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Length: 4:15
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Said she had a word to say
About things today
And fallen leaves.
Said she hadn't heard the news
Hadn't had the time to choose
A way to lose
But she believes.
Going to see the river man
Going to tell him all I can
About the plan
For lilac time.
If he tells me all he knows
About the way his river flows
And all night shows
In summertime.
Betty said she prayed today
For the sky to blow away
Or maybe stay
She wasn't sure.
For when she thought of summer rain
Calling for her mind again
She lost the pain
And stayed for more.
Going to see the river man
Going to tell him all I can
About the ban
On feeling free.
If he tells me all he knows
About the way his river flows
I don't suppose
It's meant for me.
Oh, how they come and go
Oh, how they come and go.
All these decades later and I still think I'm living in this Nick Drake song. When the reality is Capitol invasion and Marjorie Taylor Greene's Q-infused Georgia. Think I got off on the wrong exit.
... or on the wrong "reality." But strange how we can agree how great ND is.
I have always loved how he made his music so timelessly transcendent, but on this song, especially, it's heartbreaking -- and prophetically apropos-- how he talks of going to see the river man (the ferry-man that carries souls between this world and the next), and that though Betty has given hints about her fate, he's wondering and sorely aching to find out more about his own. Oh, how they come and go, he laments -- and although I do lament that he passed so young, I can rejoice in his eternally rich legacy, grateful for his Divine gift of expressing and accepting such human feelings and frailties so cleverly, for we ourselves also must inevitably somehow someday make our own way across.
Somehow someday indeed my friend, I'll see you on the other side.
Till then, LLRP!!
Takes me back to late 60s early 70s when this was a oft played selection on WNEW FM in NY. Miss all those DJs......Pete Fornatel, Alison Steele, Vin Scelsa and of course Jonathan Schwartz.
Sadly in the UK, where he came from, I don't ever remember hearing him on the 'main' Radio station - Radio 1, late 60's thru 70's.
The radio and the weekly TV prog only covered 'the charts' aka Top 20 plus a few others making their way up the charts. 😢
If we wanted to hear music that wasn't 'top 20' then that's where 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' (1971-88) - Bob Harris - BBC2 entered our lives. 🛐 This prog concentrated on albums rather than the charts. ❤️ It was commissioned by the guy who ran the BBC at that time - the phenominal David Attenborough.
(David was a senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC television in the 1960s and 1970s.). Thanks to him we got to know people like Nick Drake, we saw Tom Petty etc etc etc. A wonderful TV prog that opened our minds.
By 1972 he'd left the BBC to follow his dreams .............................. thank you David for all you did for us 'kids' back then, and for all you're doing for the planet right now. ❤️
For those who would like to hear how the perfection of this song could be magnificently emphasized, I would recommend to listen to The Swingle Singers performing this. A really worthy homage to the brilliant Nick Drake.
Swingle Singers - River Man
It's a really impressive rendtion but I prefer Drake's lack of warble!
A Skin Too Few
ND is an artist we lost way too soon.
This is the first Nick Drake song I ever heard and I quickly became obsessed, blissfully obsessed
Takes me back to late 60s early 70s when this was a oft played selection on WNEW FM in NY. Miss all those DJs......Pete Fornatel, Alison Steele, Vin Scelsa and of course Jonathan Schwartz.
Back before it went into all tight playlists
For those who would like to hear how the perfection of this song could be magnificently emphasized, I would recommend to listen to The Swingle Singers performing this. A really worthy homage to the brilliant Nick Drake.
Swingle Singers - River Man
Oh wow, that was some performance - thank you!
Swingle Singers - River Man
Freddy Mercury is very high on the list too. But that's just me being curious about what he would be able to produce. He had his fame during his lifetime. Nick did not have that.
Nick Drake was a fragile soul. I would like to believe that he would receive the medical help and support today to make your thoughts be true.
Freddy Mercury is very high on the list too. But that's just me being curious about what he would be able to produce. He had his fame during his lifetime. Nick did not have that.
It's in 5/4, with the occasional 4/4 bar.
It's always "wait, what did I just hear? who? play it again. How did I not know of this guy?"
Yep one on my fav list too.
Signature seems to be 5/(4/8)th most of the time. Sometimes switching back to 3/4 or 4/4 if you use his guitar as a drum machine for an indication on the rhythm.
I concur.
Also, I had to like this post as it was written 17 years ago!
You have many treats in store. Try "Under a northern sky" next.
Thanks for that.
The string arrangements are really sublime.
No, it's more conceited.
"I went from Nick Drake to Molly Hatchet."
You were nobody when you started and nobody when you finished.
Why the hate?
Lovely song regardless.
(anonymous) wrote:
"I know this sounds corny."
No, it's off topic.
I went from Nick Drake to Molly Hatchet."
You didn't go anywhere .... you were boober when you started and boober when you finished.
interchangeable?
9.
They're not very interchangeable to me. Ray LaMontagne is certainly influenced by Nick Drake, but his music often comes across as affected or contrived to me, not nearly as sincere and alienated as Nick Drake's music seems, but it's all individual perception anyhow.
I agree with you!
This is important. This means something.
It means that an artist has succeeded in a primary mission to reach the still beating heart
The melody and arrangement really make it sway, so it doesn't sound as "choppy" as 5/4 can sound sometimes. Nice song.
This is important. This means something.
Absolutely... few tracks are as evocative as this.
Ilona Knopfler does a cover of this that I like quite a bit. You can check it out on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/river-man/id339951085?i=339951275
That's really cool. Seriously. I started around 2000. I bought one CD, and then another, and I liked them both. But when I became a regular listener of RP. Well. Fuck. I am a Nick Drake Drone now.
Ilona Knopfler does a cover of this that I like quite a bit. You can check it out on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/river-man/id339951085?i=339951275
I think if I could only listen to one song forever.... this would be it.
lots of fuss...decent artist.
(see Elliot Smith)
bump
Does that mean you give 9s to Ray's stuff too? BTW, I saw him live in Asheville, NC and he had all the stage presence of a statue. Definitely better recorded than in person. I wonder if Nick would've been the same, given his personal issues.
How bout this? No, they definitely are NOT!!!!
Actually I love NIck, but if I didn't know any better sometimes, Ray sounds a lot like him.
interchangeable?
9.
How bout this? No, they definitely are NOT!!!!
interchangeable?
9.
Does that mean you give 9s to Ray's stuff too? BTW, I saw him live in Asheville, NC and he had all the stage presence of a statue. Definitely better recorded than in person. I wonder if Nick would've been the same, given his personal issues.
solid 10, awesome!
Really great arrangement.
Might go nicely with The City by Mark-Almond.
Andy Bay made an excellent cover of this song. You can find it on the album "Incredible Sound of Gilles Peterson" (1999) from the eclectic DJ/Producer Gilles Peterson. A great album too, from a great DJ.
Really great arrangement.
I could have said that exact thing! Perfect.
Ditto.
I could have said that exact thing! Perfect.