River Man
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| "River Man" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Nick Drake | ||
| from the album Five Leaves Left | ||
| Released | September 13, 2004 | |
| Format | CD single | |
| Recorded | 1969 | |
| Genre | Folk | |
| Length | 4:21 | |
| Label | Island Records (UK), Elektra (US) | |
| Writer(s) | Nick Drake | |
| Producer(s) | Robert Kirby and Joe Boyd | |
"River Man" (sample ) is the second listed song from Nick Drake's 1969 album Five Leaves Left, remastered and released as a single in 2004.
Contents |
[edit] Musical structure and lyrics
The song features a 5/4 timing, and is played in a CGCFCF tuning. The string arrangement was composed by Harry Robinson and Robert Kirby. Though Drake never revealed the identity of the 'Betty' character in the lyrics, Trevor Dann speculated that she may have been drawn from Betty Fox, a character in Wordsworth's "The Idiot Boy", a poem Drake had studied while attending Cambridge.[1]
[edit] Single recording details
The single was backed by versions of "River Man" and "Day Is Done" performed by Norah Jones.
[edit] Other recordings
Some six years in advance of the single, Duncan Sheik also released a recording of "River Man" as part of the 1998 bonus EP Humming Along. Drake's music has often been cited as a considerable influence in Sheik's music by critics and Sheik himself, though this song is his only recorded cover of Drake's work.
[edit] References
- ^ Dann, Trevor. Darker than the Deepest Sea: The Search for Nick Drake (2006), (Hardback) Portrait. ISBN 0-7499-5095-1
| Nick Drake |
| Albums: Five Leaves Left | Bryter Layter | Pink Moon |
| Related: Joe Boyd | Gabrielle Drake | Robert Kirby | John Wood |
