"River Man" is the second listed song from Nick Drake's 1969 album Five Leaves Left.

In 2004, the song was remastered and released as a 7" vinyl and as enhanced CD single, including a music video by Tim Pope.

Boyd speculated that the composition was influenced by the Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto, and the critic Ian MacDonald suggested the rhythm was developed based on Dave Brubeck's "Take Five".

"[4] Drake asked Robertson to make the strings sound like Frederick Delius.

[2] Drake did not reveal the identity of the 'Betty' character in the lyrics, although Trevor Dann speculated that she may have been drawn from Betty Foy, a character in Wordsworth's "The Idiot Boy", a poem Drake had studied while attending Cambridge.