Music Blog

The River Of Dreams

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Song Lyric Sunday –
“Naturally Flowing Water”
This is my response to the challenge.

© Discogs

Over at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday this week, the theme is “Naturally Flowing Water” and our challenge is to write about a song that mentions river, stream, creek, or brook suggested by Di of pensitivity101.

Billy Joel is a highly successful American singer-songwriter, composer, and pianist. Born in The Bronx, New York in 1949, he grew up in Hicksville, Long Island; his father, a classical pianist, left the family when Joel was eight. His mother insisted he take piano lessons, and he continued his musical studies, even taking up boxing as a teenager to defend himself from neighborhood bullies. Joel ultimately dropped out of high school to pursue a music career. After an unsuccessful string of early bands, a difficult contract with his first label, and working at a piano bar, he signed with Columbia Records in 1973, which launched his solo career.

Billy Joel is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 160 million records sold worldwide. Professionally, from 1971 to 1993, he released 12 studio albums spanning the genres of pop and rock, and in 2001 released a one-off studio album of classical compositions. While Joel largely retired from songwriting after his 1993 album River of Dreams, he continued to perform, including a record-breaking residency at Madison Square Garden that began in 2014 and continued until July 2024, after 10 years and 150 shows. After suffering from serious health issues in 2025, Joel was forced to cancel all scheduled tours. With the help of physical therapy, he is making excellent progress and all signs point to renewed good health and a return to touring in 2026.

“The River of Dreams” is a spiritual song inspired by a dream Billy Joel had about “walking in his sleep”, which he described as a “stream of consciousness”. Released in 1993, the song features gospel choir elements and explores themes of faith, spirituality, and the search for truth, using biblical imagery such as a reference to Psalm 23 (“Through the valley of fear”). Joel has stated the song represents a crisis of faith that leads to the realization that “there’s no justice, only faith”. The track , from Joel’s 12th studio album River of Dreams, was nominated for Record of the Year at the 1994 Grammy Awards.

This is “The River Of Dreams” by Billy Joel

LYRICS

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be looking for something
Something sacred I lost
But the river is wide
And it’s too hard to cross

Even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every evening and I stand on the shore
I try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find out what I’ve been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I’ve been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I’d never lose
Something somebody stole

I don’t know why I go walking at night
But now I’m tired and I don’t want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn’t take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is that I’ve been looking for

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To a river so deep
I know I’m searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind

In the middle of the night

I’m not sure about a life after this
God knows I’ve never been a spiritual man
Baptized by the fire, I wade into the river
That runs to the promised land

In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
To the river so deep
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We’re all carried along
By the river of dreams

In the middle of the night

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Billy Joel
The River of Dreams lyrics © Royalty Network, TuneCore Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group

Naturally Flowing Water

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the links and check out Jim and Di’s sites.

Thanks for stopping by for a look and a listen.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

49 thoughts on “The River Of Dreams”

    1. Thanks, Christian! I guess Barry Manilow would also fit into that category of piano men, but I’m really not a fan. Another piano man that I do like is Harry Connick, but truth be told, other than Elton John, no one comes close to Billy Joel.

      Thanks for asking about my recovery; today I feel pretty good and I will happily take that. One day at a time. Thank goodness for the dictation app!

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    1. Thanks very much for your gracious comments, Suzanne. I am very happy to share this video and my write up on SLS today. It’s a very special piece and I’m so glad to know you like it. All of us Billy Joel fans are rooting for his complete recovery and hopefully a return to the stage. He’s such a great artist.

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  20. I had totally forgotten about this Billy Joel song. I really like this one. Good video also. I wonder how it would sound with the tempo slowed down? I bet it would be a great gospel tune that way. Great choice for the prompt, Nancy, and glad to hear he may be well again and performing in 2026.

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    1. Thanks for your very interesting comments, Lisa. I’ve always loved this song and as soon as I read what the challenge was for today, I knew I was going to feature it. All of us fans want nothing but the best for Billy, and hope he makes a full recovery. I was intrigued by your question regarding the tempo of the song, so I went on YouTube and found a slowed down version. I don’t know if it’s as slow as you’d like but here it is. Enjoy!

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