Joni Mitchell – River

• +1
  General Comment:After a break up last summer I couldn't listen to music for about two months.
  
  The first song that came up on my iPod was this. It wasn't by choice, it was completely random. It absolutely crushed me. I'll never forget how powerful that feeling was.

  Flag SilenceisSilveron April 08, 2012   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• +1
  My Interpretation:Such a beautiful song! Christmas time is such a bittersweet time - it is a time for joy, celebration, family and loved ones...but it is also a time when you think of those you're not sharing this special time with - people who have passed away; people who are far away; or someone you loved, hurt and have lost.
  
  I love how clever Joni was with her music, the piano beginning that has a hint of "Jingle Bells" in it, just to set the mood - I love it!

  Flag MissElleon September 17, 2011   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• +5
  Song Meaning:I think you had to have been raised in a cold climate to really appreciate the subtleties of this remarkable piece. I say that because whenever I hear it, the mention of ”a river I can skate away on” evokes this powerful memory from when I was about 10 years old. I grew up across the street from the Naugatuck River in Connecticut, and spent a large part of my childhood winters skating on the thin ice that formed there. Out there on the ice by myself one cold January day, I ventured farther downstream than I had ever gone, past the rocks and rapids, until I found myself on a long, very smooth expanse that stretched down the river as far as I could see. It was like a road leading out of my small town into the great big world. The wind was at my back, so I opened my jacket as a sail and blew about two miles down the river – it felt just like flying. I was more exhilarated than I had ever been in my young life, and truly felt as though I could fly. And somehow, I got this glimpse of the long life I was about to embark upon.
  
  I’m a hard-hearted 55 year old man, and yet this evocative piece never fails to bring a tear to my eye because of that memory. By the way, there is a version of River on Herbie Hancock’s tribute to Joni Mitchell called the Joni Letters. On this CD, he performs the song with Corinne Bailey Rae on vocals, and it is absolutely wonderful. The two of them simply find the tune. Enjoy.
  

  Flag soulrevueon April 20, 2010   Link

  • 1 Reply Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
    0

    Nice comment, thank you

    Flag thestampon April 30, 2013  
• 0
  General Comment:I love this song! I listen to it daily! I don't like how it sung in this version...but its all I could get...

  Flag morikahjoon October 01, 2008   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• +1
  General Comment:L-E-7, I think you're just right, it's pretty obvious that she was missing her native Canada when she was writing this song.
  
  There's another aspect that seems important to me : Joni seems to say she got sick of everything and needs to run away and take the road to who knows where :
  
  "I'm going to make a lot of money
  Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene
  I wish I had a river
  I could skate away on
  I wish I had a river so long
  I would teach my feet to fly"
  
  It's the same mood, the same urge to flee you can hear in many Neil Young's songs, especially in the wonderful "Thrasher" (in which he uses water metaphors too). He offers those lines to some companions from the California folk-rock scene, the same scene Joni says it's "crazy" :
  
  "So I got bored and left them there
  They were just dead weight to me
  Better down the road without that load"

  Flag The Dog That Ate...on April 03, 2008   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:this song reminds me so much of my boyfriend and i. we've been long distance dating for 6 months, and i won't see him till i go to rome in two months. he puts up with me despite my depression and problems.
  
  "i'm so hard to handle
  i'm selfish and i'm sad
  now i've gone and lost the best baby
  that i ever had"
  
  i love you baby.

  Flag _sunshine88on November 10, 2007   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:uhhh, this song is definitely not about her baby, although that might also have added to her general feelings of depression and being out-of-place.
  and i really don't think it's about being raped, either. i think joni would have been very outspoken if something like that had happened to her. i think she is just saying they were really in love and had great, great sex.

  Flag chelseamorningon August 31, 2007   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• +3
  General Comment:I think the 'best baby' referred to here is definitely a lover, rather than a child, if you read the context. Little Green is the song that deals explicitly with the daughter she put up for adoption.
  
  In Hotel California by Barney Hoskyns it points out that Blue was written very quickly after Joni's break-up with Graham Nash (of Crosby Still Nash and Young fame, and the Hollies). Apparently it was partly her jealousy and dedication to her music that drove them apart, though she loved him deeply.

  Flag caryatison January 21, 2007   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• -2
  General Comment:You know, he put me at ease
  And he loved me so naughty
  Made me weak in the knees
  Oh I wish I had a river
  I made my baby say goodbye
  
  
  
  ^^^ when i first heard these lyrics, the first thought that came to me was abortion, i don't know if that is utterly incorrect, but thats just what i thought.. it almost seems like she was raped or something with the rough-ness she describes, or possibly with an older man who was using her?..or just moving too fast..
  
  The song is beautiful but sad, and reminds me of christmas. It's in Almost Famous, too.

  Flag notaprettygirlRBRon December 10, 2006   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.
• 0
  General Comment:I love it! Nice Jingle Bells "quote" at the very beginning, introducing the whole Chrismas theme of the song...

  Flag fraroson November 20, 2006   Link

  • No Replies Log in to reply
    
      There was an error.

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!