#1
Posted: 6/18/05 at 6:14pm
I was listening to a little Joni Mitchell and realized I don't think I've ever seen her discussed on the board, and since her songs are so dramatic and literary (in the best sense of each word) I thought the folks here at BWW might love her as much as I do.
I know that there are a lot of boardsters who weren't born when Joni conquered the world, so first, a history. A Canadian who moved to Detroit and then California, Joni was the most talented of the folk-rock singer songwriter boom of the early 70's. Her first flush of success came with the hits "Both Sides Now" (made popular by Judy Collins, containing the spine tingling lyric "Moons & Junes and ferris wheels, the dizzy, dancing way it feels as every fairy tale comes real, I've looked at love that way") and then "Big Yellow Taxi" (With the lyrical gem "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.") In 1973 she hit made it really big with the album "Court & Spark" and it's multiple pop top 40 singles. After a few more pop gems, she started to follow her eccentric muse further afield with explorations of jazz, world music and symphonic compositions.
She's fallen out of mainstream favor, but still influences a lot of current stars. She made the top five on a recent poll of the all time greatest women in rock & roll. Janet Jackson recently sampled her and Counting Crows had a comeback hit with their cover of "Big Yellow Taxi." "Love Actually" featured a new version of "Both Sides Now" that brought the song to new levels and stopped the show.
So give Joni a listen; If you haven't heard her before there is a lot to love. Try the easy pop of Court & Spark, often featured in Record stores' "Under $10" sales. Or try a good "Best of" collection "Hits"- which Joni released paired with a collection of her favorites songs that didn't really make it big, amusingly called "Misses." Or pick up one of her recent collections: "Dreamland" is pretty straighforward, a career spanning retrospective. I also recommend "Travelogue" an amazingly audacious collection where Joni selected many of her favorite songs and re-recorded them with a symphony orchestra, bringing a new depth to her words and music.
So favorite songs? The hits, and so much more: "Free Man in Paris" Joni's biography of her pal record label owner David Geffen. "Come in From the Cold" a later song looking back at childhood desires. "Woodstock," her thoughts that it all came together because "Maybe it's the time of year, or maybe it's the time of Man" Perhaps my favorite is "California" where she recaps the failure of the VietNam peace talks with the chilling lines "Sitting in a park in Paris France, reading the news and it sure looks bad! They won't give peace a chance-- that was just a dream some of us had."
Some of us still dream, and when we do, we listen to Joni-- Joni Mitchell never lies!
I know that there are a lot of boardsters who weren't born when Joni conquered the world, so first, a history. A Canadian who moved to Detroit and then California, Joni was the most talented of the folk-rock singer songwriter boom of the early 70's. Her first flush of success came with the hits "Both Sides Now" (made popular by Judy Collins, containing the spine tingling lyric "Moons & Junes and ferris wheels, the dizzy, dancing way it feels as every fairy tale comes real, I've looked at love that way") and then "Big Yellow Taxi" (With the lyrical gem "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.") In 1973 she hit made it really big with the album "Court & Spark" and it's multiple pop top 40 singles. After a few more pop gems, she started to follow her eccentric muse further afield with explorations of jazz, world music and symphonic compositions.
She's fallen out of mainstream favor, but still influences a lot of current stars. She made the top five on a recent poll of the all time greatest women in rock & roll. Janet Jackson recently sampled her and Counting Crows had a comeback hit with their cover of "Big Yellow Taxi." "Love Actually" featured a new version of "Both Sides Now" that brought the song to new levels and stopped the show.
So give Joni a listen; If you haven't heard her before there is a lot to love. Try the easy pop of Court & Spark, often featured in Record stores' "Under $10" sales. Or try a good "Best of" collection "Hits"- which Joni released paired with a collection of her favorites songs that didn't really make it big, amusingly called "Misses." Or pick up one of her recent collections: "Dreamland" is pretty straighforward, a career spanning retrospective. I also recommend "Travelogue" an amazingly audacious collection where Joni selected many of her favorite songs and re-recorded them with a symphony orchestra, bringing a new depth to her words and music.
So favorite songs? The hits, and so much more: "Free Man in Paris" Joni's biography of her pal record label owner David Geffen. "Come in From the Cold" a later song looking back at childhood desires. "Woodstock," her thoughts that it all came together because "Maybe it's the time of year, or maybe it's the time of Man" Perhaps my favorite is "California" where she recaps the failure of the VietNam peace talks with the chilling lines "Sitting in a park in Paris France, reading the news and it sure looks bad! They won't give peace a chance-- that was just a dream some of us had."
Some of us still dream, and when we do, we listen to Joni-- Joni Mitchell never lies!
Thanks for being so kind.
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