It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees[1]Although 1974’s Court and Spark remains the commercial high point in Joni Mitchell’s career, it was 1971’s Blue–which features “River” as its third-to-last … Continue reading
They’re putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace[2]The irony in this line is palpable; just two songs earlier on the same album, Mitchell had sung on “California” (the same song that inspired Led Zeppelin to pine for the Golden State in a … Continue reading
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on
But it don’t snow here, it stays pretty green[3]Indeed, within the context of the album itself, she has already found the California coast’s lack of snow and year-round green to be rather melancholic and disenchanting, especially during the … Continue reading
I’m gonna make a lot of money, then I’m gonna quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river I could skate away on[4]She had escaped France to California, but now wishes to escape California too; but sadly, she isn’t even sure where to go now instead, only the vague “away” as the album winds to a … Continue reading
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on
I made my baby cry[5]Some commentators think this song is in reference to the then-recent end of her relationship with Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young fame); others believe it is in reference to her … Continue reading
He tried hard to help me, 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 could skate away on
But I’m so hard to handle, I’m selfish and I’m sad[6]First step in the repentance process is acknowledging you’re a sinner; it’s why Joseph Smith said the Good Shepherd left behind the 99 for the 1, because the 99 “are too righteous to repent, … Continue reading
Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby that I ever had[7]Again, can she possibly spell it out for you any clearer here? If listeners didn’t realize she was singing about her actual lost daughter here, it is perhaps another example of how sometimes it … Continue reading
Oh, 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
Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on
I made my baby say goodbye
It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees[8]I guess what I appreciate most about this song, then, is how it recognizes and foregrounds how Christmas can be a time of heart-break as much as of celebration; how nostalgia can be a source of pain … Continue reading
They’re putting up reindeer, singing songs of joy and peace[9]This is all eminently apropos of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that the Christmas season supposedly celebrates, because it, too, is a source of both joy and pain. The Atonement was also a fount of … Continue reading
I wish I had a river I could skate away on[10]Don’t we all.
References
| ↑1 | Although 1974’s Court and Spark remains the commercial high point in Joni Mitchell’s career, it was 1971’s Blue–which features “River” as its third-to-last track–that has gone on to become considered her artistic zenith, due to not only her innovative use of alternate guitar tunings, but the intensely personal nature of the lyrics. Purportedly, when Kris Kristofferson first heard it, he exclaimed, “Joni! Keep something to yourself!” |
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| ↑2 | The irony in this line is palpable; just two songs earlier on the same album, Mitchell had sung on “California” (the same song that inspired Led Zeppelin to pine for the Golden State in a track of their own) about how she had been “sitting in a park in Paris, France/Reading the news and it sure looks bad/They won’t give peace a chance/That was just a dream some of us had.” Disillusioned and despairing of the anti-war movement of the era, she decides to abandon Europe and move to California, singing triumphantly, “I’m coming home/I’m going to see the folks I dig.”
But the dream of “California” is short-lived: the Christmas season has now arrived, and finds the same failed promise of world peace dogging her. How can we sing “songs of joy and peace” when there is war raging over seas? In this regard, Joni Mitchell’s “River” is a sort of companion piece with Henry Wordsworth Longfellow’s “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.” |
| ↑3 | Indeed, within the context of the album itself, she has already found the California coast’s lack of snow and year-round green to be rather melancholic and disenchanting, especially during the Holiday season. |
| ↑4 | She had escaped France to California, but now wishes to escape California too; but sadly, she isn’t even sure where to go now instead, only the vague “away” as the album winds to a close. |
| ↑5 | Some commentators think this song is in reference to the then-recent end of her relationship with Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young fame); others believe it is in reference to her visiting Chapel Hill to go caroling with her then-beau James Taylor–in which case North Carolina would be the state too-green-for-her-tastes, not California. (As a Canadian, Mitchell would naturally harbor a preference for snow during Christmas time.)
All of which speculation strikes me as curious, because this same album also famously features “Little Green,” wherein (despite the fact that it wouldn’t become public knowledge till the 1990s) Mitchell all but confesses that she was forced to give up her baby daughter for adoption after getting knocked-up and abandoned by her deadbeat boyfriend in 1964. Mother and daughter would not finally reunite till 1997, but she was already expressing her regrets for having given up her daughter clear back here in 1971. Kris Kristofferson was more right than he realized when he insinuated that Mitchell was confessing everything here. That is, the “Baby” here is perhaps not a reference to a pet-name or term of endearment for a lover at all, but for her very literal baby. |
| ↑6 | First step in the repentance process is acknowledging you’re a sinner; it’s why Joseph Smith said the Good Shepherd left behind the 99 for the 1, because the 99 “are too righteous to repent, they are damned anyways, you cannot save them.” |
| ↑7 | Again, can she possibly spell it out for you any clearer here? If listeners didn’t realize she was singing about her actual lost daughter here, it is perhaps another example of how sometimes it is not the hidden mysteries or the secret combinations that get overlooked the most, but the open and the obvious. She was hiding her lost daughter in plain sight here; and she had been trying to skate away from the pain of losing her ever since. |
| ↑8 | I guess what I appreciate most about this song, then, is how it recognizes and foregrounds how Christmas can be a time of heart-break as much as of celebration; how nostalgia can be a source of pain as much as of joy; how it’s not just the trees that are getting cut down, but ourselves. |
| ↑9 | This is all eminently apropos of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that the Christmas season supposedly celebrates, because it, too, is a source of both joy and pain. The Atonement was also a fount of immeasurable pain. Yes, there is also reconciliation in the Atonement–as there was later between Mitchell and her daughter–but not until there had first been a painful estrangement, just as we have also all been estranged from our Celestial parents. True joy is impossible without dreadful pain. The best Christmas songs also acknowledge the same. |
| ↑10 | Don’t we all. |