Sarah McLachlan steps into the Yuletide Spirit with "River" | Beaufort County Now | Sarah McLachlan has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. As an impassioned "rocker," with somewhat of a sentimental streak, I have always dug talented balladeers, especially the females.

    Sarah McLachlan has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. As an impassioned "rocker," with somewhat of a sentimental streak, I have always dug talented balladeers, especially the females. Sarah McLachlan is most talented and very much a female, so she definitely qualifies.

    I have always been riveted by Sarah's cover of the Joni Mitchell's (another favorite female performer of mine) classic, "River." It isn't exactly a Christmas Carol, but then again neither is Robert Earl Keen's "Merry Christmas from the Family." What "River" does communicate is the powerful imagery of a time of the year that reminds us of a simpler time: The first hard, cold winds of December that freezes hard the flowing waters just before Christmas, providing the hard white plain, where the graceful motion of humans, and other Winter critters take glide.
Sarah McLachlan: Above.
In this rendition, in video, we have two versions: Sarah singing from behind her baby grand piano, and then another version, with Sarah's version of this classic as the background melody to some interesting motion upon the ice: Below.




The second video below is the aforementioned background melody to the visual imagery of the Winter season. I really like them both. It must be the song, the season: Below.


    Publisher's note: If you are really in the Christmas spirit, or just in the need for more, please click here to access all of the holiday spirit in melody and narrative that BCN can harness and offer for this Yuletide Season.