River (1971)

"River" is a song by Canadian singer songwriter Joni Mitchell, from her fourth studio album Blue (1971). Written on piano and concerned with feelings of geographical displacement and loss of a relationship, it has become a standard for artists in many music styles; and although the song is only set at Christmas time rather than being about the holiday, it has become popular as Christmas music. Although never released as a single, "River" holds second place among Mitchell's songs most recorded by other artists, with over a thousand such versions. In 2021, it was ranked at No. 247 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".

Background and themes

The refrain of the song is "I wish I had a river, I could skate away on". The first portion of the song conveys a sense of being geographically out of place, contrasting the disconcertingly warm winter climate of the Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles area with the more familiar frozen north of her Saskatoon, Saskatchewan upbringing. In his book 'Music of our Times' Canadian professor and musician Marco Adria describes ice skating "as prototypically Canadian as any other physical action." In Mitchell's own case, the notion of skating away may have extra significance because she spent a holiday season in a polio ward as a child, with fears she may never walk again.

Back in her early years as a musician, Mitchell frequently walked from the theatrical district of Saskatoon where she first started playing professionally down to the Broadway Bridge and across to the embankment along the South Saskatchewan River. In 2018, one of the two plaques erected by the city of Saskatoon to commemorate her musical beginnings there was installed at the River Landing embankment along the South Saskatchewan.

The next part of the song is about the recent breakup of a romantic relationship, with the singer longing to escape her painful emotional bonds. The key lyric is "I'm hard to handle, I'm selfish and I'm sad/Now I've gone and lost the best baby that I ever had." It is thought to be inspired by Mitchell's 1968–1970 relationship with Graham Nash.

Writer Will Blythe believes the song is connected to a visit to Chapel Hill that Mitchell made with subsequent beau James Taylor and a caroling session with his family, the Taylor family, and Mitchell. However, music historian Annie Zaleski points out that "River" already existed before this Christmas 1970 visit, and indeed had already been performed in public by Mitchell at an October 1970 concert that had been aired on BBC. Indeed, Taylor himself had been played the song by Mitchell at her Los Angeles home, soon after it was first composed by her.

Composition and recording

The arrangement of the song on Blue consists of Mitchell on piano, nothing else. This accompaniment to the vocal borrows heavily from the tune to the 19th-century winter song "Jingle Bells". The song is in the key of C major, but frequently falls into the relative minor of A minor, thus giving the song more of a minor key feel. For instance, the C major can be heard under the phrase "It's coming on Christmas" while the A minor is under "I wish I had a river". The use of such minor key variations and modified chord progressions subverts the original; Salon magazine writes that "Sonically, 'River' is a moodier inversion of 'Jingle Bells,' with sleigh bells that slump and sigh, and frigid piano that rains down like a stinging ice storm."

"River" is in 44 time. As Salon has written, "Mitchell’s vocals are fragile but clear, capturing a protagonist exhausted by (among other things) the consequences of her own actions." The vocal range extends from G3 to E5. The instrumental outro of the song consists of Mitchell playing the melody of "Jingle Bells" with her right hand while the left had plays trichords that wander away harmonically from the key and melody, further emphasizing the dissonant feeling towards the season.

Reactions and interpretations

Although the song is merely set near Christmas time, rather than being about Christmas, it has become something of a modern Christmas standard. The mood of the song is far from reflecting holiday cheer, however: Writers have assessed that "there may be no quasi-seasonal song sadder than Mitchell's"; that "there's no holiday tune that feels quite as chilly as 'River'"; and that of when it comes to "melancholy holiday music", "River" is "perhaps the saddest festive tune of them all". As such, the song is a match for those who get the winter or holiday blues.

Mitchell herself has said that "It's a Christmas song for people who are lonely at Christmas."

And she commented in 2014 that, "We needed a sad Christmas song, didn't we? In the 'bah humbug' of it all?" Nonetheless, radio stations that play nothing but Christmas music during the holidays have included "River" in their rotations, making it one of more popular 'modern' compositions in the genre (and in marked contrast with the leader in that category, Mariah Carey's upbeat "All I Want for Christmas Is You").