My Favourite Christmas Song Doesn’t Belong to a Holiday Album: A Deep Dive into Joni Mitchell’s “River”
- DEC. 26, 2025
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- WRITTEN BY JULIANA DEFILIPPIS
The holiday season is one that fills many people with a unique sense of abundant joy, myself included. It is therefore no surprise that every year I put up my Christmas tree in mid-November, bake gingerbread and sugar cookies all throughout December, and begin listening to holiday music the day after Halloween. However, despite all this merriment, the first song I turn on during this time of year is never a radio-excessive, jumpy Christmas song like “Jingle Bell Rock” or “Frosty the Snowman.” Instead, my entrance soundtrack into the holiday season is always, unequivocally, “River” off of Joni Mitchell’s Blue album.
Now, this album is by no means a holiday album. Rather, I would argue that it incorporates sentiments of melancholy far more than the joyous ones we associate with Christmas. On Blue, Mitchell confronts her various relationships through themes of transformation, risk-taking, and reflection. For instance, on “My Old Man,” Mitchell shares her perception of individuals who have come and gone in her life, while songs like “The Last Time I Saw Richard” examine outsider perspectives on her own character. The entire album is interactive and driven by the tumultuous connections she has forged with others, both privately and musically. It is unapologetic and authentic—in true Joni Mitchell fashion—and “River” fits right into that mix.
The first time I ever heard “River,” I was probably thirteen years old. I felt a connection immediately; this intrinsic sense of sadness was somehow still transformative in nature. At that time in my life, I needed a song like “River” to balance out the blissfulness of the holiday season with the general dejection I was experiencing. Still, I initially adhered to the common perception of the song as just a “sad Christmas song,” which remains to be the general consensus, even amongst those who regard “River” as a Christmas classic. As I grew with the song, listening to it without end each holiday season (and, let’s be honest, also in July), I came to realize how much it truly meant to me and how it exists as a wholehearted reflection of the warmest parts of the holiday season, not only the melancholic ones.
The song begins with a piano interpolation of “Jingle Bells” in a minor key. Off the bat, Mitchell connects with the listener through a familiar tune but foreshadows the somber nature of the journey about which she is going to sing. This musical choice, though seemingly simple and natural for a “Christmas tune,” mirrors the imagery that follows, enhancing the lifeworld of the song. The opening lyrics describe the commercialized version of Christmas that we have been accustomed to through various forms of media: “They're putting up reindeer/And singing songs of joy and peace,” situating listeners in an atmosphere that is familiar and warm, while still reflecting on what we have let the intimate season become.
As the song progresses, listeners begin to understand that Christmas is only the frame to a deeper story. The line, “I wish I had a river so long/I would teach my feet to fly” has no explicit connotations with Christmas, but we understand that the river is a greater metaphor for escapism, the holidays no longer being a time in which Mitchell can feel that sense of abundant joy. As she wills herself away, wishing to skate away on her metaphorical (or maybe in this case, literal) river, we are conflicted by her conceptualization of what is traditionally represented as a joyous season. This beautifully captures the song's transition from Christmas imagery to a more concrete storytelling of how she experiences this time of year: detached and commercialized, not grounded by familial presence. As she mourns for the subject of the song and their departure, she instills a mental departure from the season itself; the final notes of the song, which conclude with the same instrumental pattern that mimics “Jingle Bells,” tie the story back to its original imagery—a beautiful testament to her songwriting ability.
Lyrics like “I made my baby cry” and “I made my baby say goodbye” expose Mitchell’s vulnerability and provide insight into her bittersweetness towards the holiday season. While “River” has long been regarded as a breakup song, and the “baby” she has made cry is said to be an ex-lover whom Mitchell has sent away, I believe that this song more compellingly reflects on motherhood, specifically a mother who has said goodbye to her child. Mitchell explores this concept throughout Blue on songs like “Little Green” which is said to be about the daughter that she gave up for adoption. She sings, “So you sign all the papers in the family name/You’re sad and you’re sorry, but you’re not ashamed,” implying the loss of a child, one that is profoundly troubling, especially because her child still exists, though she no longer legally belongs to her. On “River,” Mitchell employs a similar sense of longing for the daughter she is separated from. In a time when families are meant to come together, Mitchell attempts to escape the loss of hers.
“River” is so much more than the “sad Christmas song” that many describe it as. Is the song emotionally resonant and reflecting loss? Yes. Even so, is it transformative and working on a deeper level of reflection? Also yes. “River” not only reminds me of those I have lost but also reminds me to ground the holidays in a sense of love, something vastly different from the commercialized Christmas that Mitchell describes at the beginning of the tune. The song is heartbreaking, but it is also heart-mending—a didactic and revelatory piece that digs at the heart in the warmest manner. I also don’t think I have the song entirely figured out yet, which, above all, is a testament to Mitchell’s artistry, a constantly discursive dialogue that bridges a beautiful gap between dichotomous emotion and mundanity. “River” offers itself to everyone in a different form. It is not flashy or excessively radio-played, but it is, without a doubt, the most important, emotional marker of my Christmas season.
