Joni Mitchell Turns 62 Today!

[Mari]

She's my deepest respect, so Congratulations to Joni!

And when you're all quoting songlyrics, here's one of my favorites (from Miles of Aisles (live) and Court & Spark)

People's Parties

All the people at this party
They’ve got a lot of style
They’ve got stamps of many countries
They’ve got passport smiles
Some are friendly
Some are cutting
Some are watching it from the wings
Some are standing in the centre
Giving to get something

Photo beauty gets attention
Then her eye paint’s running down
She’s got a rose in her teeth
And a iampshade crown
One minute she’s so happy
Then she’s crying on someone’s knee
Saying laughing and crying
You know it’s the same release

I told you when I met you
I was crazy
Cry for us all beauty
Cry for eddie in the corner
Thinking he’s nobody
And jack behind his joker
And stone-cold grace behind her fan
And me in my frightened silence
Thinking I don’t understand

I feel like I’m sleeping
Can you wake me
You seem to have a broader sensibility
I’m just living on nerves and feelings
With a weak and a lazy mind
And coming to peoples parties
Fumbling deaf dumb and blind

I wish I had more sense ot humor
Keeping the sadness at bay
Throwing the lightness on these things
Laughing it all away
Laughing it all away
Laughing it all away

[sparky]

Originally Posted by ragandbone

I wore out each of her records one by one. I don't think I could even begin to count all of the ways she has inspired me, saved me, and sustained me. I stood next to her once, backstage and couldn't say a thing, just watched her with my peripheral vision.

Here is "Sweet Bird" from the Hissing of Summer Lawns Acoustic Demos collection. It is an aiff file (which should play in Quicktime, or Windows Media Player, Itunes, etc. I didn't encode it to MP3, because I think there was some agreement in the original download of the the Torrent. It is about 50 megs, but beautiful, and worth it.

http://s23.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2...209FBBA5J2AVK0

Thank you so much for this song. It may be one of the most beautiful things I have heard in my 39 years on this earth.


On edit - this song could be an hour and not be long enough.

[ragandbone]

Originally Posted by sparky

Thank you so much for this song. It may be one of the most beautiful things I have heard in my 39 years on this earth.

That makes me happy!

[GODDESS6]

she is sooooooo awesome, happy birthday joni!!!~ "big yelloe taxi" has always been 1 of my FAVS!!!~

[The Tower]

Ah, Joni......

She is the most lyrically expressive songwriter ever. No one will ever be able to match her. There are so many different examples of her expansive imagery. She really brings you into her space- her world.

Here's an example of her raw, heart-breaking honesty ("Little Green").

"Born with the moon in Cancer
Choose her a name she will answer to
Call her green and the winters cannot fade her
Call her green for the children who've made her
Little green, be a gypsy dancer...

He went to California
Hearing that everything's warmer there
So you write him a letter and say, 'Her eyes are blue.'
He sends you a poem and she's lost to you
Little green, he's a non-conformer

Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the Northern lights perform
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow...

Child with a child pretending
Weary of lies you are sending home
So you sign all the papers in the family name
You're sad and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed
Little green, have a happy ending

Just a little green
Like the color when the spring is born
There'll be crocuses to bring to school tomorrow
Just a little green
Like the nights when the Northern lights perform
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes
And sometimes there'll be sorrow..."

And then my favorite, most biting bitterness- "For The Roses". James Taylor dumps her, so she leaves town and lives in a cabin in remote British Columbia with no electricity for a year and writes the ultimate kiss-off song (the entire song is a complete masterpiece, but I've highlighted my favorite "knife sticklers" in bold).

"I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Did you get a round resounding for you
Way up here
It seems like many dim years ago
Since I heard that face to face
Or seen you face to face
Though tonight I can feel you here
I get these notes
On butterflies and lilac sprays
From girls who just have to tell me
They saw you somewhere

In some office sits a poet
And he trembles as he sings
And he asks some guy
To circulate his soul around
On your mark red ribbon runner
The caressing rev of motors
Finely tuned like fancy women
In thirties evening gowns
Up the charts
Off to the airport-
Your name's in the news
Everything's first class-
The lights go down-
And it's just you up there
Getting them to feel like that...

Remember the days when you used to sit
And make up your tunes for love
And pour your simple sorrow
To the soundhole and your knee
And now you're seen
On giant screens
And at parties for the press
And for people who have slices of you
From the company
They toss around your latest golden egg
Speculation-well, who's to know
If the next one in the nest
Will glitter for them so

I guess I seem ungrateful
With my teeth sunk in the hand
That brings me things
I really can't give up just yet
Now I sit up here
The critic!
And they introduce some band
But they seem so much confetti
Looking at them on my TV set
Oh the power and the glory
Just when you're getting a taste for worship
They start bringing out the hammers
And the boards
And the nails

I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Chilly now-
End of summer
No more shiny hot nights
It was just the arbutus rustling
And the bumping of the logs
And the moon swept down black water
Like an empty spotlight..."

Marky already mentioned it, but "Refuge of the Roads" is just sublime. The entire album Hejira is jam-packed with imagery and mood. Here's my favorite snippet from this song.

"I met a friend of spirit
He drank and womanized
And I sat before his sanity
I was holding back from crying...
He saw my complications
And he mirrored me back simplified
And we laughed how our perfection
Would always be denied
'Heart and humor and humility'
He said, 'Will lighten up your heavy load'
I left him for the refuge of the roads..."

[golddustwoman77]

Happy Belated Birthday, Joni! I'm proud to share my birthday with you. My favorite Joni album is Blue, not a bad song on it.

[Nixxxed]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

Mingus Ah Um (the second link) is the original appearance of "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat." I just can't imagine Joni singing over that.

Could one of you throw up an mp3 on YouSendIt or something? Suddenly I really want to hear this now.

Here is "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" from the Mingus album:

http://rapidshare.de/files/7364182/J...ieHat.mp3.html

I hope it works OK - I've never RapidShare(d) before...

And, one last thing:

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by Nixxxed

Here is "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" from the Mingus album:

http://rapidshare.de/files/7364182/J...ieHat.mp3.html

I hope it works OK - I've never RapidShare(d) before...

Thanks for posting it, it worked fine!

But oh my. I mean, I guess it's not absolutely terrible. But I just keep asking myself, why? Why the uninspired, flat singing? Why the obvious, belabored race relations lyrics? Why that awful synth bass line on a cover of a Mingus song? What's the point of this cover? The original is just heartbreakingly beautiful, and this version not only doesn't add anything to it, it seems to take away from the force of the song.

It's all right, Joni. I'll forgive you this one. And Charlie? Well, you weren't really in your right mind at the time anyway; it's not your fault.

[The Tower]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

Thanks for posting it, it worked fine!

But oh my. I mean, I guess it's not absolutely terrible. But I just keep asking myself, why? Why the uninspired, flat singing? Why the obvious, belabored race relations lyrics? Why that awful synth bass line on a cover of a Mingus song? What's the point of this cover? The original is just heartbreakingly beautiful, and this version not only doesn't add anything to it, it seems to take away from the force of the song.

It's all right, Joni. I'll forgive you this one. And Charlie? Well, you weren't really in your right mind at the time anyway; it's not your fault.

Yeah, Mingus was not a high point in Joni's career.... But at least it wasn't as bad as Dog Eat Dog! Poor Joni. She really was a fish outta water in the early 80's.