Sold Down the River

Sold Me Down the River is a song by the 80's band The Alarm. 

Before we had the phrase "thrown under the bus" - many people used to say "sold him down the river." What most people fail to realize is that the phrase "sold him down the river" has its roots (no pun intended) in slavery. Oftentimes a slave owner would break up a black family by selling a member "down the river" to a larger plantation. In its original form the phrase meant the awful betrayal of an innocent. I listen to that song by The Alarm and I think of this and the song just becomes all that much confusing for me. Or maybe the song fits? Sometimes I way over think things.