I’m not violating my Only 12 Days of Christmas music rule, because this is not a Christmas song. It’s a breakup song of sadness and regret that mentions the approach of the holiday as a counterpoint to Mitchell’s melancholy, yet like Chrissie Hynde’s similarly themed “2000 Miles” it’s become part of the Christmas canon. Popular rumor has it that the lost lover was Graham Nash, who still sends her flowers every year on her birthday.
More than 400 singers have covered “River,” second only “Both Sides Now” in Mitchell’s catalog. The most successful was by English singer Elle Goulding, who had a No. 1 UK hit with it in 2019.
