New Joni Interview and Great News!
 

I about crapped my Calvins when I read the part I bolded.
This makes my year, and maybe my decade.

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The trouble she's seen

Doug Fischer talks to Joni Mitchell about her seminal album, Hejira

Doug Fischer, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, October 08, 2006

Whenever Joni Mitchell had trouble sorting out her life, she took to the road. But in early 1976, with a turbulent love affair on the rocks and too many drugs in her body, she hit the highway almost with a vengeance.

"I was getting away from a romance, I was getting away from the craziness and I was searching for something to make sense of everything," she says. "The road became a metaphor for my life."

And it inspired the album many of her fans and music critics consider her masterpiece.

Released 30 years ago this week, the nine songs on Hejira form the remarkable personal journal of a nomadic, romantic dreamer whose aural notebook is filled with the stories of doomed love, late night roadhouse dance floors, wedding gown fantasies, lost chances and a deep yearning to escape and start over.

Mitchell is not convinced Hejira is the best of the 22 albums that made her among the most influential singer-songwriters, male or female, of the past 40 years. She won't attach that label to any of her albums.

The songs on Hejira: Dissecting the moodiest music of Joni Mitchell

'Hejira could only have come from me'

But she concedes Hejira is probably her one album that could not have been made by anyone else.

"I suppose a lot of people could have written a lot of my other songs, but I feel the songs on Hejira could only have come from me," she said an interview with the Citizen.

The stories they tell are so vivid, their observations so naked and the landscapes so haunting that Kris Kristofferson famously urged her in a letter to be "more self-protective ... to save something of yourself from public view."

But Mitchell says self-confession, no matter how risky and revealing, was essential to her writing during that era.

"My songs have always been more autobiographical than most people's," she says. "It pushes you toward honesty. I was just returning to normal from the extremities of a very abnormal mindset when I wrote most of the songs (on Hejira).

"When life gets interesting I get very alert, and life was very interesting. I think that took the writing to another level."

Mitchell talked about the album by phone from her home in Los Angeles, where she revealed she's recording her first collection of new songs in nearly a decade. More wary of public scrutiny these days, the Canadian singer agreed to a Citizen request to discuss Hejira because, she said, the album recalls an "interesting transitional" time in her life and her career.

Musically, Hejira certainly marked a departure from the two jazz-tinged but radio-friendly albums that preceded it. Gone were the hummable melodies, conventional formats and jaunty horn sections she used as Top 40 flirtations on 1974's Court and Spark and '75's The Hissing of Summer Lawns.

In their place, Mitchell offered seductively sparse rhythms, lush swirling guitars and the brilliant spark of Jaco Pastorius's fretless bass to create an unceasing musical motion that is as mesmerizing as the highways she travels in her songs.

The album is also a departure lyrically. Using the music's structural looseness to her advantage, Mitchell gives her words a simple directness and poetic polish seldom seen in her music before and rarely found again.

"To me, the whole Hejira album is really inspired," Mitchell says. "There is a rootlessness to it, for sure, but also discovery along the road."

Despite good reviews, Hejira did not sell as briskly as the more accessible albums Mitchell released during the first half of the 1970s. Although exact numbers are hard to get, there are indications sales of Hejira are stronger today than ever.

Voting on jonimitchell.com, an excellent fan-driven website, ranks Hejira as Mitchell's most popular album. A critics' poll done in the late 1990s placed the album in a first-place tie with the Blue, a moody collection of love songs she recorded in 1971.

Mitchell says Hejira's songs were written during or after three journeys she took in late 1975 and the first half of 1976.

The first was a concert tour cancelled amid turmoil after six weeks in February 1976 when Mitchell and her drummer boyfriend John Guerin ended their on-again, off-again relationship, this time seemingly for good.

Soon after, Mitchell signed on with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review, a ragged, drug-soaked circus that also variously included Joan Baez, Mick Ronson, Roger McGuinn, Ronee Blakely, Allan Ginsburg and members of the Band. She soon became a frequent cocaine user.

"I realized you couldn't stay on that thing straight -- you'd be the only one," she explains. "It was just insane." Looking back, she says, the drugs had both "great and disastrous" effects: "I had terrible insomnia but I wrote a lot of epic poems," including Song for Sharon, for many the masterpiece around which Hejira orbits.

In danger of losing her equilibrium, Mitchell fled for home in Los Angeles. She was only back a few days when two friends, one of them a former lover from Australia, showed up at her door proposing they drive across the country to New England.

Mitchell eventually dropped them in Maine before heading alone down the coast to Florida, around the Gulf of Mexico and across the southwest back to California.

"I was driving without a driver's licence," she remembers. "I had to stay behind truckers because they signal you when cops are ahead. I had to drive in daylight hours only to stay out of harm's way."

In the South, where hard rock and country music dominated the airwaves, Mitchell was a virtual unknown. "It was a relief. I was able, like The Prince and the Pauper, to escape my fame under a false name and fall in with people and enjoy ordinary civilian status."

The cross-country sojourn resulted in six of the songs on Hejira, which Mitchell says was originally called Travelling -- "that wouldn't have been very memorable," she jokes.

While looking through a dictionary, Mitchell came across the word "hejira," an Islamic term for exodus or breaking with the past. It became a song title -- and against the will of her record company, which wanted something less cryptic -- the name of the album.

"I'd been struggling with a title for the song," she says. "The idea of departure with honour captured the feeling I was after very well."

Wow! Wow!
I am thrilled! I don't think any artist has affected me more than Joni. The first song I ever sang in public was one of hers.
Thanks for posting the interview,
Hejira is one of my favorite albums, and I haven't heard her speak much about it. "Amelia" shows up on almost all of my road trip mix cds.

This really belongs in the thread about the Morrison Hotel gallery show in LA, but Henry Diltz (I believe he started the gallery) has taken some of the most beautiful photos of Joni. Here is one:
http://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/...lJoni-dulcimer

Well, hell.

Of course, Hejira was her masterpiece. She was truly wandering. Every song is its own being- I don't know how else to describe it.

Sparky, please tell me she's releasing another album.

Of course she was "just insane"- this was her "COKE" album. She has alluded to it many, many times. However, she was at a "different" creative period during this time- versus Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, and For The Roses. Those albums were all distinct impressions that were far and away different from Hejira.

I think her vomitorium was Hissing of the Summer Lawns. After Court and Spark, there was no other path for her to use.

Joni is a turn-on, that's all there is to it. :nod: :nod:

Oh, and by the way- if you happen to see and or notice- Mondo Drippo Chucko I miss you-

"I've got a blue motel room
With a blue bedspread
I've got the blues inside and outside my head
Will you still love me
When I get back to town"

P.S.- I'm sorry Eliza that I didn't make it to Berkeley. We could have sung "Cactus Tree", "Laughing" and "The Last Time I Saw Richard" all night long.....

"All good dreamers pass this way some day"
I miss my "dark cafe days" I don't get to hang out much.

Yeah, I could sing Joni all night long. I tried to get the band to do 'Amelia" but I don't think we could get the mood right. Somehow, instruments on that song (well, the whole album, really) really evoke the sound of being on the highway: doppler effect, wind, and the imagined sound of wires dipping and rising to meet the telephone poles.

What kills me are the bass lines. The meandering, ever present sliding fretless bass lines of Jaco Pastorius. They never seem to end. When I listen to that record, and to almost all of "Night Ride Home"(my favorite Joni record), the bass lines are like ocean waves...receding, surging, thrumming endlessly like the sea. Utterly hypnotic. No one has ever duplicated it. Well, except Larry Klein, who channeled Pasotirus on "Night Ride Home." I don't know how he mastered that style. It is like magic. Nothing sounds like it.

Of course I discovered, and became enamored of Joni far after my Stevie years started. And now, she has overtaken her as the one artist who seems
the most indefinable and utterly unique and compelling artists ever. I heard her earlier, but didn't get her. I didn't know as much about music then and my ear wasn't as developed. Frankly, neither was my life or the range of emotions I could feel. There is simply so much going on - in an orchestral sense. Joni can just play the guitar and sing, and it sounds like 50 things are happening at once. She doesn't need a producer and a band. That's how complex and layered the structures are. I f*cking adore her.

That article certainly implies it. It's the first I have heard of her even writing. The last interview I read was the fantastic Hilburn piece in the LA Times (An Artist, Happy In Exile) where she said she was done with music forever. I am glad she is just as full of **** as Stevie about such things.

:shocked: How can you call anything that contained "Sweet Bird" a vomitorium ? It is one of my favorite songs, by anyone, ever.

I am hoping against hope that she does release a record and does at least one show. One the greatest regrets of my entire life is not seeing her on the "Both Sides Now" tour with the orchestra. I only have ever seen her at the Stormy Weather shows.

Alas, I was not a full convert yet. What a fool I was. If I ever get to see a full length show, I will weep. I will weep with joy and relief.

I heard about this, and was really shocked. I really thought she was done. Dunno how I feel about another "protest" album, but maybe this won't just be a retread of Dog Eat Dog. Any album that has Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and Brian Blade (and JONI!) can't be too bad.

Jaco Pastorius was a genius. I bought his first solo album and albums with Weather Report after I had all the Mitchell albums he played on, because I couldn't get enough of his bass playing.

God how I love that song.

I'm glad to hear that Joni's recording a new album, I just hope it's rawer than the last studio albums she's put out. Dare I say that Hejira is her last true masterpiece? What an amazing album that is.

Nah. Her vomitorium was that decade called "The 80's." Blech.

The 70's were aaaaalright for Joni, including Hissing. It's a great little hodgepodge of interesting songs imo :shrug:.

That is fantastic news..thanks for posting!

I could have sworn I saw her somewhere like a few months ago saying she was done. well, in any event, good for her. maybe she changed or mind or just doesn't give 2 squirts of duck**** (as Diss used to say) and decided to do it anyway.

I adore Joni Mitchell. HEJIRA is constantly at the top of my favorite releases of all time. The entire album - from start to finish - is a journey through lush landscapes. Absolutely gorgeous.
When I was in the 10th grade, I was failing school, was constantly in trouble at home, was in love with a boy who didn't want anything more to do with me and I was, by all counts, miserable. HEJIRA was my escape...my window out of my little world that seemed so troubled. I would stare at the graphics, wishing I was ice skating with Joni...wishing I was anywhere but in Texas. HEJIRA made my troubles disappear.

"In a highway service station
Over the month of June
Was a photograph of the earth
Taken coming back from the moon
And you couldn't see a city
On that marbled bowling ball
Or a forest or a highway
Or me here least of all..."

She's truly the most gifted songwriter of our time. To think that she wont REALLY be retired makes my heart smile. :]

And Sparky, you and I need to talk about NIGHT RIDE HOME...it's a gem.

rbs

I'm sorry- I didn't quite express myself correctly. When I said that "Hissing" was Joni's vomitorium, I meant that she was purging herself of her past- it was the turning point for her. All her previous albums led themselves in a straight line (in terms of song stylistics and growth structure) and ended up at "Court and Spark". "Hissing" was a transitory, chrysalis-like album. Right after it was the butterfly that is Hejira.

And, yes, Cliffy- Joni's nadir was Wild Things Run Fast and Dog Eat Dog (and parts of Chalk Mark {"Dancing Clown :eek: }). Blech is right.

I really doubt she would do a show- it would great though, don't get me wrong.

That show at the Greek in L.A. was magic. It was such a beautiful night. I freaked out when she pulled out "Judgement of the Moon and Stars". I also went to her show at Royce Hall when she toured with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. She stole the show away from those guys- both Dylan and Van Morrison seemed tired. Joni was masterful, singing "Just Like This Train", "Amelia", "Hejira", and many other great cuts.

Sorry you missed those shows, Sparky. They were both fantastic.

"Refuge of the Roads" !!! One of my favorite songs, ever.

Don't even get me started about "Passion Play" and "Two Grey Rooms"- and, of course, the title track... JOY!!:blob2:

I discovered her post Stevie too...I am still backtracking the Joni catalog to catch up.I am still blown away by her talent.

Shades of Scarlett Conqouring is amazing!

Stevie stold the scarlett idea of 7 wonders.

oh possumsquat! Stevie didn't even write Seven Wonders you dildo. :wavey:

"Two Grey Rooms" breaks my heart...absolutely gorgeous. One of my favs.

rbs

She added the "additional" lyrics beeyotch.
sara..tara...farrah..mascara...

Here's an outtake of "Sweet Bird" from a set of Hissing Of Summer Lawns outtakes.
http://download.yousendit.com/5EEC1D1048B22C1F I think this is the same on I gave you, Sparky. The sound quality is not fantastic, but it is a pared down version of the song, and worth a listen. I wish i had some demos or outtakes from Hejira!

I did get to see Joni once, but not a full concert. I stood between her and Robbie Robertson in the backstage club, but she was chatting, and it was so casual, I couldn't bear to say anything to her. I would have blathered on about her genius and I would have felt like a dork.

Thank you for posting SWEET BIRD!! :xoxo:
Love the piano....just gorgeous!

I think I'm gonna go home tonight and have a mini-Jonifest...

rbs

Fantastic. A perfect excuse to listen to the song. I swear I feel like I have been on a week long vaction after closing my eyes and listening to this song.
The only way to explain this is that this music and her beautiful voice make me feel like I am in love. Can't imagine such a thing otherwise.

now..there's the Sparky we all know and love.
soft..and gushy and full of real feelings...:o

By some miracle of chance I was able to see Joni on the "Both Sides Now" tour in the front row, right under her mic stand (even Meryl Streep was sitting somewhere behind me). It was a pretty intense show... not just because of the orchestra and my proximity, but because of the fact that she was visibly uncomfortable. Since she was not playing the guitar or the piano, she kept rocking and forth and doing these nervous air-guitar-like gestures all night, and I don't recall her smiling at all. But I do remember that "Judgment of the Moon and Stars" was simply sublime with the orchestra arrangement... but it was painful to hear Joni trying to belt/scream out the "Heh heh heh heh heyyyy" at the crescendo... let's just say she didn't quite have the voice for it anymore. "Hejira" and "Be Cool" were the other highlights...

Anyway... I am absolutely thrilled :blob1: about the new recordings, and I hope they are even angrier and bilious than the last couple of albums. Heaven knows she has a lot more fodder to eviscerate this time around. In a way, we need a new Joni album now more than EVER. I just wonder how her voice has held up, since I don't think she has given up the smokes. I suspect that it's going to be more of a piano-driven album (like her first few) since she had been complaining for years about what a pain-in-the-ass it was to play the guitar with all of the different tunings. And personally I think that guitar synthesizer thingamajig she used on "Taming the Tiger" sounded horrendous.

I prefer her voice post-1980 to the earlier stuff. With the exception of Blue and parts of For the Roses, I can barely stand to listen to her pre-Court & Spark material.

I liked the guitar synthesizer (or whatever it's called) on Taming the Tiger (which I've been listening to a lot of over the past couple of days). I also don't agree that her '80s albums were bad. I purposely stayed away from them for years because of all the negative things people had to say about them, but I must say that Wild Things was the album that really made me see what a genius she is, and how she cannot in any sense be described as a "folk singer."

She talks more about the new album here (why won't it let me do html??): http://www.jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=1460

Wow, looks like I really killed this thread. :shocked:

...pretty much.:laugh:

You hardly killed it. I have just been too busy to respond.

Thanks you so much for this link, and more of the interview. I am super friggin excited about the entire thing.

"out of the fire..like catholic saints,
comes Scarlett in her deep complaint"

Here she is, just voice and dulcimer.
beauty

A Case Of You
Sorry, but I can't embed the video, by request of the poster.

Oh wow. Thanks. There is a ****load of Joni up at youtube right now. Almost the entire Wembely show. I about blew a blood vessel.

I know—I was really excited to find Carey, and Case of You, because I had rarely* seen her playing the dulcimer, except in a still photo.
If you have never seen The Last Waltz, you should check out Joni and the Band doing Coyote
*edit. I remember now that I saw some amazing footage of her playing All I Want and California with dulcimer. Now, where did I see that? I think it was on YouTube, and now they are gone! I should have grabbed them and saved them.

THE LAST WALTZ was the first time I had "seen" Joni perform.
It was shortly after that (right?) when HBO started airing SHADOWS AND LIGHT...and I was hooked.
This Monday evening, I pulled all my Joni CD's out and created a fabulous mix CD that made my drive to and from work yesterday wonderful. :nod:

rbs

Thanks for the post!!!:thumbsup:

Can't wait for a new album and hopefully a tour :blob2:

PS
Does anyone know when she last toured and or where to find old tour dates of hers?

Matt

Her performance of Coyote was just great and true Joni. Plus she had The Band backing her! Talk about one of your dream performances. Robbie Robertson was pretty easy on the eyes in that film too. :laugh:

Her last tour was in 2000. Before that, she toured with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison in '98, which I would have loved to have seen. That was her first tour since 1983, I believe.

Her website http://www.jonimitchell.com is a pretty good resource for stuff like that. I've spent hours reading some of the interviews they have posted. :laugh:

Oh yes, let's review:


I saw the movie on a rainy night, with my mother, at a theater long since torn down. Robbie Robertson is one of my first Rock and Roll crushes (the tall, dark & addicted look) and certainly the only crush my mother and I have shared.