"River" is a song by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

singer songwriter Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album ''

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

''. Written on piano, it has become a

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

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. In 2021, it was ranked at No. 247 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".

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 Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

. 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 James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

and a caroling session with his family, the Taylor family, and Mitchell. The piano accompaniment to the vocal borrows heavily from the tune to the 19th-century winter song "

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed t ...

Cover versions

"River" is the second-most widely recorded song in Mitchell's oeuvre (432 recordings, behind only "

Both Sides, Now "Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album ''Clouds'', and became one of ...

"), frequently appearing on albums of Christmas music by pop,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

artists. "River" was covered by Barry Manilow on his 2002 album '' A Christmas Gift of Love'' with only one verse change involving a gender flip. 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 Shepherd

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan OC OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is '' Surfacing'', for which she won two Grammy Awards (ou ...

also covered it on her 2006 album ''

Wintersong ''Wintersong'' is the sixth album and first Christmas album by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, released in October 2006. It was produced by longtime collaborator Pierre Marchand and includes contributions from Jim Creeggan of Baren ...

'' and released it as a single. Her cover charted at No. 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart, and number two on the Canadian Singles Chart. American singer-songwriter

covered the song for his 2006 studio album, entitled ''

James Taylor at Christmas ''James Taylor at Christmas'' is the seventeenth studio and second Christmas album by singer-songwriter James Taylor, released by Columbia Records in 2006. It was his last release for Columbia since signing with them in 1977. The album is essen ...

.'' He had first heard the song when Joni Mitchell played it for him at her house in 1970. American jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux recorded it as a duet with

k. d. lang K is the eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet. K may also refer to: General uses * K (programming language), an array processing language developed by Arthur Whitney and commercialized by Kx Systems * K (cider), a British draft cider manufac ...

for her 2006 album '' Half the Perfect World.'' In 2017,

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single " Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...

covered the song as part of

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

's Spotify Singles series. Smith's version was recorded at RAK Studios in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

. In December 2018 the song was the subject of an episode of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''

Soul Music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became ...

'', examining the song's influence on people including Mitchell's biographer David Yaffe.

Ben Platt Benjamin Schiff Platt (born September 24, 1993) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of ''The Sound of Music'' (2006) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (201 ...

, as his character, Payton Hobart, performed the song during the first episode of the series ''

The Politician ''The Politician'' is a Caroline era stage play, a tragedy written by James Shirley, and first published in 1655. Publication ''The Politician,'' along with another Shirley play, '' The Gentleman of Venice,'' was published by the bookseller Hum ...

'' (2019), and on the soundtrack associated with the show. A cover by Judy Collins appears on her 2019 album ''Winter Stories''. In the 1998 movie '' You’ve Got Mail'' the Kathleen Kelly character, played by

Meg Ryan Meg Ryan (born Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra; November 19, 1961) is an American actress. She began her acting career in 1981 when she made her acting debut in the drama film ''Rich and Famous''. She later joined the cast of the CBS soap oper ...

, sub-vocalizes the song's opening lines as she types an email to the character played by

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

: 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 …" On 27 December 2019, a version of the song by Ellie Goulding reached number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, making it the last number-one song of the decade. In 2020, Delta Goodrem covered this song and gave it a video on her Christmas album

Only Santa Knows ''Only Santa Knows'' is the sixth studio album and the first full-length Christmas album by Australian singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem. It was released on 13 November 2020 through Sony Music Australia. It is Goodrem's second Christmas release, a ...

. On November 26th, 2021, Australian singer-songwriter

Gretta Ray Gretta Ray (born May 22nd 1998) is an Australian singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Victoria. In 2016, she was the winner of the national Triple J Unearthed radio competition for bands and songwriters, and the 2016 Vanda & Young Global Songwriti ...

released a cover of "River" as part of her three-song Christmas EP ''It's Almost Christmas in Philly''. Among other artists to cover this song, are

Sixpence None the Richer Sixpence None the Richer (also known as Sixpence) is an American Christian alternative rock band that formed in New Braunfels, Texas, and eventually settled in Nashville, Tennessee. They are best known for their songs " Kiss Me" and "Breathe Yo ...

Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She gained recognition in the late 2010s with her lead roles on the Disney television programs '' Bizaardvark'' and '' High School Musical: The Musi ...

Tracey Thorn Tracey Anne Thorn (born 26 September 1962) is a British singer. She is best known as being one half of the duo Everything but the Girl from 1982 to 1999. She was a member of the band Marine Girls between 1980 and 1983 and since 2007 has bee ...

Lighthouse Family Lighthouse Family were a British musical duo that rose to prominence in the mid-1990s and initially remained active until the early 2000s. Singer Tunde Baiyewu and songwriter Paul Tucker formed the act in 1993 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, a ...

and Harry Styles.

Charts

Certifications

Glee version

The song was covered by the cast of Glee in 2011.

Charts

Ellie Goulding version

English singer and songwriter Ellie Goulding released a cover version of the song as a single on 14 November 2019 exclusively on

Amazon Music Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights ...

. The song peaked at number one on the

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 Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at a ...

and Björk, Ani DiFranco and especially Joni Mitchell." 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."

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "River" was first released onto YouTube on 4 December 2019. The music video was directed by David Soutar and filmed along the coastline near

Dungeness Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamlet ...

. 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."

Charts

On 27 December 2019, the song reached number one on the

, 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

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. 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 Alexa Amazon Alexa, also known simply as Alexa, is a virtual assistant technology largely based on a Polish speech synthesiser named Ivona, bought by Amazon in 2013. It was first used in the Amazon Echo smart speaker and the Echo Dot, Echo Studio ...

smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and hands-free activation with the help of one "hot word" (or several "hot words"). Some smart speakers can a ...

to play Christmas songs.

Certifications

References

External links

Full lyrics
at Joni Mitchell's official site. * {{DEFAULTSORT:River (Song) 1971 songs Joni Mitchell songs Katie Melua songs Sarah McLachlan songs Barry Manilow songs Ellie Goulding songs Ben Platt songs Christmas songs Songs written by Joni Mitchell Nettwerk Records singles Polydor Records singles Song recordings produced by Joni Mitchell UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs about rivers