"River" is a song by Canadian singer songwriter Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. Written on piano, it has become a standard for artists in many music styles, and 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.[1] In 2021, it was ranked at No. 247 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".[2]
Background and composition
The song is about the recent breakup of a romantic relationship, with the singer longing to escape her painful emotional bonds. It is thought to be inspired by Mitchell's 1968–1970 relationship with Graham Nash.[3] Although the song is merely set near Christmas time, rather than being about Christmas, it has become something of a modern Christmas standard. Writer Will Blythe believes the song is connected to a visit to Chapel Hill that Mitchell made with then beau James Taylor and a caroling session with his family, the Taylor family, and Mitchell.[4]
The piano accompaniment to the vocal borrows heavily from the tune to the 19th-century winter song "Jingle Bells".[5]
English singer and songwriter Ellie Goulding released a cover version of the song as a single on 14 November 2019 exclusively on Amazon Music.[8] The song peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart.[9]
Background
In an interview with Billboard earlier in the year, Goulding spoke of her love for Joni Mitchell in the past, she named her as one of the first songwriters she fell in love with in her youth. She said, "Only when I got into my teens did I discover song-writing, that was when I learned the guitar, and I listened to Imogen Heap and Björk, Ani DiFranco and especially Joni Mitchell."[10] On her social media, she said, "Joni was one of the reasons I wanted to be a songwriter. I'm honoured to have had the opportunity to cover this song."[11]
Music video
A music video to accompany the release of "River" was first released onto YouTube on 4 December 2019.[12] The music video was directed by David Soutar and filmed along the coastline near Dungeness. It shows Goulding and her friends picking up litter and recycled objects to make a zero-waste Christmas tree. The tree was donated to The Village Prep School in North London for the Christmas season, before being deconstructed and re-used. Goulding said, "Shooting the video in Dungeness was beautiful but a timely reminder that every single piece of plastic ever made is still on this planet. Plastic stuff is everywhere and our coastlines are suffering horrendously. It's a material that will last for hundreds of years so we need to have a plan. We wanted to show something different and to incorporate a different type of Christmas message while creating something reusable and beautiful - I'm so happy that it will live on at the Village Prep School, hopefully visiting many more schools to come."[13]
Charts
I'm so over the moon that I got the chance to sing such a beautiful song so close to my heart by one of the best songwriters of all time – someone who inspired me greatly for the next album and it makes me so happy that people have also become new Joni fans as a result. It's been a rollercoaster of a year but can't think of a better birthday present than being the last Number 1 of the decade.
On 27 December 2019, the song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, making it the last number-one song of the decade.
The single was not released onto most common download or streaming platforms, and only available through Amazon Music and YouTube. Music industry analysts noted that it reached the top of the charts primarily on the back of passive "lean back" streams; Amazon added the song to their Christmas playlists, meaning that "River" was played whenever someone asked an Amazon Alexasmart speaker to play Christmas songs.[15][16]
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Other cover versions
"River" is the second-most widely recorded song in Mitchell's oeuvre (432 recordings, behind only "Both Sides, Now"),[1] frequently appearing on albums of Christmas music by pop, folk and jazz artists.[19]
Heart has covered "River" during their live acoustic sets over the years.
"River" was covered by Barry Manilow on his 2002 album A Christmas Gift of Love with only one verse change involving a gender flip.[23] It charted as a single at No. 17 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts.
Robert Downey Jr. sang a version of this song on the 4th series of the TV show Ally McBeal and it was later included on the album A Very Ally Christmas by Vonda Shepard.
In December 2018, the song was the subject of an episode of BBC Radio 4's Soul Music, examining the song's influence on people including Mitchell's biographer David Yaffe.[2]Ben Platt, as his character, Payton Hobart, performed the song during the first episode of the series The Politician (2019),[29] and on the soundtrack associated with the show. A cover by Judy Collins appears on her 2019 album Winter Stories.[30] In the 1998 movie You’ve Got Mail the Kathleen Kelly character, played by Meg Ryan, sub-vocalizes the song's opening lines as she types an email to the character played by Tom Hanks: It's coming on Christmas, "They're cutting down trees You know that Joni Mitchell song? I wish I had a river I could skate away on ... Such a sad song, and not really about Christmas at all but I was thinking about it tonight as I was decorating my Christmas tree …"
Darren Criss covered the song on his 2021 Christmas album “A Very Darren Crissmas”. [31]
On November 26, 2021, Australian singer-songwriter Gretta Ray released a cover of "River" as part of her three-song Christmas EP It's Almost Christmas in Philly.[citation needed]
