`RIVER' STILL CARRIES YOU AWAY.Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer What are the ingredients of a Christmas standard? A beautiful melody, heartwarming heart·warm·ing or heart-warm·ing adj. 1. Causing gladness and pleasure. 2. Eliciting sympathy and tender feelings: a heartwarming tale. Adj. 1. images of home and hearth, and -- perhaps most important of all -- longing. Think ``White Christmas A white Christmas, to most people in the Northern Hemisphere, refers to snowy weather on Christmas Day. This phenomenon is far more common in some countries than in others. ,'' ``Blue Christmas,'' ``I'll Be Home for Christmas.'' When compared to those holiday staples with their glimmer of hope, Joni Mitchell's ``River'' isn't the happiest of Christmas songs. And yet it has all of those elements, just more so, making it perhaps the most exquisite expression of seasonal affective disorder seasonal affective disorder (SAD), recurrent fall or winter depression characterized by excessive sleeping, social withdrawal, depression, overeating, and pronounced weight gain. on the planet. Mitchell wrote ``River'' in the early '70s after her breakup breakup The division of a company into separate parts. The most famous breakup to date was the 1984 division of AT&T (formerly, American Telephone & Telegraph Company). This breakup was intended to increase competition in the communications industry. with Graham Nash. She was also inspired by Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , where unseasonably warm winters only made her yearn for snowy snow·y adj. snow·i·er, snow·i·est 1. a. Abounding in or covered with snow: a snowy day. b. Subject to snow: a snowy climate. Canada and, as she sings in the song, for ``a river I could skate away on.'' Like an open wound, those lyrics bled from the 1971 confessional album ``Blue,'' and have been interpreted by singers of different generations in recent years, as Mitchell's song has become widely covered. Among the latest are a duet between Madeleine Peyroux and k.d. lang, as well as versions by Sarah McLachlan and James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born in Belmont, Massachusetts. . When Peyroux and lang step up on the former jazz singer's ``Half the Perfect World'' disc, they squeeze the last drops of optimism out of ``River,'' rendering it an expression of utter defeat. They're so deep in a funk that it doesn't look like they'll come out of it anytime soon. With Mitchell's version, you always knew she would. McLachlan hews closely to that spirit and cadence of the original on her album, ``Wintersong,'' while Taylor transfers the sentiment to the guitar and his smooth, sweet voice as part of ``James Taylor at Christmas.'' Each of them captures an aspect of ``River,'' but let's face it -- the original transcends them all. Sandra Barrera, (818) 713-3728 Sandra.barrera@dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Joni Mitchell's Christmas song, ``River,'' has been covered numerous times. Robert Mora/Getty Images |
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