KEVIN McCORRY, HOST: I’m Kevin McCorry and this is ‘Jukebox Journey’
[MUSIC MONTAGE:
KM: We’re unstuck in time, jumping through decades and genres, meditating on a theme.
This week: Life on the river.
[MUSIC: “Proud Mary” by Creedence Clearwater Revival]
KM: Every spring into summer, the Delaware River is home to the great shad migration.
Like salmon, shad are the hero’s journey of fish: born on the river, they eventually make it downstream out to the ocean. They travel north in the Atlantic, only to return all the way back to their place of birth on the river in order to spawn the next generation.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: From 1969, Credence Clearwater Revival.
So the question is: What drives you to do what you do?
As a journalist, it’s one I love to ask. The answer can lead anywhere. It pushes you to reckon with the underlying matter of your soul — the stuff simmering below the surface.
The answers are always different, but often boil down to the same thing: this is the best way I know how to survive.
[MUSIC: “Many Rivers to Cross” by Jimmy Cliff]
KM: Another from 1969, the pride of Jamaica, Jimmy Cliff.
Life, death, survival. Such is nature. And when you’re out on the river you feel more attuned to the rhythms that have defined us for millenia.
[MUSIC: “Down to the River to Pray” by Alison Krauss]
From the year 2000, Allison Krauss’ take on the classic.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: Shad spend most of their lives in the ocean. But when it reaches maturity, something instinctual takes over in a quest to be homeward bound.
[MUSIC: “Take Me to the River” by Al Green]
KM: The Al Green original from 1974.
And here’s the mystery: after years at sea, how exactly does the shad know how to navigate back to its riverbank of birth?
From what we know, some combination of smell and internal compass — a deep understanding that’s imprinted in those tender, early days of life.
[MUSIC: “Brokedown Palace” by The Grateful Dead]
KM: The Grateful Dead, 1970.
In canoes with my young children and my father-in-law, our three generations of life look down to see, just below the surface of the river, great schools of shad swimming upstream.
[MUSIC: “Swim Good” by Frank Ocean]
KM: From 2011, Frank Ocean.
By the time we see them, they’re cluster is 240 miles into their freshwater journey north — from the mouth of the Delaware Bay, past the great ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia, all the way up to the Delaware Water Gap.
[MUSIC: “Will to Love” by Neil Young]
From 1977, Neil Young.
KM: Some shad will travel 90 miles even further upriver, battling currents and zig zagging on their way back home.
Some will die after they spawn. But others live on. They swim back down to the ocean, and a few years later, do the entire trip again, maybe a little wiser.
But, again, why?
From the oldest generation to the youngest, just like us in the canoes, they stick together and do the best they know to survive. It’s a solo journey but not one they have to do alone.
[MUSIC: “River” by Leon Bridges]
KM: From 2015, Leon Bridges.
I’m Kevin McCorry. And this has been a ‘Jukebox Journey’ on WHYY.
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