"River Man" is the second listed song from Nick Drake

Nick Drake

Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...

's 1969 album Five Leaves Left

Five Leaves Left

Five Leaves Left, recorded in 1969, was the first of three albums by British folk musician Nick Drake. Like Bryter Layter but unlike Pink Moon, this album contains no completely solo songs...

, remastered and released as a single in 2004. According to Drake's manager, Joe Boyd, Drake thought of the song as the centre piece of the album.

Musical structure and lyrics

The song is in a 5/4 time signature

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

 and is one of the few songs Drake wrote to be played in standard tuning

Standard tuning

In music, standard tuning refers to the typical tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that of scordatura, i.e. an alternate tuning designated to modify either the timbre or technical capabilities of the desired instrument.-Bowed strings:...

. The string arrangement was composed by Harry Robinson and Robert Kirby

Robert Kirby

Robert Kirby was a British born arranger of string sections for rock and folk music. He is best known for his work on the Nick Drake albums, Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, but has also worked with Elton John, Ralph McTell, Strawbs, Paul Weller and Elvis Costello.-At Cambridge:Patrick...

, after Drake's friend Robert Kirby felt he couldn't compose it alone, although he did most of the composing for the rest of Five Leaves Left.

Drake did not reveal the identity of the 'Betty' character in the lyrics, although Trevor Dann

Trevor Dann

Trevor Dann is a British writer and broadcaster who has been associated with some of the most influential radio and television pop music programmes and events of the last 30 years.-Early career:...

 speculated that she may have been drawn from Betty Foy

Betty Foy

Betty Foy is a character appearing in William Wordsworth's poem "The Idiot Boy" and is the mother of the title character. In the poem, Betty is caring for a sick neighbor; in desperation, she sends her mentally handicapped son Johnny on horseback to fetch a doctor from the nearby town. When he...

, a character in Wordsworth's "The Idiot Boy

The Idiot Boy

-Poem:The poem is of four hundred and sixty three lines and is written in five-line stanzas with a varying rhyme scheme. It was first published in the Lyrical ballads of 1798, where it appeared between The Mad Mother and Lines Written Near Richmond....

", a poem Drake had studied while attending Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

. However, the only similarity to the poem is the existence of a Betty.

Covers

American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 pianist Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau

Brad Mehldau is an American jazz pianist. Besides leading his own group, the Brad Mehldau Trio, he has performed with many renowned artists, including Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Larry Grenadier, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Ballard, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Kurt...

 is an admirer of Drake's music, and has recorded "River Man" on numerous albums, such as Live in Tokyo — Solo Piano, usually remaining very faithful to the dark, autumnal sound that defines Drake's recording.

German jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 trumpet player Till Brönner

Till Brönner

Till Brönner is a German jazz musician, trumpet player, singer, composer, arranger and producer. He has a unique jazz approach influenced by bebop and fusion jazz, but also modern pop music, movie soundtracks , country music and even German pop songs...

 covered "River Man" on his 2006 album Oceana

Oceana (album)

Oceana is the seventh album of keyboardist Derek Sherinian. Simon Phillips returns as co-writer, drummer, co-producer and mixer. Guest guitarists include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Tony MacAlpine, Steve Stevens and Doug Aldrich...

.

Andy Bey

Andy Bey

Andrew W. Bey is a jazz singer and pianist.Bey has a wide vocal range, with his four octave baritone voice.He worked on a television show, Startime, with Connie Francis and sang for Louis Jordan....

's cover is on Shades of Bey, 1998.

Paul Weller covered the song; it appears as a bonus track on the compilation album Island Life: 50 years of Island Records.

English traditional folk group Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

The Unthanks are an English folk group from Northumberland, known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk with other musical genres.-Rachel Unthank and the Winterset:...

 included a cover of the song on their debut album Cruel Sister

Cruel Sister

Cruel Sister was an album recorded in 1970 by folk-rock band Pentangle. It was the most folk-based of the albums recorded by the band, with all the tracks being versions of traditional songs...

.

British folk musician Norma Waterson

Norma Waterson

Norma Christine Waterson is an English musician, best known as one of the original members of The Watersons, a premier English traditional group. Other members of the group included her brother Mike Waterson and sister Lal Waterson, and in later incarnations of the group her husband Martin...

 included a cover of "River Man" on her second solo album The Very Thought of You in 1999. The song was paired with a cover of John Martyn

John Martyn

John Martyn, OBE , born Iain David McGeachy, was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums, working with artists such as Eric Clapton and David Gilmour...

's "Solid Air", originally dedicated to Drake on Martyn's 1973 album Solid Air

Solid Air

Solid Air is a folk jazz album released in 1973 by John Martyn on Island Records.Contemporary reviews were favourable with music paper Sounds declaring that Solid Air flows beautifully and shows the entire spectrum of music that John Martyn has at his fingertips." The album has continued to...

.

Tom Barman

Tom Barman

Tom Barman is a Belgian musician and film director.Barman studied at the film school of St.-Lucas in Brussels, but didn't finish his studies because of he wished to pursue a career in music. He began by forming the rock band, Deus in Antwerp, in 1989...

, lead singer and guitar player of Belgian rock band dEUS

DEUS

Deus is a rock band based in Antwerp, Belgium, whose only continuous members up to the present day are Tom Barman and Klaas Janzoons...

, included a cover of "River Man" on the 2003 CD of his acoustic concerts with Guy Van Nueten.

Laura Michelle Kelly

Laura Michelle Kelly

Laura Michelle Kelly is an English actress and singer who achieved critical acclaim in the role of Mary Poppins in the musical of the same name.-Musical theatre:...

 recorded a cover of the song for her 2006 album "The Storm Inside", then again for her 2007 album "What's It All For".

Natacha Atlas

Natacha Atlas

Natacha Atlas is a Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and Western electronic music, particularly hip-hop. She once termed her music "cha'abi moderne" . Her music has been influenced by many styles including Arabic, hip hop, drum 'n' bass and reggae.Atlas began her career as part of...

 also performed a cover version of "River Man" with English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Arabic lyrics for her 2010 album Mounqaliba

Mounqaliba

Mounqaliba is a 2010 album by Belgian singer Natacha Atlas. Co-produced by Samy Bishai, it was inspired by the poems of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. In addition to original works, it also contains covers of Françoise Hardy and Nick Drake songs...

.

Track listing

2004 CD

1. "River Man"
2. "Day Is Done" (by Norah Jones
   Norah Jones
   Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress.In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away With Me, which was certified a diamond album in 2002, selling over 20 million copies...
   
    and the Charlie Hunter
   Charlie Hunter
   for the New Zealand racehorse trainer and driver see: Charlie HunterCharlie Hunter is an American guitarist, composer and bandleader....
   
   Band)
3. "River Man" (video by Tim Pope)

2004 7"

1. "River Man"
2. "River Man" (demo version)