How Deep Is That River?

By •

Mason Jennings. My favorite lately. His voice has an earnest, genuine, conversational tone. He manages to pierce the film that usually separates me from the recorded person. There’s a thrust and a glottal to his vocals that I can’t explain except to say that he has charmed me. I have several of his songs in my repertoire, just here and there from different records that have a similar, homespun sense. There’s an immediacy, a comforting echo in most of the productions of these albums. This song (track 4) which I had never heard (from a compilation project) popped up on Pandora yesterday and his lyrics here have cast the same sort of sweet spell. He digs deep. And I dig it. Deeply. Like he digs. Like the river is deep. Or is it really so deep? Or…oh go on.

[audio:HowDeep.mp3]

 

How deep is that river? How deep is that river?
I don’t wanna know where it’s coming from
I don’t need to know where it’s going to
Before I place my trust in You
I just wanna know, how deep?

God said to me what He said to the treeimagehandlerashx
Grow up towards the light and one day you’ll see
My son Jesus, what did He say?
Love the Lord your God and God will show you the way
Do unto others like you wanna be done
Look deep in your heart and know that we are one

Singing, how deep is that river? How deep is that river?
I don’t wanna know how fast it flows
I don’t need to know if it’s safe to swim
Before I put my trust in Him
I just wanna know, how deep?

God came down in the cool of the day
Stirred up the waters and began to play
Before He knew it, man was on the land
With a thought in his head, and a gun in his hand
God saw that man was just a little too rough
So He gave him a heart and filled it up with love

 

Singing, how deep is that river? How deep is that river? Yes
I don’t wanna know if it has a name
I don’t need to know how to cross it yet
Before I get my spirit wet
I just wanna know, how deep, alright

A few years back I had lost my way
I was deep in the woods, I began to pray
I came to a river and I sat on its bank
It was cool and clear, I have Jesus to thank
I drank that water, yes, I drank it up
Now every day I come back and fill my cup

Singing, how deep is that river? How deep is that river?
I don’t wanna know if it’s yours or mine
I don’t need to know if it’s safe to swim
Before I put my trust in Him
I just wanna know, how deep?

I just wanna know how deep
I just wanna know how deep


More from the Rabbit Room

7 Comments

  2. Chinwe

    I LOVE Mason, and not just ‘cos he’s one of our wonderful local artists here in MN! 🙂

  3. Chris Slaten

    “His voice has an earnest, genuine, conversational tone. He manages to pierce the film that usually separates me from the recorded person.”

    That’s a great way to describe him. He rarely seems to sing with pretense and his lyrics are usually catchy and intelligent but accessible. “Butterfly” is probably one of the most regular songs to get stuck in my head. That being said, I haven’t listened to much past the self titled record and Use Your Voice. Recommendations?

    What compilation is it?

  5. Tony from Pandora

    We’ll need to see if he’s missing a toe… maybe it’s ACTUALLY Andrew Osenga himself.

  6. Steve

    I looked him up on Amazon’s mp3 section and immediately my eyes caught his song: “I Love You And Buddha Too”. Like his voice, but not his theology.

  7. Steve

    Let me also add, I didn’t make my last post about his theology to try to start a posting war or argument, just wanted to be informative to those who may be assuming that all music posted on the site is of the same Christian background as most of the other stuff. I also was only able to listen to 30 seconds of the “I love you and Buddha too” song, so perhaps I missed the point, but it sounded like the point was that Jesus and Buddha, and all religions lead to the one true God. Please correct me if I misrepresented his views.

    Thanks!

If you have a Rabbit Room account, log in here to comment.