z")
Surely you’re joking! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/6 "2017-11-10T11:57:29Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > …Is it about smuggling drugs or getting rid of a witness to a crime? It is clearly a reference to using the Mississippi river to smuggle drugs out of Memphis, to the Gulf of Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/7 "2017-11-10T16:59:17Z")
And there’s the line _“Take my hand, take your whole life too”_? I get it now! There’s an old tradition in American song to take your unfaithful woman to a river to kill her. “Hey Joe” is a river song. It goes all the way back to “Banks Of The Ohio” and don’t forget “Down By The River”. And then there’s “Wise men say only fools rush in”? The whose song is a confession. Ze case, she is sol-ved. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/8 "2017-11-10T20:07:47Z")
Shirley killer man jello raises like a lepress above the Sara get tea. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/9 "2017-11-11T03:18:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Shirley killer man jello raises like a lepress above the Sara get tea. And there’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyric/801196/10 "2017-11-12T05:51:44Z")
There’s the bathroom on the right. Excuse me while I kiss this guy…