Upon the single release, Record World said that Young 'sparkles in this solo outing which has some ' Hey Joe' influence in it.' Cash Box called an 'excellent sample of soloist strength.' Rolling Stone critic Rob Sheffield called 'Down by the River' and 'Cowgirl in the Sand' the 'key tracks' on Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, calling them 'long, violent guitar jams, rambling over the nine-minute mark with no trace of virtuosity at all, just staccato guitar blasts sounding as though Young is parachuting down into the middle of the Hatfield-McCoy feud.' In one solo, the same staccato note is repeated 38 times. The verse follows a chord progression of Em7- A while the pre-chorus is Cmajor7- Bm-Cmajor7-Bm- C-Bm- D and the chorus is G-D-D-A. The song is composed in the key of E minor.

There are long instrumental passages after each of the first two refrains, during which Young plays short, staccato notes on his guitar and incorporates distortion. The vocal sections are taken at a slow tempo.

'Down by the River' begins with electric guitars followed by bass guitar and snare drum before the vocals begin. According to Young, the local sheriff comes to the man's house and arrests him a few hours later. It's a plea, a desperate cry.' Later, when introducing the song in New Orleans on September 27, 1984, Young said that the song depicts a man 'who had a lot of trouble controlling himself' who catches his woman cheating on him, then meets her down by the river and shoots her. It's about blowing your thing with a chick. In an interview with Robert Greenfield in 1970, a year after the song was released, Young claimed that 'there's no real murder in it. Young himself has provided multiple explanations for the lyrics. The lyrics tell the story of someone who killed his lover by shooting her after feeling unable to continue from the emotional highs of their relationship. Young explained the context of the story in the liner notes of his 1977 anthology album Decade, stating that he wrote 'Down by the River,' ' Cinnamon Girl' and ' Cowgirl in the Sand' while delirious in bed in Topanga Canyon with a 103 ☏ (39 ☌) fever. It was first released on his 1969 album with Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

' Down by the River' is a song composed by Neil Young. Neil Young and Crazy Horse singles chronology

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