Depressingly Wonderful

It's coming on Christmas,

They're cutting down trees.

They're putting up reindeer

And singing songs of joy and peace,

Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

There are certain songs we find in our lifetime that mean something special. That are something special. Songs that evoke a deeper emotion response. A song that truly makes a difference. A song that gives you shivers.  and for some reason just fits so perfectly into who we are as a person.

But it don't snow here,

Stays pretty green.

I'm gonna make a lot of money

And then I'm gonna quit this crazy scene.

Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

A song that encompasses our silly hopes, dreams and wishes. During this time of year for me its Joni Mitchell's River. Life isn't always pretty, we don't always get what we want but that's okay, because we compromise, do what we must so we can have what we want.

I wish I had a river so long.

I would teach my feet to fly.

Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I made my baby cry.

We surround ourselves with the  imaginative ideas to avoid reality. The kicker is that reality is in the end unavoidable. The mistakes we make must be lived with, once something is severed it really can never be the same. Life isn't a fairy tale, things can be fixed but they are never and will never be quite the same. It's unfortunate but true.

He tried hard to help me,

You know he put me at ease.

And he loved me so naughty,

Made me weak in the knees.

Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

My mother always loved the wonderfully annoying saying  "cut your nose of to spite your face." That's me. cutting the legs out from under myself, and ruining a truly good thing. The perpetual philophobic, dating boring men because it's easier to cut and run that way.

I'm so hard to handle,

I'm selfish and I'm sad.

Now I've gone and lost the best baby 

That I've ever had.

Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

 Its surprisingly depressing when only looking at the lyrics. It's not a happy holiday song by any means. but then again the holidays aren't always that happy either. there is nothing as lonely as being alone at the holidays. Family is wonderful can't get enough of them, but I'm the odd one out. I don't really bring the guys I see home to meet them family. So they assume I don't date and treat me accordingly. I volunteered to work Christmas night. Not because I don't want to spend it with my family, I do, but because I can't take my sister-in-laws insincere concern and interest in my life. I'd rather be being paid to talk to strangers than find any cause to fault my family for anything.

I wish I had a river so long.

I would teach my feet to fly.

Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on.

I made my baby say goodbye.

For a holiday song this is depressingly wonderful the blending of the piano and her achingly ethereal voice. If Christmas is about anything it's about resignation and rumination and this song is the musical personification of those such emotions.

It's coming on Christmas,

hey're cutting down trees.

They're putting up reindeer

And singing songs of joy and peace,

I wish I had a river i could skate away on.


Song: River, By Joni Mitchell