The entire Blue album. Absolute masterpiece, yes. But in a quiet, turn the lights down and follow each and every word of poetry. Fantastic. As far as singles, check out "Help Me" from Court and Spark, another masterpiece album, but more jazzy and upbeat.
When I started getting back into vinyl after a lengthy stay exclusively in the Land of Chrome Doughnuts, one day I made a small splurge and bought two newly minted LPs: "Blue" by Joni and "Kind Of Blue" by Miles. It was just the right thing to do. I still listen to CDs and SACDs, as well as LPs. What can I say, I'm an unrepentant physical media kind of guy.
There is no confusion about the "old man" reference. When this song was released, many in the counter culture referred to their lover as their old man or old lady. Some still do.
“Help Me” is pure pop perfection. The Blue album is a thematic masterpiece, beautiful songwriting combined with angelic voice. “Both Sides Now” has two distinct amazing versions…listen to her sing it in her early twenty’s then again late in her adult life. How can the exact same words carry so different meanings?! This is just scratching the surface…you can’t go wrong with Coyote, Amelia, Chelsea Morning, any Joni is great Joni!!!
"The Circle Game" is one of my favourite songs by Joni Mitchell (out of two). I first heard it in the TV series Thirty-something in the early 1990s on German TV. Since then I'm obsessed with that song. My other favourite song by Joni Mitchell is Both Sides Now, but I must admit that I like the version by Judy Collins better.
Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange And they shake their heads and they tell me that I've changed Well something's lost, but something's gained In living every day............ I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all... Joni Mitchell : Both Sides Now
$1.50 was worth a lot more when this song came out than it is today. [EDIT] If you like Joni, please consider Ricki Lee Jones. "Chuck E's in Love" actually charted, but "Danny's All-star Joint" is my personal favorite from the first album.
@@visaman I remember, I'm thinking 1971 in Security, Colorado, while my dad, a Tech Sergeant in the Air Force working inside Cheyenne Mountain (and they actually allowed families in for a Thanksgiving dinner, and DANG it was neat!) I mowed the lawn for an Army Major down the street while he and his family were away for two weeks. And 11 year old me had a whopping FIVE DOLLARS when they returned! That doesn't sound like much, but I saved that and threw a local paper for (not making this up) one-cent per household each week until I had roughly $12. That allowed me enough to buy a fly reel and some floating line. One of my dad's friends had given me an 8-ft-ish cane fly rod, and I was a stupid kid not knowing anything about fly fishing, but I snapped WAY more flies off the end of that line than even bites, much less fish landed. But good time indeed!
@@kendavis8046 Thank you for sharing,what a wonderful memory! I was 6 years old, and I remember going to the corner store and buying a sackful of candy for a dime.
Blue is a masterpiece but some of her other albums maybe just as good. Hejira has Jaco on bass and Court and Spark has a full band, Songs for a Seagull is solo acoustic but has a completely different feel to it, Shadows and Light is concert vid from 79 with an amazing band. I think Joni is top level. Great reaction. Thanks
Love all of them. But as Joni grew and got jazzy....incredible. Coyote should be the next one, but the live version from The Band’s farewell concert filmed by Scorsese: The Last Waltz. Actually you should react to the whole film. I’m sure this is not the first time it’s been requested. So much greatness packed into a few hours. Lots of cocaine fueled that concert. Joni also backs up Neil Young here.
Joni Mitchell is the genius songstress of our lives. 'Court and Spark' and 'For the Roses' are incomparable albums. Joni Mitchell has a tune for every aspect of life. She makes one think. She isn't shooby dooby dooby.
Yes, Blue is a masterpiece, but so is Hejira, Court and Spark and many others. She took on many different styles and is perhaps the best lyricist of the modem era. Any direction you go, you'll find treasure.
Man, I haven't heard this in years. Joni has one of the great voices in modern music, instantly recognizable, never imitated. "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" will absolutely knock you out (metaphorically, of course). "Blue" is an EXCELLENT choice for an album reaction.
I was about your age when I first heard this. It led to a lifelong love of Joni Mitchell. This was a single I heard off the radio but then I listened to her albums. The song " case of you" is from " Blue" and it's worth checking out the other songs on that as well as the album " Court and Spark" , "Hissing of summer lawns", "ladies of the canyon", " Hejira" etc.
If you want acoustic great, listen to "You turn me on, I'm a radio!" Or playing a dulcimer in "Carey". For advanced and later great Joni, listen to "Coyote ". Footnote: Joni and Neil are both from Canada and been friends forever. Neil wrote "Sugar Mountain " which deals with leaving childhood for adulthood. Joni responds with "The Circle Game". Guaranteed to make you cry. Cheers, Chicago Ray
You could do worse than working your way chronologically through Joni's whole catalogue but the albums in the period from Ladies of the Canyon through to Hejira are my personal favourites.
Fans of Joni all have their favorite periods of her work. She went from being a pure folk music artist, then slid into folk-rock, after which time the folk-rock began to include a bit of jazz. The folk part of that mix slipped away, and she segued into my favorite period, jazz rock, represented by "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" and "Hejira" (I have never been a huge folk music fan). Anything, and I mean each and every song, off those two albums is amazing. Joni then switched into pure jazz for awhile, a lot of it jumbled and dissonant. Eventually, she came back to her roots to a considerable degree, which greatly pleased her old fans who fell in love with her as a folk singer. The diversity in her musical catalog is astounding. She's the greatest female musical artist of the 20th Century. Of all the videos available on YT, this one is my favorite. Video is a visual medium, and the young Joni was a great beauty (and that is not to diminish what a looker she remained as she aged beautifully). czcams.com/video/vLu2-gG68S0/video.html
Clouds, Circle Game, River, Anything from 'Blue' or 'Court and Spark'... The band on 'Court and Spark' as well as the live album 'Miles of Aisles' is Tom Scott and the LA Express.
One of Joni's earliest jazz rock numbers is "Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire" from her 1972 For The Roses album. Quite a start, in a line of many jazz rock songs.
So many great Joni Mitchell songs. One of my favorites is Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire. Another album of hers to listen to is Miles of Aisles. It's a live album. The conventional wisdom is don't listen to live albums first because of crappy sound. But this album doesn't contain any of those issues at all. And the meaning of the songs are exactly the same as if you were listening to the studio album. The musicians accompanying her is The L.A. Express, top tier musicians who know what they are doing. Another album of hers to check out is Court and Spark. That is a studio album. While you're at it give Rickie Lee Jones a listen. Her self titled album from 1979 is very good. Her song Coolsville is very haunting. She has a very distinct style and voice. I'm surprised no one has done a reaction to her. I think you would like her. She was raised on Beat Poetry. Some people consider her the female Tom Waits.
Dude, you have to listen to the entire "Court & Spark" album. "Blue" is a masterpiece but "Court & Spark" is even better but you need to hear the entire album in it's entirety.
Blue a lyrical masterpiece, and a captured ambience vibe. This Flight Tonight one of my favorites, made popular by Nazareth. Nice work on the reaction!
"Blue", "Court and Spark" and "Hejira" are all great albums - all the way through. And each with different points of interest in the musical development.
She was queen of folk along with Dylan. She uses 50 different tunings in writing songs. Her most powerful song is "Both Sides Now" which made her famous when Judy Collins made it a hit.
"Night Ride Home" was the first album of hers and I liked it a lot. I listened to her other albums but it still remains my favorite. Especially the title track. I don't think many Joni Mitchell fans agree, but it's worth listening.
Search YT for Joni Mitchell 1970 BBC concert. You'll see her song Woodstock that CSNY made famous, Free Man in Paris, California, and many others of her early work. She was an artist first, song writer, guitar player ( many of the chords were her own!), and a singer par excellence. Also produced her own records and those of other artists.
In the 5th and 6th grade around 1970 our math/science teacher taught us a lot about conservation, the rain forest, DDT and the population explosion (back when there were 3.6 billion people on the planet). We even spent 1 afternoon picking up trash in a nearby grass lot. From Wikipedia: Bob Dylan, instead of singing about the "big yellow taxi" that "took away my old man", sings, "A big yellow bulldozer took away the house and land." Similarly, in Mitchell's live version of the song released on Miles of Aisles in 1974, she sings about "a big yellow tractor" that "pushed around my house, pushed around my land". I just read that 504 people have recorded this song, talk about influence. Her earlier song 'Both Sides Now' was huge too, big hit for Peter, Paul & Mary. I agree that "Blue" is a high water mark but I prefer her next album, "For the Roses" with its personal statements, more mature singing and more complex arrangements. Some of the songs are heartbreaking, others are funny. These lines are from 'Electricity': Well I'm learning It's peaceful With a good dog and some trees Out of touch with the breakdown Of this century They're not going to fix it up Too easy.
In '91 I needed to have a fat biopsy to check for a misapplied and overapplied pesticide, and I had not only that in me (and they then stopped selling in the States... but still ship it and sell it elsewhere), but I also had DDT and its metabolite DDE. I suspect we all probably have some. Certainly those from my generation. I grew up in El Paso, no where near agriculture (except for far away cotton and pecan). (Maybe just from food, maybe in the Rio Grande River?) So: happy song/Unhappy song. Well done, Joni.
btw, the subject of the song is echoed in the 1972 movie Silent Running, which predicts huge space ships carrying the last of Earth's forests, and Bruce Dern as one of the pilots who refuses to follow the order to destroy his ship. Good film, great cause.
Blue and Hejira, from totally different Joni genres (folk versus jazz/rock), are my fav Joni lps, though I've loved her since 1968 when I was a mere 14 yrs old... Every song on both lps is a wonderful classic! Glad to see the latest gen is discovering Joni anew.
Daniel, you're sampling the early "folky" years, which culminated with Blue. The piano songs, which you have yet to listen to, have little to do with folk: you could try For Free or Judgment of the Moon & Stars. If you want to sample her next period which saw her flirt with pop and increasingly with jazz, check out Help Me, Free Man in Paris, Troubled Child or In France They Kiss on Main Street. If you enjoy the jazz, plunge into Hissing of Summer Lawns or Hejira, this last one being as supremely good as Blue to these ears. From the later years, some highlights that are as good as anything that came before: Borderline, Sire of Sorrow or Slouching Towards Bethleem.
Joni Mitchell is in the recently announced class for the Kennedy Center Honors. I'm very much looking forward to the broadcast of the awards ceremony in January.
joni wrote the song " WOODSTOCK" that stephen stills sang with CSNY. Her live performance of the song a couple of days after the 1969 music festival (which she didnt get to go to) might be her best song and influential lyrics really coin the whole generational movement of the time.
Another way to approach music by Bob Dylan is to feature famous covers of his music. The Byrds were a hit with Dylan’s “Tambourine Man”. Peter Paul and Mary were a hit with “Blowin’ In The Wind”.
Amazing where she can take you..... Painting a picture .... with that angelic voice.... 2 minutes and you were there..... Do it....... The whole album!!!!!!!
In addition to "Blue," you can't go wrong with any tracks from the album containing this song, which was called "Ladies of the Canyon." Another profound song is "For Free" where she compares her life as a famous musician to a street musician... I always get a tear in my eye when I hear it. Also "Rainy Night House" is a beautiful song. The title track "Ladies of the Canyon" is also great. Also on that album is the song "Woodstock" which was famously covered by Crosby Stills and Nash. It's amazing that such deep and profound songs were written by someone who was probably only around 20 years old or so as Joni was when Ladies of the Canyon was released.
Both Sides Now - you can do both versions. The one by the younger Joni 1969 off of her album Clouds and then the bluesier version she did on her 2000 album Both Sides Now. They are both good. Incidently Joni once introduced this song as having two names, Clouds and Both Sides Now, and that they are both correct. It is interesting that the two albums she recorded this song for, have those two names.
Daniel & Others That Might Not Have Heard Yet,, I Have Some Bad News,, Dusty Hill Bassist For ZZTOP Passed Away Today At 72 Years Old..R.I.P. Dusty..Thanks For All You Gave Us. 🙏❤
I always picture the Lorax when I hear this song. The Counting Crows do a nice version of this despite Google search results. They are an incredible group with many great songs.
Yes to Blue. Another great song from the same album as Big Yellow Taxi is The Circle Game. It is an amazingly wise reflection on the seasons of life and the way time falls away so quickly. I enjoy listening to the original (from the album Ladies of the Canyon) sung with her young supple soprano, and comparing it to the verson from the Travelogue Album, which has orchestral arrangements enhancing the music, while Joni sings with her age and cigarette-deepened voice, closer to the end than to the beginning of the Circle Game.
California is my favorite one. "Reading the news and it sure looks bad. They won't give peace a chance. That was just a dream some of us had." And dulcimer sounds so great there. Listening to this song is like reunion with very dear friend, catching up.
Ohhhh! Speaking of paradise ...Don Henley ...."The last resort"...I know you've done eagles, so don is no stranger..but this song also is the same feeling of artists singing about their sadness of how beautiful places are ruined by..us. Love you always, ladybuss
IIRC Joni wrote "Circle Game" in response to Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" which would make for a nice back to back. Nazareth's cover of "This Flight Tonight" after listening to the original from Blue would be fun as well. She has so many amazing songs and albums in her backlist, it is almost a full time job to review them all. Some favs include "Both Sides Now", "Free Man in Paris", "Help Me" and "In France They Kiss in Main Street". Heck I love the entire "Hissing of Summer Lawns" album and "Blue is pretty amazing but in a much sparser singer/songwriter way. When this song was released, minimum wage, where I lived, was $1.05 (iirc).
"Help Me", "Both Sides Now" (also check out Judy Collins' version), and "Woodstock" (compare and contrast to covers by CSN&Y and Matthews' Southern Comfort).
This song hit home with me and many others in NYC seeing so much of the same thing taking place over so many years. Unfortunately corporations take everything they can without concern for the future!
“Both sides now” is also a multi-layered song. It includes and compares seemingly different things to great effect. Really deep.
I agree.
My other favorite Joni song
Besides the River and Woodstock
The entire Blue album. Absolute masterpiece, yes. But in a quiet, turn the lights down and follow each and every word of poetry. Fantastic. As far as singles, check out "Help Me" from Court and Spark, another masterpiece album, but more jazzy and upbeat.
When I started getting back into vinyl after a lengthy stay exclusively in the Land of Chrome Doughnuts, one day I made a small splurge and bought two newly minted LPs: "Blue" by Joni and "Kind Of Blue" by Miles. It was just the right thing to do.
I still listen to CDs and SACDs, as well as LPs. What can I say, I'm an unrepentant physical media kind of guy.
There is no confusion about the "old man" reference. When this song was released, many in the counter culture referred to their lover as their old man or old lady. Some still do.
This. Many of her songs were about her long life.
@@maruad7577 I think you mean love life.😁
@@w.geoffreyspaulding6588 lol, yes I did.
Exactly.
“Help Me” is pure pop perfection. The Blue album is a thematic masterpiece, beautiful songwriting combined with angelic voice. “Both Sides Now” has two distinct amazing versions…listen to her sing it in her early twenty’s then again late in her adult life. How can the exact same words carry so different meanings?! This is just scratching the surface…you can’t go wrong with Coyote, Amelia, Chelsea Morning, any Joni is great Joni!!!
"Court and Spark" is another incredible album. Along with Blue the pinnacle of her amazing artistic talent. "Free Man in Paris" is a great fng song.
You know I thought that and then "Turbulent "Indigo" came to mind. Fng incredible to. Then "Coyote"...
Court and Spark is by far my favourite Joni Mitchell album. EVERY song on it is fantastic and a true work of art.
My favourite.
My favorite song of Joni's is "Help Me".
Mine too.
A song I didn't appreciate until I had children is The Circle Game. Another classic is Both Sides Now.
"The Circle Game" is one of my favourite songs by Joni Mitchell (out of two). I first heard it in the TV series Thirty-something in the early 1990s on German TV. Since then I'm obsessed with that song. My other favourite song by Joni Mitchell is Both Sides Now, but I must admit that I like the version by Judy Collins better.
"Amelia" from Joni Mitchell's Shadows and Lights tour-- is incredible. Jaco Pastorius on bass, Pat Metheny on guitar...
"Help Me," "Free Man in Paris," "Raised on Robbery." Also, "Coyote," "California," "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio," "Chelsea Morning."
Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads and they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every day............ I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all... Joni Mitchell : Both Sides Now
$1.50 was worth a lot more when this song came out than it is today. [EDIT] If you like Joni, please consider Ricki Lee Jones. "Chuck E's in Love" actually charted, but "Danny's All-star Joint" is my personal favorite from the first album.
$10.50 in 2021.
@@visaman I remember, I'm thinking 1971 in Security, Colorado, while my dad, a Tech Sergeant in the Air Force working inside Cheyenne Mountain (and they actually allowed families in for a Thanksgiving dinner, and DANG it was neat!) I mowed the lawn for an Army Major down the street while he and his family were away for two weeks. And 11 year old me had a whopping FIVE DOLLARS when they returned! That doesn't sound like much, but I saved that and threw a local paper for (not making this up) one-cent per household each week until I had roughly $12. That allowed me enough to buy a fly reel and some floating line. One of my dad's friends had given me an 8-ft-ish cane fly rod, and I was a stupid kid not knowing anything about fly fishing, but I snapped WAY more flies off the end of that line than even bites, much less fish landed. But good time indeed!
@@kendavis8046 Thank you for sharing,what a wonderful memory! I was 6 years old, and I remember going to the corner store and buying a sackful of candy for a dime.
Rickie Lee Jones is awesome and she will be touring later this year!
She is indeed, an incredible songwriter. You’re just at the beginning of a fabulous journey of discovery, Daniel. You lucky, lucky thing.
Amen.
Blue is a masterpiece but some of her other albums maybe just as good. Hejira has Jaco on bass and Court and Spark has a full band, Songs for a Seagull is solo acoustic but has a completely different feel to it, Shadows and Light is concert vid from 79 with an amazing band. I think Joni is top level. Great reaction. Thanks
Love all of them. But as Joni grew and got jazzy....incredible. Coyote should be the next one, but the live version from The Band’s farewell concert filmed by Scorsese: The Last Waltz. Actually you should react to the whole film. I’m sure this is not the first time it’s been requested. So much greatness packed into a few hours. Lots of cocaine fueled that concert. Joni also backs up Neil Young here.
@@foxandscout there is a version of coyote posted recently on yt of her playing an early version for Dylan at Gordon lightfoots house.
Joni Mitchell is the genius songstress of our lives. 'Court and Spark' and 'For the Roses' are incomparable albums. Joni Mitchell has a tune for every aspect of life. She makes one think. She isn't shooby dooby dooby.
Yes, Blue is a masterpiece, but so is Hejira, Court and Spark and many others. She took on many different styles and is perhaps the best lyricist of the modem era. Any direction you go, you'll find treasure.
No perhaps about it.
Man, I haven't heard this in years. Joni has one of the great voices in modern music, instantly recognizable, never imitated. "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" will absolutely knock you out (metaphorically, of course). "Blue" is an EXCELLENT choice for an album reaction.
Cold Blue Steel...is one of my faves too and a great window into her tuning and playing style if you happen to play.
She's a great artist too.
She painted the cover of CSN&Y "So Far".
If you react to a full album I recommend The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
I first heard this as a cover by Amy Grant.
Next:
Both Sides Now
Woodstock
Also check out Judy Collins and Carol King.
Counting Crows also do a decent version of this
I'd really like to hear your reaction to Amelia. Beautiful wordsmithery. And Coyote. I love Coyote too.
Two of my all time favourites!
I was about your age when I first heard this. It led to a lifelong love of Joni Mitchell. This was a single I heard off the radio but then I listened to her albums. The song " case of you" is from " Blue" and it's worth checking out the other songs on that as well as the album " Court and Spark" , "Hissing of summer lawns", "ladies of the canyon", " Hejira" etc.
Woodstock, obviously. You can do a comparison reaction with the Crosby Stills and Nash & Young version. The story behind the song is bittersweet.
Check out Both Sides Now from 2000, her live performance. She's much older...and you can see time in her face and her voice.
Every song on Court and Spark is a gem…I love them all
If you want acoustic great, listen to "You turn me on, I'm a radio!" Or playing a dulcimer in "Carey". For advanced and later great Joni, listen to "Coyote ". Footnote: Joni and Neil are both from Canada and been friends forever. Neil wrote "Sugar Mountain " which deals with leaving childhood for adulthood. Joni responds with "The Circle Game". Guaranteed to make you cry. Cheers, Chicago Ray
BTW in the 60s songs had to be about 2m 30s (under 3m) to be played on the radio. Bands often had longer versions on their albums or during live shows
Just had a look at The Animals "House of the Rising Sun" - 4m 29s (album version), 2m 59s (radio edit)
You could do worse than working your way chronologically through Joni's whole catalogue but the albums in the period from Ladies of the Canyon through to Hejira are my personal favourites.
“Magdalene Laundries” will break your heart. (with the Chieftains)
Glad to see more Joni she is a genius beautiful beautiful voice Hope you love love you
Fans of Joni all have their favorite periods of her work. She went from being a pure folk music artist, then slid into folk-rock, after which time the folk-rock began to include a bit of jazz. The folk part of that mix slipped away, and she segued into my favorite period, jazz rock, represented by "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" and "Hejira" (I have never been a huge folk music fan). Anything, and I mean each and every song, off those two albums is amazing. Joni then switched into pure jazz for awhile, a lot of it jumbled and dissonant. Eventually, she came back to her roots to a considerable degree, which greatly pleased her old fans who fell in love with her as a folk singer. The diversity in her musical catalog is astounding. She's the greatest female musical artist of the 20th Century.
Of all the videos available on YT, this one is my favorite. Video is a visual medium, and the young Joni was a great beauty (and that is not to diminish what a looker she remained as she aged beautifully).
czcams.com/video/vLu2-gG68S0/video.html
Clouds, Circle Game, River, Anything from 'Blue' or 'Court and Spark'... The band on 'Court and Spark' as well as the live album 'Miles of Aisles' is Tom Scott and the LA Express.
One of Joni's earliest jazz rock numbers is "Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire" from her 1972 For The Roses album. Quite a start, in a line of many jazz rock songs.
So many great Joni Mitchell songs. One of my favorites is Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire.
Another album of hers to listen to is Miles of Aisles. It's a live album. The conventional wisdom is don't listen to live albums first because of crappy sound. But this album doesn't contain any of those issues at all. And the meaning of the songs are exactly the same as if you were listening to the studio album. The musicians accompanying her is The L.A. Express, top tier musicians who know what they are doing. Another album of hers to check out is Court and Spark. That is a studio album.
While you're at it give Rickie Lee Jones a listen. Her self titled album from 1979 is very good. Her song Coolsville is very haunting. She has a very distinct style and voice. I'm surprised no one has done a reaction to her. I think you would like her. She was raised on Beat Poetry. Some people consider her the female Tom Waits.
Dude, you have to listen to the entire "Court & Spark" album. "Blue" is a masterpiece but "Court & Spark" is even better but you need to hear the entire album in it's entirety.
Blue a lyrical masterpiece, and a captured ambience vibe. This Flight Tonight one of my favorites, made popular by Nazareth.
Nice work on the reaction!
This song... wow. Always love any Joni
Another great song from the early 1970s. I believe that Joni is having some health issues, and needs our prayers.
Thanks
God Bless
"Blue", "Court and Spark" and "Hejira" are all great albums - all the way through. And each with different points of interest in the musical development.
Joni Mitchell's first big single. Check out the Joni Mitchell song....'RIVER'.. from her amazing BLUE album. 😎🎼🎵🎶🇨🇦🇨🇦
This song was played to death on Canadian radio in 1970, and still is in 2021.
She was queen of folk along with Dylan. She uses 50 different tunings in writing songs. Her most powerful song is "Both Sides Now" which made her famous when Judy Collins made it a hit.
I love her Free Man in Paris
"Night Ride Home" was the first album of hers and I liked it a lot. I listened to her other albums but it still remains my favorite. Especially the title track. I don't think many Joni Mitchell fans agree, but it's worth listening.
Both Sides now live in London.
Search YT for Joni Mitchell 1970 BBC concert. You'll see her song Woodstock that CSNY made famous, Free Man in Paris, California, and many others of her early work. She was an artist first, song writer, guitar player ( many of the chords were her own!), and a singer par excellence.
Also produced her own records and those of other artists.
In the 5th and 6th grade around 1970 our math/science teacher taught us a lot about conservation, the rain forest, DDT and the population explosion (back when there were 3.6 billion people on the planet). We even spent 1 afternoon picking up trash in a nearby grass lot.
From Wikipedia:
Bob Dylan, instead of singing about the "big yellow taxi" that "took away my old man", sings, "A big yellow bulldozer took away the house and land." Similarly, in Mitchell's live version of the song released on Miles of Aisles in 1974, she sings about "a big yellow tractor" that "pushed around my house, pushed around my land".
I just read that 504 people have recorded this song, talk about influence.
Her earlier song 'Both Sides Now' was huge too, big hit for Peter, Paul & Mary. I agree that "Blue" is a high water mark but I prefer her next album, "For the Roses" with its personal statements, more mature singing and more complex arrangements. Some of the songs are heartbreaking, others are funny. These lines are from 'Electricity':
Well I'm learning
It's peaceful
With a good dog and some trees
Out of touch with the breakdown
Of this century
They're not going to fix it up
Too easy.
In '91 I needed to have a fat biopsy to check for a misapplied and overapplied pesticide, and I had not only that in me (and they then stopped selling in the States... but still ship it and sell it elsewhere), but I also had DDT and its metabolite DDE. I suspect we all probably have some. Certainly those from my generation. I grew up in El Paso, no where near agriculture (except for far away cotton and pecan). (Maybe just from food, maybe in the Rio Grande River?)
So: happy song/Unhappy song. Well done, Joni.
btw, the subject of the song is echoed in the 1972 movie Silent Running, which predicts huge space ships carrying the last of Earth's forests, and Bruce Dern as one of the pilots who refuses to follow the order to destroy his ship. Good film, great cause.
Blue and Hejira, from totally different Joni genres (folk versus jazz/rock), are my fav Joni lps, though I've loved her since 1968 when I was a mere 14 yrs old... Every song on both lps is a wonderful classic! Glad to see the latest gen is discovering Joni anew.
From her Clouds album you should hear "Both Sides Now", "Chelsea Morning", and "Songs to Aging Children".
So distinctive. Looking forward to more.
Daniel, you're sampling the early "folky" years, which culminated with Blue. The piano songs, which you have yet to listen to, have little to do with folk: you could try For Free or Judgment of the Moon & Stars. If you want to sample her next period which saw her flirt with pop and increasingly with jazz, check out Help Me, Free Man in Paris, Troubled Child or In France They Kiss on Main Street. If you enjoy the jazz, plunge into Hissing of Summer Lawns or Hejira, this last one being as supremely good as Blue to these ears. From the later years, some highlights that are as good as anything that came before: Borderline, Sire of Sorrow or Slouching Towards Bethleem.
Joni Mitchell is in the recently announced class for the Kennedy Center Honors. I'm very much looking forward to the broadcast of the awards ceremony in January.
joni wrote the song " WOODSTOCK" that stephen stills sang with CSNY. Her live performance of the song a couple of days after the 1969 music festival (which she didnt get to go to) might be her best song and influential lyrics really coin the whole generational movement of the time.
Her live version of Both Sides Now from her 2000 tribute is spellbinding
Another way to approach music by Bob Dylan is to feature famous covers of his music. The Byrds were a hit with Dylan’s “Tambourine Man”. Peter Paul and Mary were a hit with “Blowin’ In The Wind”.
Amazing where she can take you.....
Painting a picture .... with that angelic voice.... 2 minutes and you were there..... Do it....... The whole album!!!!!!!
I don't know why but this song always brings tears to my eyes.
Love this song. Thanks for the reaction and breakdown.
The album was a must even for people that said they didn't like folksingers like Simon and Garfunkel she transcended the genre tag.
In addition to "Blue," you can't go wrong with any tracks from the album containing this song, which was called "Ladies of the Canyon." Another profound song is "For Free" where she compares her life as a famous musician to a street musician... I always get a tear in my eye when I hear it. Also "Rainy Night House" is a beautiful song. The title track "Ladies of the Canyon" is also great. Also on that album is the song "Woodstock" which was famously covered by Crosby Stills and Nash. It's amazing that such deep and profound songs were written by someone who was probably only around 20 years old or so as Joni was when Ladies of the Canyon was released.
First song I heard as a kid from her, always loved it. Short bopping apocalyptic remorseful love song. Just what you need, sometimes.
PLEASE, YES, Daniel, do a reaction to the entire album!
Yes! Do the entire Blue album! It just turned 50 years old! you will not regret it Daniel!
Both Sides Now - you can do both versions. The one by the younger Joni 1969 off of her album Clouds and then the bluesier version she did on her 2000 album Both Sides Now. They are both good. Incidently Joni once introduced this song as having two names, Clouds and Both Sides Now, and that they are both correct. It is interesting that the two albums she recorded this song for, have those two names.
Daniel & Others That Might Not Have Heard Yet,, I Have Some Bad News,, Dusty Hill Bassist For ZZTOP Passed Away Today At 72 Years Old..R.I.P. Dusty..Thanks For All You Gave Us. 🙏❤
*LOVE* 💜💫✌🏼🎵
YESSSSSSS, DO BLUE DO BLUE DO BLUE!!! :) OVERRRR 50 YEARS OLD NOW, GEEEZZZ! TALK ABOUT A TIMELESS CLASSIC DANIEL! :) :
Haven't listened to your reaction yet and am so excited. This song was breakout hit along with "You Turn me on, I'm a radio. RM
Dicon Dissectional Reactions --- Joni Mitchell "Court and Spark" album "Down to You", "Same Situation", Trouble Child", "Twisted" ..... entire "Don Juan" album
Singer songwriter- Patti Griffin “Wild Old Dog”
I always picture the Lorax when I hear this song.
The Counting Crows do a nice version of this despite Google search results.
They are an incredible group with many great songs.
This song is fun, and always makes me think of Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin
Entire Blue Album would be a great idea and wholly worth our time.
"Blue"is a. masterpiece. She has many of them
"Both Sides Now" is a must.
Yes to Blue. Another great song from the same album as Big Yellow Taxi is The Circle Game. It is an amazingly wise reflection on the seasons of life and the way time falls away so quickly. I enjoy listening to the original (from the album Ladies of the Canyon) sung with her young supple soprano, and comparing it to the verson from the Travelogue Album, which has orchestral arrangements enhancing the music, while Joni sings with her age and cigarette-deepened voice, closer to the end than to the beginning of the Circle Game.
Blue is in my top 10 list of favorite albums. Another song of hers which everyone should know in Both Sides Now.
I recommend "Amelia" and "Coyote" from the Hejira LP.
California is my favorite one. "Reading the news and it sure looks bad. They won't give peace a chance. That was just a dream some of us had."
And dulcimer sounds so great there. Listening to this song is like reunion with very dear friend, catching up.
This was an accurate view of what she saw from her hotel window in Hawaii .. yes.
Ohhhh! Speaking of paradise ...Don Henley ...."The last resort"...I know you've done eagles, so don is no stranger..but this song also is the same feeling of artists singing about their sadness of how beautiful places are ruined by..us. Love you always, ladybuss
IIRC Joni wrote "Circle Game" in response to Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" which would make for a nice back to back. Nazareth's cover of "This Flight Tonight" after listening to the original from Blue would be fun as well. She has so many amazing songs and albums in her backlist, it is almost a full time job to review them all. Some favs include "Both Sides Now", "Free Man in Paris", "Help Me" and "In France They Kiss in Main Street". Heck I love the entire "Hissing of Summer Lawns" album and "Blue is pretty amazing but in a much sparser singer/songwriter way.
When this song was released, minimum wage, where I lived, was $1.05 (iirc).
Agree with other commenters - 'Both Sides Now' is an amazing song.
LMAO at "struck by lightning" comments!!
Yes. Listen to all of "Blue".
Free Man in Paris is an absolute classic.
Singer-songwriters? Steve Goodman, "My Old Man."
Blue for sure. Song: Coyote, Woodstock. Album 2: Mingus.
Good on you 👏 👍
I highly recommend "For Free".
My Favorite Joni Mitchell Album is Court And Spark. Second Shadows And Light.
"Help Me", "Both Sides Now" (also check out Judy Collins' version), and "Woodstock" (compare and contrast to covers by CSN&Y and Matthews' Southern Comfort).
This song hit home with me and many others in NYC seeing so much of the same thing taking place over so many years. Unfortunately corporations take everything they can without concern for the future!
If you like Joni Mitchell you would also like Carole King and Suzanne Vega, they are both great singer songwriters
The Joan Baez song I suggested in my previous comment is Diamonds and Rust.
Philosophically, her best songs are "The Circle Game" and "Hejira."
A classic tune.
California - is a great listen🙌
"Too short"!? Agreed!!