[Intro – Orchestral Prelude / French Horns & Strings] (Soft timpani rolls; Jon speaks quietly over swelling strings) He walked into the river once, not to disappear — but to return everywhere. You can’t bury a melody like that. It just keeps flowin’… and one day, you look up, and realize the music’s been carryin’ you all along. (Brass echoes the melody from Track 2 “The Water King.”) ⸻ [Verse 1 – Sung Slowly, Reverently] 🎶 From the bayou’s hum to the ocean’s door, He moves like the light on the chapel floor. The River King don’t wear no crown, He wears the sound of a city reborn. The horn his scepter, the beat his throne, His kingdom built of flesh and bone. Every voice that rose from pain, He gathers them all — sings their names again. 🎶 ⸻ [Pre-Chorus – French Operatic Flourish] 🎶 Le roi revient, mais sans orgueil, The king returns, but not in pride. Il est l’eau, le feu, le ciel, le cœur, He is the water, the fire, the sky, the heart. 🎶 (Choir enters: “Ahhh… Le Roi du Fleuve…”) ⸻ [Chorus – Grand Brass & Choir Anthem] 🎶 Long live the River King, born of brass and broken wings! He rose from sorrow’s open hand, and taught the flood to understand. Le roi du fleuve, il vit en nous, The River King still lives in you. 🎶 ⸻ [Verse 2 – Spoken/Sung, Piano & Trumpet Lead] I seen him in a boy dancin’ barefoot down Dauphine, in a woman prayin’ by a busted levee, in a trumpet that laughed through tears. He ain’t gone. He just changed form — like light through water. (Piano improvises under the spoken rhythm, soft but glowing.) ⸻ [Bridge – Orchestral Ascension] 🎶 La rivière chante, la ville répond, The river sings, the city responds. Ton amour est l’horizon, Your love is the horizon. 🎶 From every loss, a note reborn, From every night, a brighter morn. 🎶 (Choir swells, brass rises into full second-line march tempo.) ⸻ [Final Chorus – Full Ensemble Triumph] 🎶 Long live the River King, Joy still wears her golden ring! From the flood’s lament to the trumpet’s fire, He lifts our hearts a little higher! Le roi du fleuve, mon frère, mon chant, You lead us still, forever on. 🎶 ⸻ [Outro – Spoken / Piano Solo Fading to Silence] You hear that? That’s him — in the horn, in the laugh, in the rain. The River King don’t rule the land. He rules the rhythm. Et le rythme ne meurt jamais. And rhythm never dies. (Final sustained trumpet note fades into the sound of a gentle river current, merging with quiet applause.)

Le Roi du Fleuve (The River King – Reprise)