River Man

Very meaningful song to me. Here is how I see it:

Betty came by on her way Said she had a word to say About things today And fallen leaves

Said she hadn't heard the news Hadn't ahd the time to choose A way to lose But she believes

"Betty is a representation of Nick, depressed, and feels cheated by how painful life is, and believes that what ever direction one goes, its going to be painful"

Gonna to see the river man Gonna to tell him all I can About the plan For lilac time

"The River Man is God, and Nick wants to tell him that life should be good, not painful"

Betty said she prayed today For the sky to blow away Or maybe stay She wasn't sure

For when she tought of summer rain Calling for her mind again She lost the pain And stayed for more

"She is ready to commit suicide, but is uncertain, then she becomes aware of one of those small, beautiful things in life, and it gives her temporary hope"

Gonna see the river man Gonna to tell him all I can About the ban On feeling free

"Again, telling God that it isn't fair that life is so hard"

If he tells me all he knows About the way his river flows I don't suppose It's meant for me

"But it wouldn't be right if God tells him the true meaning of life"

Such as sad, sad song, makes me cry every time I hear it.

I guess I can't be sure, but to me it makes a lot of sense that this song is about death or Thanatos or dwelling on mortality... River Man is the legendary guide on the River Styx who carries souls who have just entered the underworld into Hades.

It's pretty eerie coming from Nick Drake when you know that he did, in fact, kill himself, and you consider that this song may have been written during a time of rumination about where his own soul would go after death.

Gonna see the river man Gonna to tell him all I can About the ban On feeling free

"the ban on feeling free"? well, everyone would commit suicide if we thought it was OK - if it wasn't sinful, or if our soul would simply melt away into heaven, right?

It's like the famous Shakespearean soliloquay about "To Be or Not To Be," where Hamlet considers suicide if it weren't for the mystery of "What dreams may come" - what follows death? and could it be worse than life?

Perhaps also borrowed from Shakespeare is this idea of "lilac time," which sounds like a reference to Ophelia, who killed herself in a fit of madness.

If he tells me all he knows About the way his river flows I don't suppose It's meant for me

I dunno if this was indeed a specific intent of the song, but it runs chills down my spine. I listen to this song and think of my own mortality. Ironic, too, about the song, is that it is so beautiful and light, like his syrupy voice, that you can't even be sure it does exist :).

Fairly sure he's referring to a lost love. The third stanza intrigued me, so i went and did some research. Das Dreimäderlhaus, an opera with music composed by Franz Schubert, about the composers life, debuting way back in 1916, was later rewritten for UK audiences and renamed 'Lilac time.' "Schubert writes a beautiful love song to his beloved Mitzi. But he gets his best friend Baron Schober to sing it to her, and she falls in love with him instead of poor Franz, who has to find consolation in their happiness - and in his music." How Nick Drake is that? Similar in tone to Hanging on a Star, the theme of unrequited love comes up fairly often in Drake's music. Betty comes by to talk of 'fallen leaves', lost opportunites, past actions that can't be recounted. Fallen leaves could also refer to Autumn, he then goes on to write about summer in a more nostalgic sense. The riverman could obviously refer to the passage of time. I think he's writing about a love that has been lost somewhere between summer and autumn. "Oh how they come and go." Beautiful song.

I see this song as Betty contemplating suicide. The River Man is god. The part that really sticks out for me is:

Betty said she prayed today For the sky to blow away Or Maybe stay she wasn't sure.

To me that means she wasn't sure of whether or not she way ready for her life to end. She wants to stay, but at the same time she feels she isn't happy anymore.

For when she thought of summer rain Calling for her mind again She lost the pain And stayed for more.

I think that means that she thought of a happy memory, and it made her happy for a moment, enough for her to forget the pain and unhappiness she was feeling. So in that moment, she decided to stay in this world for just a little while longer.

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

To me that's her praying again. Asking god to give her that happiness and freedom she once felt. If her future holds more pain and sadness, she feels like this world is not meant for her.

Oh how they come and go.

That's basically saying that people live and die. As it has always been. They come and go.

Betty might be Nick in this instance.

I think the mention of lilacs and summer rain could allude to T S Eliot's, the Wasteland opening lines, about how cruel the reawakening of hope and feeling can be when we have been numb. "April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm......"

i believe nick is searching for something of more meaning in this song. the river man is perhaps someone who understands more about life. Nick is saying he doesn't believe this higher level of understanding life is for him, he feels that he doesn't deserve it or it's just never going to happen. Any thoughts or comments?

I read Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha before I heard this song and I'm always reminded of the river man in the story. Great book, great song.

Obviously Nick was smart and knew a lot about literature. I think Guffle and Leroyskagnetti were leading to something...

The line about praying for the sky to blow away (or maybe stay) is very fascinating to me. I always imagine a sort of suicidal woman who still has hope, but is faithless. She has no faith that things will work out. She thinks everything will go badly. (prayed for the sky to blow away) But she still holds onto the hope that something might happen that will change her life for the better. (or maybe stay)

The next line really spells out plainly what the previous line only vaguely infers: her suicidal tendencies laid aside due to momentary hopeful moments...

"For when she thought of summer rain Calling for her mind again She lost the pain And stayed for more"

The last line in that stanza "And stayed for more" is particularly haunting.

how can no one have commented on this song yet? its fantastic. music like this is amazing. i like a wide range of stuff from emo to heavy metal to classic rock but today i haven't been able to stop listening to nick drake. i think its the christmas season...pisses me off...