The song is about the recent breakup of a romantic relationship, with the singer longing to escape her emotional bonds as they are painful to her. Although the song is merely set near Christmas time, rather than being about Christmas, it has become something of a modern Christmas standard. The piano accompaniment to the vocal borrows heavily from the tune to the 19th century winter song ‘Jingle Bells’.
‘River’ has remained a popular festive track in the 21st Century. It was covered by Barry Manilow in his 2002 album A Christmas Gift of Love with only one verse change involving a gender flip.It charted as a single at No. 17 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts. Sarah McLachlan also covered...