Joni Mitchell -- River [REACTION/GIFT REQUEST]

[@hlawrencepowell]

Rivers freeze in Canada where she's from. Especially where she's from. She was living in LA at the time. So, she's in LA wishing she was home in Canada where she could skate on the river.

[@jennifergriswold6240]

"Teach my feet to fly" is escapism. She's from Canada and rivers do freeze over there.

[@andrewwright9378]

Her “baby” is Graham Nash of CSNY, from whom she had just split up.

[@luckyskittles8976]

She grew up in Saskatchewan Canada and rivers freeze here, and yes we go skating on rivers, and play hockey too.

[@terrywoodyyc]

Oh my, thank you CarolinasBeauty for this wonderful request! I'm so delighted to hear Joni on the channel. I've been a huge fan since the release of her debut album in 1968, which I still play frequently. I got the re-release box-set of her first four studio albums on vinyl when they came out - I can recommend this set highly, they did a fantastic job of the remastering! Song to a Seagull was also remixed by Joni. And yes, Blue is studio album number 4, so it's in the set. Thanks Don for the fabulous reaction and the shout out!

[@russellkaplan1818]

Her Canadian roots shine thru. Joni suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 and had to learn how to learn to walk and talk again. She made a huge comeback with a surprise full set at Newport Folk Festival last year's Newport Folk Festival. She is now 80.

[@carolinasbeauty]

That entire album is fantastic. I can put it on play and never have to worry about skipping a song. Her artwork is phenomenal as well. Living through this year will make this song even more listenable due to the loss of 3 family members in the span of 12 days in early November-. "I wish I had a river to skate away on" - (even if only in my mind) just so a little bit of healing can take place. As sometimes

[@jasonremy1627]

You can keep doing Joni Mitchell songs and you won't be disappointed. She's the best.

[@carolinasbeauty]

Joni always makes me wish I was a Canadian! This song goes out to all my Canadian friends here on the channel. Thank you Don (as always), for the kind, thoughtful reaction and rating. Her voice is so unique, it almost stands by itself! I believe she was "thinking out loud" in this songwriting process. While her lyrics in this one are simple (as you've noted in the past "Sometimes less is more, right?), but her voice emotes such sorrow (not the ugly cry) - just one of wishing you'd made better choices. Thank you so very much for the reaction

[@dwaynewladyka577]

Canada has so many great artists, and this is one of them. I'm a fan of Joni Mitchell's work. Cheers! ✌️🇨🇦

[@rk41gator]

Timely exposure for this wonderful tune. Though not a Christmas carol, it is very appropriate and shows what a genius this woman is.

[@dow311]

Great song, thanks.

[@dwaynewladyka577]

Jon Mitchell is an amazing Canadian singer/songwriter, who is regognized around the world. I'm a longtime fan of her work. She was actually born in my home province of Alberta. Thanks carolinas beauty for this song reaction request. This song is great. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Cheers! ✌️🇨🇦

[@jeffmartin1026]

I am surprised that the idea of a river frozen over is so alien to you. Pretty much the same with teaching your feet to fly.

[@davidmaholchic6146]

What a beauty here love it love you

[@bobdelp2023]

AHHHHH YESSS, NOTHINGGG LIKE A GR888 REQUEST, ESPECIALLY FROM A COUNTRY GUY!👍😊HAPPIEST HOLIDAYS TO YOU! AND THIS LEGEND DON!

[@markjo9626]

Legend Rock Lovers Joni & Grahm Nash.

[@mikebarnett9012]

Another great track from the 'Blue' LP. One of my favorites although every single song on the album is an absolute keeper. Thanks again Phyllis for another great request. --#FIM #UTRCM

[@evanhughes1510]

I like court and Spark better than Blue. Blue is too sparse and acoustic, whereas court and Spark has much more lush instrumentation.

[@mikebarnett9012]

I can't disagree with anything you said, it is just personally I prefer sparse and acoustic. Another 'hidden' classic in my mind is the early 80's album 'Dog Eat Dog'.---#UTRCM

[@carolinasbeauty]

This one was for you Mike. I remembered you liked this one and "California:" which I think may be a little outside the Traditional Country play list. She posted at the end of this video that she sometimes felt lonely at Christmas. She believed others needed an "I'm Lonely at Christmas" song, so she wrote one. She will always be a 10 to me, but then I've had over 40 years to get her songs indelibly imprinted on my mind So I bid you, my dear friend - a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope yours is a beautiful one followed by many others! #FIM #UTRCM

[@mikebarnett9012]

@Carolinasbeauty this one is on a mix I call 25 songs of Christmas that I start playing every Dec.1st. Another good sad Christmas song, which is also on my list is Willie Nelson's "The Last Thing I Needed". Thank you for being a wonderful friend all my best wishes for you and yours during the holiday season!!!!---#FIM#UTRCM

[@dwaynewladyka577]

I am a longtime fan of Joni Mitchell. This is such an iconic song from one of our Canadian music legends. Hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Cheers! ✌️🇨🇦

[@markdecker6190]

That beautiful song is a timeless classic. When I was in high school, listening to Blue actually inspired me to write some poetry for the first time. Speaking of rivers, when I lived in Chatham NJ the Passaic River was right across the street and as it wasn't a fast moving river parts of it would sometimes freeze over and in fact if this one overflow spot happened to be leftover from a flood and then froze over it would stay frozen long enough and thick enough for us to play hockey on. During this one particularly cold winter it was so frozen were able to skate all the way from Berkeley Heights almost to Summit, about 3 miles.

[@joelliebler5690]

.Joni is from Canada originally where all the rivers froze in winter. This is Joni’s way of dealing with her lost relationship with Graham Nash!This song is rated by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the of the top 500 most influential songs in popular music!

[@19ashe86]

Robert Downey Jr did a fabulous cover of this on Ally McBeal in the mid 2000s that breaks my heart every time I hear this song. He also covered every breath you take by the police which is also fantastic

[@Peter-oh3hc]

One of my favorite scenes. Just beautiful

[@RJ-nz5jn]

I guess that you've never skated in rural Canada where you at times can skate for miles.

[@heidih2887]

Yes, an amazing break-up song (her choice, but they remain close friends to this day) and while she was living in S. Calif. at the time, the bitter-cold (40 below zero kind) and river near her childhood/youth home in Canada would have made ice skating possible, and memories of those snowy scenes could have made her kind of "homesick". As an FYI, a few years after this album, she was inspired to do a photo shoot after driving past a frozen lake somewhere in the NE part of the USA. She was dressed all in black, with black skates, zipping around on the lake ice while the photographer nervously took the pictures. 😊

[@6916dog]

In Canada, lakes have such a thick coating of ice people take campers and buses out on the ice to go ice fishing. Use an auger to drill a hole in the ice, put in your line. Try to stay warm

[@rk41gator]

Her 'baby' is her man. Her boyfriend, of course. As you note, her metaphor is to get away from her feelings of remorse and blues at a time of 'joy and peace'. Joni's metaphors are always poetic and why we love her. Glad you appreciate her art. But is more Monet than Dali. 9.9

[@jnagarya519]

Try her song "For Free".

[@alanaltimont9007]

The "baby" is indeed Graham Nash, but when you know some of her story, how she gave up her baby for adoption when she was just starting out, it's easy to hear "baby" as that child. It was real--both stories were real.

[@joeshields9083]

He’s a hottie

[@evanhughes1510]

Wow you weren’t too quick on the uptake on this one, were you? When she said “I lost the best baby I ever had” you said ‘where’s the baby?/who’s the baby?’ thinking she was talking about an actual baby. Then you commented that there’s no frozen rivers for her skate on where she’s at. Well she didn’t say there was, did she? She said she *wishes* there was a river she could skate away on! And there are rivers way in the north in Canada that do freeze and people can technically skate on them, and she’s from Saskatchewan Canada

[@RockN2Country]

@evanhughes1510 Actually I did pick up on all of that, as when a song is moving along it engenders thoughts that I hope will be resolved (the baby, for example), rather than making a dispositive claim about what the artist may be saying. And of course I know it was a song of fantasy (and not a documentary), and that's what I was commenting on about her vision of skating on a river. Perhaps you misunderstood my commentary or didn't make it to the end when I wrapped it all up.

[@jnagarya519]

The problem is that you're taking a song out of its context -- the full LP.