Ben Platt's Tear-Jerking Performance of Joni Mitchell's "River"

Joni Mitchell made us feel Blue back in 1971 with "River," and 48 years later, the tears instinctively may come pouring down again thanks to Ben Platt's poignant performance of the song on the new Netflix series The Politician. Platt is perfectly suited for this poetic piano ballad - his emotive quivers and soulful inflections make it tough to keep one's tear ducts dry. 

When Mitchell originally wrote the lyrics, "Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on, I made my baby cry," she was reminiscing on the painful complications of a broken heart. While Platt's cover of the song is a modern contextualization set in the emotional politics of high school, the throwback song still bears the same heaviness it did for generations past.