The Great Canadian Road Trip: Song #52/250…River by Joni Mitchell

When it comes to the holiday-themed editions of The Great Canadian Road Trip, I have been working hard trying to find original music by Canadian artists that has some connection to Christmas or the holidays. If you were to conduct a cursory internet search of the words Canadian Christmas songs you would find listings for the likes of Celine Dion singing “O Holy Night”, Michael Bublé crooning about being home for Christmas or even the Barenaked Ladies bringing their unique form of energy to chestnuts such as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. While all of these tunes are great seasonal selections, they are mainly examples of Canadian artists covering the work of others or singing songs already in the public domain and, as such, they are not what I am seeking to present to you. What I am looking for is something that is uniquely representative of our country in origin, subject matter, presentation style and in musical form. I think that the subject of today’s post fulfills those requirements.  With that in mind, I present to you one of Canada’s most highly respected singer/songwriters of all time, Joni Mitchell with her song “River” from an album universally regarded as being one of the best albums ever released, Blue. Enjoy.

I have previously written about Joni Mitchell and her music here (“Help Me”), here (“Big Yellow Taxi”), here (“Case of You”) and here (“Both Sides Now”). Hers has been quite the musical and life journey. Born in Saskatchewan, moving to Toronto and giving birth to a child as a very young woman, finding love and following where her heart led, which was to the U.S., settling eventually in the famous Laurel Canyon area of Southern California, where she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Brian Wilson, Michelle Phillips, Neil Young, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, James Taylor and Carly Simon among others. As Mitchell settled into the lifestyle of the times, she found herself at a creative crossroads in her career. Mitchell wasn’t sure if Folk music was what she wanted to be singing anymore, so she branched out and experimented with Jazz-influenced sounds and even some Blues. Surrounded as she was by so many musical influences helped to give her the confidence that led to her trying new things that felt right to her. This led her to meeting producer Al Kooper *(who was recently inducted into The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame. You can read about him in a previously written post here) who, in turn, arranged for her to sing a song called “Both Sides Now” for singer Judy Collins. Collins had a hit with the song, which helped MItchell to establish musical credibility in the Southern California music scene, which was exploding with talent at the time. At the same time as Mitchell’s music career began to branch out, she met singer and neighbour Graham Nash. The two fell in love and began a year-long relationship which Mitchell described as being the first time she ever felt truly loved and seen. Mitchell and Nash moved in together and, for a while, were a study in domestic bliss. In fact, Nash was so smitten with Mitchell and the life that they had developed together that he wrote a song about it called “Our House” that appeared on the debut album for Crosby, Still, Nash and Young. In that song, Nash wrote about a scene in which he watched Mitchell picking flowers from their garden to put into a vase that she had purchased with him at a small shop in a nearby town. Mitchell was perfectly content to start a home with this man, and he was just as enamoured of the whole situation believing it all to be almost too good to be true. Unfortunately for both, it was too good to be true. After being together for a year, a variety of external pressures came to bear, and the strain of living as a couple was becoming too much. It was then that Joni Mitchell decided that a trial separation was best, so she left Laurel Canyon for Greece. While there she decided to leave Graham Nash forever and move on with her life. She broke the news to Nash via a telegram. Nash accepted the news but was broken-hearted about it for a while. His reaction to the breakup prompted Neil Young, mutual friend to both Mitchell and Nash, to pen his own beautiful song entitled “Only Love Will Break Your Heart”. For her part, Mitchell began writing the songs that would form the highly acclaimed album, Blue.  The song “Case of You” was written specifically about her breakup with Graham Nash.

The song “River” was written about the steps Mitchell needed to take in order to deal with her heartbreak, so that she could eventually move on with her life. Part of what helped her to move forward was the fact that she had met singer James Taylor and had begun to find solace in his company. It was while with him on a trip to meet his family in North Carolina at Christmas time that Mitchell began to feel that there was life after Nash. It was there that she drew upon her Canadian roots to write a song about escaping from one’s troubles by skating away on a river of ice. I don’t know about you, but I have found that there are some times in life that upset you in such a way that they warrant a good cry before you are able to properly deal with them. The death of a loved one is the best example of this, but having your heart broken ranks right up there, too. For me, “River” is a song that reads like a good cry.

“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

 That I could skate away on.

 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.

 Oh, I wish I had a river

 That 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

 That I could skate away on.

 I made my baby say goodbye.”

What makes “River” a Christmas-type song is that the song begins with her observations of how James Taylor and his family are preparing for the holidays by cutting down a tree and so on, all the while her heart is breaking and all she wants to do is skate away.

Yesterday I wrote about the kind of Christmas experiences I had as a child growing up in Cape Breton and how those times were so filled with love and warmth. *(you can read that post here). Well, as Joni Mitchell makes so abundantly clear with “River”, not everyone views the holidays the same way that I am able to. For many, the holiday season is one that is filled with loneliness and hearts that are sad. To all who find themselves feeling that way I am truly sorry. That a time meant to experience love is instead filled with emptiness is a great loss indeed and would be difficult to get through, I imagine. I am privileged to not know what that feels like. But Joni Mitchell sure did. Her desire to simply skate away on a river so long helped her to make it through that particular Christmas and to regain her footing in life. She and James Taylor did not last long as a couple, but he was there for her when she needed a friend. Just for the record, even though the lyrics fit the narrative of this post, there is no connection between the song “You’ve Got A Friend” by James Taylor and his Christmas spent with Joni Mitchell at the Taylor Family homestead. That song was written by Carole King while she was recording her own landmark album Tapestry with, you guessed it, James Taylor helping in the studio.  

So there you have it. One of Canada’s greatest musical talents laying her soul bare in a song that claims that the Christmas blues can be tempered by a solitary skate on a frozen, pristine Canadian river. Skating on a frozen lake or river is as Canadian a balm for the soul as I could conjure up. May your Christmases be merry and if not, may your skates be handy. Take care, my friends. Happy Holidays.

The link to the video for the song “River” by Joni Mitchell can be found here. ***Lyrics version can be found here.

The link to the official website for Joni Mitchell can be found here.

The link to the video for the song “Our House” by Graham Nash can be found here. ***Lyrics version can be found here.

The link to the official website for Graham Nash can be found here.

The link to the video for the song “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” by Neil Young can be found here. *Lyrics version can be found here.

The link to the official website for Neil Young can be found here.

The link to the song “You’ve Got A Friend” by James Taylor can be found here.  ***Lyrics version can be found here. 

The link to the official website for James Taylor can be found here.

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