I thought this was fascinating. I had no idea of any of it when I was obsessively listening to Five Leaves Left in my bedroom all those years ago. The guy knows his shit for sure, and dissects River Man in a way I found enlightening and also moving. Give it a listen.
Nick Drake meets Dave Brubeck…kind of.
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That Zalensky guy amazes me; in the middle of his Ukraine shit-storm, he takes time out to make a video about Nick Drake?
Respect.
Celestial, hummable, singable, memorable, beautiful. Great to hear how the song is so simply structured. Thanks for that – I’ve subscribed.
Me too. His vid on Alone Again (Naturally) is also good.
Thanks for introducing us to him @mikethep.
A great find!
River Man? One of the greatest folk songs ever
The word “folk” is superfluous here
Agreed.
I’m so very sorry
I’ll just leave this here, in case it’s of interest: on reflection, I might have posted her studio version a few years ago…
Grab the whole gig, it’s fantastic!
Well, quite: but the OP was about Riverman, hence…
Probably how Noel Gallagher writes his tunes.
I watched it.
I dont get music from a technical perspective. Time and time again musicians have tried to explain chords , scales etc but never clicks. I know what I like and can explain why I like it but certainly nothing like this.
Towards the end I started thinking about some of the professorial tomes on Dylan songs which have me thinking, ok it’s a good song melody is good , clever lyrics, rhymes whatever. Sometimes people think too much.
Fair enough. I would say that a modicum of music theory would probably help with this, and your average guitar player wouldn’t recognise a flattened 13th if it bit him in the bum. Years of blundering through Gershwin tunes on the piano might have helped me here.
Not bagging it Mike and thanks for posting.
I love watching these muso things even though I dont really understand some/most of it.
Yeah – when we start getting into Lydian and Dorian modes, my eyes start to glaze over.
I did like that keyboard simulation at the foot of the screen showing what he was playing.
Loved that – had no idea what he saying technically -Dorian this and Lydian that but the chords are wonderful and his observation on how the melody asks a question and then quietly resolves was spot on.
The musical harmonic theory underpinning it doesn’t matter to the listener, and I’ll put money on it not mattering to Nick Drake either. Only jazz orientated players think like this. Others just hear a nice melody/chord combo in their head without having any idea of the harmonic structures. There’s a fun Rick Beato vid where he shows Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Crying” is essentially all Dorian mode. Does it matter? No! Did they know? Almost certainly not.
Did you actually watch the video though? This talk of modes is kind of missing the point.
Not yet. Not had chance. I was making a general point.
There are four shows about Nick Drake over on 6 Music, including BBC sessions, a documentary presented by Brad Pitt, and one about the box set presented by Ed O’Brien of The Radioheads.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m000ppc6
A capella. Mind-bendingly good
Well I’ve heard so many versions of this song over the years but this is probably the best. Just spellbinding.
There have been a few jazz-y covers of River Man. Brad Mehldau did a very good piano instrumental version. In fact I think he recorded it twice.
This version by singer Lizz Wright is a good one, I think.
Keeps Nick’s original’s spooky vibe.
That was lovely.
I’m rather impressed with Charles Cornell
Here he is talking about another of my absolute favourite tracks: Waters of March by Tom Jobim and Elis Regina.