The only items which came up with a Google search on the phrase "Why is the river so close to the shore?" (searched with quote marks around the phrase) were from old newspaper articles about steam ships or paddle steamers perhaps. I could only see the couple of lines of information on Google. I didn't want to register for newspaper access because they wanted my credit card details. (No thanks!)

If you can find out some more information from the man who asked about the song it might help.

The usual questions:

Style of song e.g. folk, pop, C&W, etc? Fast, slow, haunting, happy, sad, nostalgic?
Singer/s: male, female, solo, group, harmonies?
Instrument/s: group, solo, guitar, piano, etc etc
Any idea of the year he heard it?
Was it on the radio, at a live performance, on TV, etc?
Anything else that he can recall, including any other lines in the song?