Thunder River / Afon Tarannon by Simon Ager

This is a song I wrote in October / November 2019 from the point of view of rivers that are trapped underground, particularly the River Adda, which mostly flows in a culvert under Bangor. It was put underground between the 1930s and 1960s. Before the 19th century it was called Afon Tarannon or Thunder River, which is where the name of this song comes from. So this is a song for rivers, or anything or anybody else who feels trapped.

This recording features me singing and accompanying myself on the guitar, and I play the guitar and cavaquinho in the instrumental section. The recording starts and ends with sounds of the River Adda, which I found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cp3rB18joww

Here are the words:

Have you heard the water rushing
down beneath your feet?
Do you know a river's still here?
Long forgotten and ignored
down here in the dark
Still flowing down to the sea

Let me flow where I will
Let me flood when I need
Let me feel the sunshine once more
Let me free, let me out
Is what I would shout
If only I had a voice

But I was in the way,
at least that's what they'd say
and couldn't stay where I was
So they put me in this pipe
And buried it deep
But you can still hear me roar

The photo shows the Afon Adda - not the one that flows under Bangor, but a nearby one, and comes from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/364382

There is actually an art project, rAdda, related to the River Adda that involves observing and thinking about the river and its relationship with the city through walks, performances, visual art and text: http://bangoradda.org/