Discovering Joni Mitchell. Again.

[trinapink]

When I was young, I loved Joni Mitchell, but as I moved from vinyl to cassette to CD, I didn't replace her music.

Then I married Mars. I believe our first argument was over whether Joni Mitchell or Judy Collins was the more accomplished artist (I didn't have strong feelings and argued for the fun of it, but he convinced me it's probably Joni

Comments

[marianndashwood]

I could never be with someone who likes Joni Mitchell. "It’s cloud illusions I recall…" I really don’t know what that means. Is she a pilot? Is she taking flying lessons? It must be a metaphor for something, but I don’t know what it is.

..... I was always partial to "Morning Morgantown," but that's because my Dad used to call me Morgantown.

[trinapink]

LOL.

I always figured she's lying on the ground watching cloud formations. "Angel hair." "Ice cream castles in the air." "Feather canyons." That's the illusion. The reality is that they block the sun, and send rain and snow. The message always was to me that even when she knew the reality, she still fell for the dream. That is, with all my experience, I still have no wisdom.

Or...maybe that's MY life, and I'm just projecting it into the song. ;-)

Try this one: Amelia. It's a beautiful tribute to a true female pioneer.

Oh, and I like Morning Morgantown too, even without the personal connotation. Why did he call you that?

[marianndashwood]

My name is Morgan. Or - kind of. The name I go by to some people is.

[trinapink]

And now you get the real answer, from her website. This is a direct quote from an interview:I was reading a book, and I haven't finished it yet, called "Henderson the Rain King" (by Saul Bellow). And there's a line in it that I especially got hung up on that was about when he was flying to Africa and searching for something, he said that in an age when people could look up and down at clouds, they shouldn't be afraid to die. And so I got this idea 'from both sides now.' There are a lot of sides to everything, and so the song is called "From Both Sides, Now."

[thoughtsbykat]

I love Joni and have most of her albums including the early ones. I'll have to watch the videos. There aren't many artists that touch my soul but she does.

[trinapink]

Yes, mine too.

Oh...wait. I just said that.

[vaneramos]

It's enchanting to hear Joni in those early videos. I came through the back door to discovering Joni Mitchell, through Hymns of the 40th Parallel. Although "Both Sides Now" had been a favourite for years, I knew Judy Collins' version and was completely unaware of Joni Mitchell. Now I'm growing familiar with her music, and enjoying the process.

[fuzzybutchkins]

We realized after a couple of years that we can never divorce: even if we hated each other, staying together would be easier -- and less painful -- than trying to separate our music.

eeeyeah. I hear yah. and books. and... um... undies.