Rivers of My Fathers - Interpretation

Interpretation

Due to its lyrical content, critics and music writers have made interpretations and comparisons of the song to Toni Morrison's 1977 novel Song of Solomon, as their themes both adhere to ancestral and cultural identity. Writer Mtume ya Salaam has also made this comparison, as he later stated in an article for the website Kalamu:

In the last passage of one of Toni Morisson’s best-known novels, a young Black man named Milkman Dead steps off of the side of a cliff and either does or does not fly ... The one thing about the book I’ve never forgotten is the final image: that of a Black man flying home ... In African-American culture, the image of a man or woman flying away to some far-off land is as common as it is archetypal. Given the way most Black Americans arrived here in the Americas, it’s easy to understand where and how the myth originated. It isn't as easy to understand it's persistence. For me, Gil Scott-Heron’s "Rivers Of My Fathers" captures the essence of 'the flying dream' better than anything else I’ve seen or heard save the dream itself. The lyrics, the melody, the arrangement—all of it gives me the same feeling I get whenever I think of Milkman standing high above everything, waiting for weightlessness to spirit him away. —Mtume ya Salaam

In addition to its recognition for the literary allusion to Songs of Solomon, "Rivers of My Fathers" has been recognized by critics and music writers as one of Winter in America's best recordings, as well as one of Gil Scott-Heron's best compositions.