I Listen To Nick Drake "River Man" For The First Time! Song Reaction

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[@GP-gt4bo]

Incredible Artist- love love love Nick Drake

[@sixbladeknife44]

This was my favorite reaction so far John, thanks again for the amazing job! Nick was an incredibly special artist, his music will always stand the test of time 🙏

[@lindahandley5267]

I know! I had to laugh when Nick's eyes shifted forward! He was like, 'am I the only one who saw that!'😊

[@stevebell8552]

Beautiful song 👍🥃

[@Hartlor_Tayley]

Nick Drake is a real mood and a great artist. His guitar playing is so rhythmically precise and he never changed his strings so the tone is dense.

[@boq780_2.0]

I always thought of the river man as being Charon, the ferryman of the underworld in Greek Mythology who carries the dead to the next world. It fits with the autumnal images and the idea of the sky being blown away. Just a guess, but worth consideration.

[@OutOfAmmoOutOfTime]

Absolutely!

[@michaelproctor6122]

My thoughts exactly

[@navdon12]

Me too

[@lindahandley5267]

Wow, that's interesting. My feeling is that 'Betty' is Nick, contemplating leaving this world and the 'Riverman' is God. He might want to bargain with Him on why life is so hard. It is such a deep song and I'm sure there are many different thoughts to draw from it. When I think of Nick and his music, I just feel like crying. He was so young and talented. I hope somehow he knew how much he was loved.❤

[@billythedog-309]

You should read The ldiot Boy by William Wordsworth.

[@markdrechsler5660]

Nick Drake’s music attained little attention at the time, though there were some that kept the flame alive. I’ve known his music 20+ years now. Every note is precious

[@MarshallLore]

well said, sir

[@sarahdlp524]

Heath Ledger was obsessed by Nick Drake, talked about doing a work on him. Brad Pitt is a fan as well.

[@lindahandley5267]

The first time I watched this, the eye shift was unreal! It is THE coolest 'video' I've ever seen and like you said, it fits Nick and this song to a tee. I was an instant fan. The first thing I thought of about him was, 'how do you miss someone you never knew......I don't know but I do.'😪

[@jean-christophelebachelet5926]

After his death Drake was ignoring for two decades, one of the first "modern" artist who talk about him in the late 80's/early 90's and how much Drake was a genius was Robert Smith Frontman of The Cure...

[@stevetamburello]

Who named his band after a Nick Drake lyric from Time has Told Me .....a troubled Cure for a troubled mind

[@0zoneTherapyCures]

@@stevetamburello I love learning stuff like this!

[@Rolling_Ronnie]

Brilliant songwriter who. sadly, descended into mental illness and took his own life. There's a book about him that has just been released, written by a friend of Nick Drake's sister (actor Gabrielle Drake) who knew him well.

[@BernardHodgson]

He didn't take he's own life. An accidental overdose of a prescribed antidepressant.

[@josephreese]

The river man is a contemplation of mortality ! Jump!! The river of perpetual change! A contamination of ending!

[@0zoneTherapyCures]

There were so many SOUL singers during that era, as though they all came to earth to usher in a spiritual, social evolution. Nick's sound had such depth at such a young age. It makes me cry... the melancholy sprinkled with an uplifting chord. My river man will always be Jeff Buckley.

[@lindahandley5267]

I heard about Jeff when I first discovered Nick last year. I haven't listened to him. Is his music similar to Nick's?

[@brucenenke-vk5nk]

Ian Curtis and Jeff Buckley, I had just found my new favourite artist and all of a sudden they were dead, that was my personal tradegy. We discovered Nick Drake 'Pink Moon' in 1976 junior high school without knowing he had died.

[@merseydave1]

Nick Drake plays music, the music you listen to ... the music that touches your soul and takes you away from yourself.

[@markbutler7931]

H Nick was really special artist

[@tomrom1217]

Nick Drake was similar to Vincent Van Gogh, in that he suffered from depression, and was not appreciated in his time, although appreciated after his death. I interpret this song as contempating death or life. River Man could be based in ancient mythology, the river that leads from life to death (or the afterworld).

[@oscarroof8402]

I thought that riverman its from a character of book sidhartha, the history of live of buda, and riverman it's a man who life in a river and he helps people to cross the river, it's the only thing the riverman do, and in the book riverman helps sidhartha to learn that he can be happy just doing what he love, and crossing the river it's a metaphor of being illuminated, my interpretation its that nick wants to find the real meaning of life, and that why he admire the riverman, like i wanna be illuminated, there's another song of him calls "Place to be", and he says "when i was young younger than before i never saw the truth hanging from the door" it's like he feels like there`s more to know, but at the same time he thinks this is for him.

[@lindahandley5267]

That seems like something Nick would read.

[@jbdbsb]

Pink Moon is the "Hit" song for Nick Drake. A wonderful listen. As far as I've ever known, their is NO video of him playing.

[@douglasennis7291]

He was a haunted genius

[@considerlizards]

I've been lucky to have known some seriously good guitarists in my time, some now recording artists with great reputations of their own, and they all were in awe of how easily he played some seriously demanding tunes. There's tutorials out there, if you fancy a go. It's so sad he was crippled by his mental health woes.

[@keithrichardson4505]

great mood ,hazy jane next please

[@sixbladeknife44]

@@keithrichardson4505 Hazey Jane 2 is also always a favorite!

[@lindahandley5267]

'Crippled by his mental health woes' is the perfect way of putting it. 'If only' he could have gotten the help he needed, but I don't suppose we are to speculate about those things.🌷

[@fractuss]

Hard to imagine this was recorded in the late 60's to early 70's.

[@VUVURECORDS]

it´s not only the noises, the eq of the song is altered with high strings amplified and the guitar soundind muted. what a shame to know so amazing song this way

[@alancumming6407]

Good discovery for you. He is probably more popular now than he was at the time. Well respected by Richard Thompson and John Martyn to name but two. His arrangements are just beautiful.

[@renefeijen5916]

I know River Man, and so Nick Drake, via Lizz Wright, never heard from Nick Drake before. Instantly one of my favorites thereafter.

[@fractuss]

I like my older brother's view on lyrics: "The words don't mean shit". It's the sound of the words, musically that matters most. Meaning can come later.

[@colinflynn6747]

Whoever created the video with sound effects has little appreciation of Nick Drake

[@ezclappoggers]

yeah its louder than his voice so stupid

[@lindahandley5267]

Gosh, I think it adds to the haunting mystery of the song.

[@johncollier9280]

Enjoyed yer deep dive into River Man. May I be so bold as to highly recommend Nick Drake's second album-Bryter Layter. In my opinion one o' the few perfect albums first note to last! I'll be glad to mention my other perfect albums iffin' ewe have any interest now.

[@brucenenke-vk5nk]

You should have listened to the song before reading the history, he still had 'Five Leaves Left'.

[@OutOfAmmoOutOfTime]

The reason for the slideshow is that there is no live video footage of nick, and so the video takes the few photos of him to put them into a video montage….apparently there is a brief video of Nick walking through a festival, its on KZbin and its hard to know if its him….it adds to his mystique and at the same time its so sad that he was so unappreciated during his short life…..I’ve always interpreted The river man as being Charon, the man who takes people across the river Styx after death……

[@lindahandley5267]

It's crazy though how the montage was put together. It couldn't have been more perfect. I loved the subtle movements of his eyes and the sounds of people walking and talking just added a realness to it. It would be interesting to talk to the person that took those pics of him. RIP in sweet Nick.🌷

[@charbelel-hani5199]

Nick was known for using diverse different tunings in his guitar

[@PeregrineTravers]

Apparently John it was the only song he played in standard guitar tuning of EADGBE. All the Oberon songs were in guitar tunings o his own making. Such talent!

[@andrewkerridge2565]

I did some research about his lyrics. He was a very interesting guy that was well read. The lyrics in this song were inspired by a 500 word poem from a couple of hundred years ago. It was about a woman and her son that had a disability that was chastised by society. It was very metaphorical and obscure. It was hard to tell who was the actual subject of the story in the poem.

[@lindahandley5267]

Very interesting and I have imagined that he was a voracious reader.

[@LiseR-cu4dv]

There are no videos of Nick playing, because he never did live performances. I don't think the lyrics have deeper meaning, they are just kind of poetic, and fit the mood.

[@rdm4509]

The video contained silly extraneous noises

[@lindahandley5267]

I think it added to the overall feeling of the black and white photos.

[@ilzev9594]

Very, very recommend " Fruit tree" . My favorit song.

[@benoitdesmarais2948]

Didn't care for the video and "natural sounds" added to illustrate it. The song, sublime as it is, certainly didn't need it.

[@DjNikGnashers]

Not too difficult to play, even though it's in 5/4 time, but tricky to sing along while playing.

[@koho]

Interesting comparing the reactions of young people to more seasoned reactors. The older ones feel the pain.

[@philnolan9903]

White Runtz

[@TheColdrush22]

Are those your own background sounds? Because that bird shit and crowd shit isn’t in the original song. I can’t actually finish your reaction because of that ridiculous stuff. Edit: yeah. The sound effects are horrible. I still love your reaction though.

[@ismaelbackstrom9113]

those are in the "music video" not in his video. But yeah those are not the best additions.

[@dazwald1965]

Silly sound effects over a masterpiece. Very annoying.