For such an obscure track, “Over the Rise” has fascinating callbacks to several of Bruce’s best songs.
We can hear echoes of both “Brilliant Disguise” and “If I Should Fall Behind” (both of which immediately pre-date “Over the Rise”), along with a direct reference to “The River.” It also mines similar earth as “Downbound Train.” It’s almost certainly not a coincidence that every one of those songs is a “relationship” song.
Even the title is familiar: Bruce seemed fixated on hill-as-metaphor during those years, as the phrase “over the rise” appears in contemporaries “Real World,” “Roll of the Dice” and “Lucky Town” as well. This songwriting period coincided with a new phase in his life as a family man; Bruce obviously saw this as a new life chapter, and that notion expressed itself in his writing.
Bruce wrote “Over the Rise” on the bass, one of a handful of songs he composed that way in late 1990, of which only “57 Channels (and Nothin’ On)” would make it to his next records. The bass riff (if we can call it that–it’s more percussive than melodic) propels us forward even while Bruce’s lyrics tell of being left behind.
Let’s take a listen.
When Bruce wrote “Over the Rise” he was a second-time newlywed, determined to not screw it up this time. His lyrics read more like a post-mortem for his first marriage than an omen for his second, because this is one very, very dark song.
Almost immediately, we meet a gypsy. Is this the same gypsy from “Brilliant Disguise?” Very possibly–we may even be hearing from the same narrator.
I walk along the levee to see the gypsy man
The dirt ‘neath my feet, baby, is turnin’ to quicksand
He looked into my palm, then looked me in the eye
Told me you were gone, gone over the rise
It’s not a stretch to assume that “Over the Rise” may take place just a short distance into the future from “Brilliant Disguise,” suspicion having turned into separation.
Once we stood together at the wishing well
Our wishes like dreams, baby, into the water fell
Oh then I kissed your lips, but when I looked into your eyes
They were gone, gone over the rise
We hear callbacks to “If I Should Fall Behind” next (although Bruce recorded that classic after he recorded “Over the Rise,” he actually wrote it earlier for his wedding the previous summer), with Bruce using similar imagery of two life travelers by the river’s edge.
Tonight the blackbirds fly low on the water’s edge
Oh we walked this path not knowing where it led
Now at the bottom of the river deep lies something shiny and golden
Is a promise that love couldn’t keep same as a promise broken
Those last two lines are devastatingly sad: first, we get the song’s big reveal: unlike “Brilliant Disguise,” in which the lovers are drifting apart, here we see a wedding ring at the bottom of a river. Lest we miss the loaded symbolism of that river, we also get an extremely direct reference to one of Bruce’s most poignant songs in the final line.
Can a vow be considered broken if their love was never strong enough to keep it in the first place? Might as well ask whether a dream is a lie if it don’t come true, because it’s basically the same question.
We end “Over the Rise” on one of the saddest notes in Bruce’s catalog: alone in the dark, in the rain, without even the tears of our lost love to remind us of what we miss.
Well I woke last night to the sound of rain
The wind rustling branches against the window pane
I searched the pillow beside me for the tears we cried
Baby they were gone, gone over the rise
Placed in the perspective of his catalog, “Over the Rise” is a strange song–it echoes so many of Bruce’s previous songs without actually saying anything new, yet the very recurrence of some of his most prevalent themes and metaphors suggests that it’s one of his more personally revealing songs.
Bruce has never performed “Over the Rise” in public. I suspect he never will.
(I certainly don’t expect anyone to request it.)
Over the Rise
Recorded: December 7, 1990
Released: Tracks (1998)
Never performed
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