Joni Mitchell: Both Sides, Now - a Masterclass in Empathy & Perspective | The Daily Doug (Ep. 358)
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- čas přidán 28. 08. 2024
- #JoniMitchell #BothSidesNow
In this #MasterpieceFriday edition of #TheDailyDoug, I'm taking a deep dive into Joni Mitchell's classic song Both Sides, Now. In addition to our usual harmonic analysis, we take a close look at the profound lyrics as we listen to the original studio recording from Clouds and the poignant re-recording with orchestra in 2000. Thanks to our friend Francesco for recommending this song to us. I hope you enjoy!
Reference Video: • Joni Mitchell - Both S...
Reference Video: • Joni Mitchell - Both S...
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![Joni Mitchell - Clouds (Full Album) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/J48BpiPLHtA/mqdefault.jpg)
It's as if a young Joni Mitchell wrote a song for her older self. Remarkable. What a talent.
Its a song about childhood ending... she was 21, @Larryfertel1567
@@alvaroLguevara Sigh..... The great thing about songs, and particularly great ones is that there can be multiple interpretations. This masterpiece is one of those songs.
@stevenmeyer9674 -Can't recall an illusion at 60, when ur 21... but you can at 21, looking at 8.
But I get the sentiment....
You reminded me of a time i got accused of being to concrete literal, by an artist I adored when i was 19.
Maybe I still am : (
maybe it was why she got away.
Maybe its why it all still hurts so so much 45 years later.
When it comes to female songwriters, there's Joni Mitchell, and then there's everybody else. Simply wonderful.
Truth
Joni is monumental but I would not easily dismiss so many others, such as Kate Bush or Bonny Raitt. Poets all.
The list of superb female songwriters is endless, but Joni sits on top for me. An incomparable songwriter, singer, musical arranger and musician, she lead the way for so many others who followed.
When it comes to songwriters there is Joni Mitchell and then there is everybody else.
You can take the word female out of that sentence, and it doesn't become less true.
I have the 2000 version on 5.1 It is simply stunning. The voice of an women who has experienced life as opposed to the original by a young woman with her life in front of her. And all that comes through in both versions.
2k Stunning for sure, hard to listen to its so sad. Tear up every time.
Completely agree.
I started watching this, and about halfway through, I started to send you a message that you needed to hear her 2000 performance of this. Almost as soon as I started typing, you did. I'm 64, and I have to say that her take from 2000 is probably the most moving thing I have ever heard, as it sums up the changes in my perspective on life in the last 40 years. She somehow managed to sum up the differences between my life then and my life now and deliver it in such an extraordinary way. The orchestration combined with her voice brings me to tears every time I hear this. Then you add a deeply moving analysis relating it to life and society today. Thank you so much for this.
The 2000 recording never doesn't shred me. The voice is of someone who has been thru the wars and come out a very different person, asking all the same questions but from a totally different set of circumstances.Absolute genius concept. And looking at that cover portrait, the Wayne Shorter aural brush strokes are the icing.
Please tell me you saw last night's Grammy performance of the song. Seeing an 80-year-old Joni Mitchell with a face that exudes wisdom and dignity and then she sings about how she has examined life from every angle and still doesn't understand it… The whole thing takes on a much deeper and poignant meaning than it ever did before.
I came here to say precisely this. It's as if Young Joni specifically wrote this song for Elder Joni to sing.
Amazing how she sings the two different styles that portrays her life experience from two different ages: one young love, young life, with seemingly plenty of life to live, and the other looking back at most of life gone, and the same words and new delivery is sardonic, jades and shards of life’s scars on display. The music masterfully done.
Always loved the song since I was a kid, but the 2000 version owned me. I get chills every time I hear it.
I got really into Joni in my late teens. I was really into Jaco, and after finding out Joni played and recorded with Metheny, Pastorius, Brecker and Alias, I was floored and needed to explore her discography. Mingus is a great album, dedicated to and assisted by the late great Charles Mingus. Joni is an icon in my opinion, one of the few voices left from the 60's. I've never heard her 2000 version. Her voice sounds heavenly and very graceful. Gods bless her.
You also played with Jerry Garcia Thanks I'm backing vocals
Mingus is amazing
every time I hear her sing these old songs, I start to cry.... so magical
Memories
Hey Doug, if you get to read this- Joni was famous for her guitar playing in open tunings. She had her own language of music that later in her development in the mid 70's translated to working with musicians like Jaco Pastorious, Pat Metheny (many other greats) etc. their needed to be a greater musicianship to translate the instrumentation of her original music. She was notorious for using suspened chords- watch her live "Shadow's and Light" show and you can really see her playing and genius :) ~JP
Check this out ... czcams.com/video/zyDW7lslN5Y/video.html ... Joni is amazing
I hope Joni watches this. I love this. I love the days of no auto-tune on instruments and voices. I love cracking, slightly off notes in a vocal that is mostly right on key. Lifelong huge Joni Mitchell fan and this was a great appreciation of her classic song.
I bought this CD in the early 2000's and after hearing her new interpretation of "Both Sides", it just stunned me to tearful silence, still does. It really was a whole other side to the song. BIG shout out to Vince Mendoza who did the amazing orchestral arrangement and to the great Wayne Shorter on the soprano sax. Don't know if anyone here mentioned this yet, but I read a lot of the studio orchestra were in tears when it was recorded.
Joni was so young. Epitome of old head on young shoulders. Always loved this song. Always loved listening to Joni, whether studio or live, whether earlier or later. If someone is not moved by her art, that person is made of stone! I do so hope, Doug, that we hear more from her on your channel. Please. -- Including a deeper analysis of her unique musicianship is always welcome. (Sus chords and unusual harmonies all the time!)
The Album "Blue" made me fall in love with Joni's purity of voice, with guitar, dulcimer, or piano. Every tune is a masterpiece. Then I bought "Clouds", then "Hissing Of Summer Lawns", "Heijra" , the list goes on. I will never tire of her music, but "Blue" is near the top of my top ten albums of all time.
The entire album is a masterpiece
I could listen to that a million times and get goosebumps every single time!
The early recording is the voice of a person struggling to make sense of the world. But the later recording are the reflections of a Woman who has come to terms with who she is.
1969 - the Golden Age of Rock/Pop Music was exploding with talent and originality which unfortunately has long since faded into mediocrity. Joni was just one of many sensitive voices but hers had just a bit more depth in reflection. We now can cherish and relive her contributions to music that are timeless. Thank you Joni ...
The reworking of The Circle Game is equally moving. That and Both Sides Now are probably 2 of the greatest songs ever, for their core honesty, for lack of a better word/thought. You couldn't have put that any better, Doug. Thank you.
She is one of those artists who I never gave much notice until I got older and now.., her voice, her songs just hit me completely different.
The earlier version is as bright and hopeful as the later one is retrospective and melancholy. Both beautiful!
Thanks Doug for another great reaction and analysis. You really did get to the core meaning of this great song.
As I am trying to cope with an agressive form of brain cancer, I feel that you have given me some extra insight and strength to reflect on my own illusions about life. Thank you once again, and thanks to Joni Mitchell.
The 2000 version has always struck me as warmer, her voice deeper, with more experience and experiences. In fact I find the lyrics surprisingly deep for an author of Joni's age in the early 60s (although she is one with strong experiences from an early age).
In any case, a masterpiece in both versions. Of a complex simplicity that allows her voice and the message of her verses to take over and touch your soul.
La versión del 2000 siempre me ha parecido más cálida, su voz más grave y profunda, con más experiencia y experiencias. De hecho la letra me parece sorprendente profunda para un autor de la edad de Joni a principios de los ‘60 (aunque es una persona con fuertes experiencias desde temprana edad).
En cualquier caso, una obra maestra en ambas versiones. De una compleja simplicidad que permiten a su voz y al mensaje de sus versos, llevar el control y tocar tu alma.
Jonis music is a blessing from the heavens worthy of endless praise
I’d recommend having a listen to Joni’s magnum opus, “Paprika Plains” from 1977, a 16+ minute fantasia for piano, voice, and orchestra, with a sweet little coda featuring Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius.
For sure! Don Juan as a whole isn't one of her best, but "Paprika Plains" is an absolute masterpiece
Classic period, love Don Juans Reckless Daughter, Hejira is my favourite, Hissing of Summer Lawns in my view was the springboard for these great original albums
About "Paprika Plains": Joni spent years being patronized by men(I know, shocking, right). One fine example of this was the string session in NYC for "Paprika Plains". Joni heard the first playback and said that the strings were not in tune with the original track. Of course the men involved discounted her perceptions and said that everything was fine. Some time later, when she met Charles Mingus for the first time, the first thing he said to her was that the strings were out of tune. She knew immediately that they would get along well.
I listen to many, many different artists and many styles of music from several continents. With all due respect, no one has expressed such a complete musical skill set as Joni Mitchell. She is a songwriter without peer who utilises chords, chord progressions, and melodic invention that are far outside the norms not only for pop, but even for jazz. She was integrating African musicians into her music long before Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel. Her guitar playing is quite skilled, particularly when one considers that she has had significant motor impairment of her left hand since having polio as a child. Her abilities to use the recording studio as an instrument are of the highest order. Finally, her taste in the construction of both her arrangements(the string arrangements are not hers) and the staffing of her bands is also particularly skilled. Obviously, her voice is also fantastic in conveying feeling. Finally, she refuses to stand still. Her albums are rarely similar to one another and some of them are shockingly different from their predecessors.
There are many musicians in the world. A small percentage of whom perform professionally. A tiny percentage of those professionals are truly exceptional. And then there is Joni Mitchell.
Cheers,
Alan Tomlinson
Couldn’t agree with you more.
Still, Paprika Plain is one of the most outstanding pieces of music ever written!!!!
Tonight's video has touched me deeply and made me think profoundly about my path through life which has been spectacularly unusual. Introspection during the pandemic has made me lose my path and this basic song with guitar was so brutally simple and basic (of late I have turned my back on electronic instruments and retreated to my acoustic guitar and piano) it has thrown me back into my early life and wondering how I got here; how my PhD in Quantum Physics changed my life from painter to scientist and how in management I lost track of everything that was dear to me. Now retired and back to Art the adventure continues tomorrow morning. Thank you Doug and Joni :-)
Joni plays in a lot of open tunings on the guitar, this gives such an open sound. Love it.
As a kid in the 60's, I first heard Glen Campbell's version of this song. It was a favorite of my dad's and spoke to me of wisdom I was yet to acquire. Since then, I became a Joni fan (while loving Glen all along), and this song has changed meaning many times into my 60's. Thank you Doug, for bringing this back.
The later version is my comfort blanket it doesn’t make me sad i don’t reflex on life gone by it just surrounds me warmth comfort
Your facial expressions convey everything I am feeling as I listened to these 2 renditions of Joni’s masterpiece. Sublime indeed. Thank you.
Beautiful, thought-provoking analysis. My favourite video of yours that I've seen.
This song is used with beautiful effect at the end of Ricky Gervais’ Afterlife… it’s a great watch if you can get it in the U.S. it’s on Netflix in the U.K.
Netflix here, too. Bingeworthy, superb entertainment.
Thank you for this wonderful analysis. It is so amazing comparing the two recordings. She was so transparent and insightful for her years in the early version and so wise and mystical in the later version. I see her as the young heroine at the beginning of a 10:15 noble quest and then the sage who knows all the pitfalls and shows us the way home. We've looked at Joni from both sides now.
10:22
Great analysis, Doug, great message on the world today, too. Thank you! I've been a Joni fan since I was about 13, and I'll be 65 in July. I'm as big a fan now as I was then. If and when you do another Joni reaction, please consider "A Case Of You". It's one of my favorites by her, and ;you would love it. Thank you, again!
Judy Collins version was very popular when I was a kid. That’s why we sang it in 5th grade chorus. And her version is beautiful, but Joni’s phrasing makes hers so much more meaningful. She makes you feel what she’s singing about, and I love her guitar accompaniment as opposed to all the orchestration of Judy’s version.
Have you seen her sing this song for the last time ever at the Newport 2022 festival? I highly recommend you check it out. It had me bawling with joy and deep respect. So worth hearing live before a teary eyed audience. Her vocal cords are ravaged, her lungs are struggling from decades of smoking, but she delivers the most emotive version of her tune, in her own way, at a point in life that bookends her illustrious career as a singer and a songwriter. It’s absolutely imperfectly sung by her, perfectly.
Beautifully analyzed. I've always loved the song but have never really examined the lyrics sufficiently, as I have with some of her other songs. Thanks for adding clarity. I suppose, following your theme, I have only looked at one side of the song. Perhaps I can now look at both side and claim that 'I really don't know this song ... at all'.
This song hits me like a brick every time I hear it. Thanks for taking me through this in another way than just listening, deepening the experience in a way. Y'all :-)
'Travelogue', the album which followed 'Both Sides Now', consists entirely of Joni's songs, again arranged by Vince Mendoza and with the same stellar cast of muscians. It's a thing of beauty. Vince Mendoza's arrangements are stunning - in 'Refuge of the Roads' he uses a French horn to echo Jaco's bass figures from the original version. Genius!
Most Unique Tunings and voice and Greatest Lyrist Ever☁️⛈️⛅ also, those paintings on her album covers are all done by Joni: she's the "TRUE ARTIST"!
Agreed! She is a poet and musician!
Joni writes such beautiful songs. I love her work.
Joni is in a class of her own.
Thank you for doing this video.
Great video Doug. I've heard this song all my life on the radio, but never took any notice of it. So out of curiosity, I watched and boy, I'm glad I did. What a powerful song and lyrics, wow. I'm going to have to find a lyric video and learn it, so next time it is on the radio I can sing along. Thanks Doug.
I first heard this album when I was about 14. I don’t know how many times in my life I’ve thought, “Ah, now I understand what she meant.” Amazing, profound songwriter.
Thank you Doug for your many great posts. You now must view the video of her singing this song at the Newport Folk Festival last year. In her 80's and after her aneurism the latest generation of this song is transformative. An old lady with little breath and obliged to sit throughout shares her wonderful and accurate voice and tells us "I really don't know life, at all." You must listen to it - all that Doug says about the song's meaning evolving is proved true beyond imagination and you will cry...
Great closing act for this week, indeed a masterpiece. Women in music week was great, could have also been a month or a quarter. 🙏🎶🎶
Absolutely loved this song from the first time heard it.
Joni always makes me well up when I hear her songs. What a beautiful and exquisite song and what beautiful words from you after it played out, Doug.
Adored this song when it came out, and everytime I hear it I find it more moving and more beautiful than the last time. The greatest of all women rock artists - up there with Dylan, Neil Young etc. Consummate lyricist and massively talented guitarist (love her gorgeous alternative tunings, perfect timing). Wonderfully complex vocal and chordal harmonies, that always sound deceptively simple. Perfect arrangements. And what production - perfectly balanced and crystal clear on every, single recording. No one like her.
Love her use of open tunings! It provided such a wonderful sound, with the droning strings. Very rich and colorful sound
Doug has won a place in my heart for doing this great tribute to Joni, who is a hero of mine!
Joni Mitchell is one of the greatest signer-songwriters of all time.
She is also know for her odd guitar tuning, which maybe on display on the "Clouds" version.
She's the female version of Gordon Lightfoot!
Or, Gordon Lightfoot is the male version of Joni Mitchell...
@@Habichiwoowoo yes. They are interchangeable.
Note:
those are her self-portraits on the covers of both albums
as on on all her albums
she was 23 when she wrote this song
Thank you for your presence and honesty. ❤
Awww I really enjoy this. Keep up the good work ❤️🙏🔥🔥
Vince Mendoza is Boss arranger. He's really respectful of every artist he's ever worked with. Check him out.
Joni said this version was much more poignant than her previous version as if she'd written it more recently.
She was way ahead of her time and we're the one's catching up. Cheers Doug.
I found your channel and subscribed instantly while traveling through the Pink Floyd tune Shine on You Crazy Diamond. Watching you lay out the chord structure while listening truly inspired me to learn this gift. I am assuming is Relative Pitch? I have been practicing this technique and I must say. learning I, IV, V became a breeze the rest has becoming complicating. Anyways, I love the story you had behind this tune. I've heard it hear and there in my life but I have never listened to it like this. Magical!
Hi Doug, you are part of it. Thank you.
Hands down - Joni's the best women singer/songwriter. Anyway, I don't know where to make musical/song suggestions but I'm just going to request a song right here. Oingo Boingo is one of the most talented musical groups ever - best live band I ever saw - and they don't get enough love. Please be the first person to react to their song - "Grey Matter." Great musical piece. Second song suggestion - "Reptiles and Samurai." You will love their unique musical compositions!
Emelia's version in CODA is awesome esp. with the limited training she has. Seal and many others have done really well too.
Hi Doug, the reason you hear those drone notes is because Joni very rarely used standard tuning for her guitar, and almost exclusively favoured open tunings. Each song would have it's chord progressions and melodies based around a particular choice of tuning where, (unlike conventional guitar tuning which is E-A-D-G-B-E for the open strings,) the guitar when strumming the open strings would form a chord. In the case of 'Both sides now', it is what is known as an Open D tuning, the strings are tuned D-A-D-F#-A- D. She would then use a capo, (a device which can be clamped to the fretboard to raise the pitch of what is being played), in this case the capo is fitted at the 4th fret, raising the notes two whole tones to F#. The song sounds simply magical but with just a handful of very simple chord shapes, which create add9's, and suspended 4th and 7ths whilst regularly returning to the core open D chord (or F# major chord, as it now sounded with the capo added). This is why you hear the F# so prominently throughout, like a drone. Joni used dozens of different alternative tunings throughout her career, many unique to her, some she would return to many times, others may be used for just one song. Her song writing and playing baffled many of her contemporaries, but there were some, like fellow Canadian Neil Young, (and also Neil's bandmates Stephen Still's and David Crosby,) who also used alternative guitar tunings as unique starting points for song writing. She would experiment with different ways to tune the guitar, within the limits of practicality, (not over tensioning the strings and guitar neck, or having strings just too slack to be playable). Again the capo is very useful in it's flexibility to adjust the key without playing a song in a horrendous key to play with guitar or to sing in. Joni, as well as a great songwriter, is a very talented oil painter, and I don't think she has ever seen much of an artistic difference, it's all expression. As you mentioned her lyrics are so poetic and very visual, as well as visceral, with a sharp and brutally honest intellect adding to the mix of a rare individual in the creative world. From some interviews I've read of her, I personally suspect she has some level of Synesthesia and sounds and images are intertwined.
A masterpiece from The master storyteller which taught all of us who grew up in the ‘70’s what lay ahead for love and living for us!❤
Twice this week, you've brought tears to my eyes. Good stuff!
Props to Wayne Shorter for the beautifully lyrical sax playing on the 2000 version.
Brilliant idea to do the two different performances so far apart in time, Joni. You too Doug. Thanks.
the beauty of open turnings allows you the ability to peddle tone the tonic low note. Joni survived polio but it rendered her left hand slightly weak. So, she she mastered open tuning at a very early age and turned it into a strength...her signature sound. This has to be one of the greatest songs ever written. Her recent performance I think land marked her as a true artist her never repaints a Van Gogh (her own words). She is aware of her vocal instrument and has captured phrasing equal to that of Sinatra. Simply beautiful!
IMO, THE greatest singer/songwriter/musician of the past 60 yrs (too bad Robert Zimmerman!), in multiple genres ranging from folk and pop to world and jazz music... Thanks very much Joni, for being the soundtrack of so many of our lives!
Joni was a tender 23 yrs old when she wrote this song. I'm very glad that you featured the original studio version first, which I love most since it spoke to me at my own tender age of 15 when it was first released. Contrasting it with the version when she's 4 decades older is particularly powerful!
btw, Joni has commented several times a feeling of being frustrated at being referred to as (only) the best FEMALE composer, etc.
Nonetheless, Doug's reaction is very heartfelt, and I always appreciate attention being directed toward the work of Joni Mitchell.
I really don't think Dylan would mind at all. Remember they both played Mariposa.
I've seen a couple of Joni interviews,@@stevedonohoe470, where she was rather prickly about Bobby evincing disinterest with her music (if I remember correctly, she was offended when he nodded off while listening with her and "the boys" to Blue...).
Achieving 61 years after loving Joni Mitchell. Heavy Sigh. Life. An expensive experience. Always remember grace when commenting. Thank you.
You chose exactly the right word...Sublime
you said Joni Mitchell and my bong said, NOW! lol I am 67 so I grew up with this, was not an easy time but I heard the best music, so many different inspirations...Great react...I Always learn here, Thank You brother! Keep On !
Joni was 23 when she wrote "Both Sides Now", and for all its insightful poetry, she has commented in the ensuing decades that she was a hubris-filled twit [paraphrasing for effect] for thinking she'd known enough of life to really comment about "both sides" then, when it truly takes a lifetime to understand the many ways that the world shifts around us. I find the revisited version a fascinating bookend to her masterpiece.
She is brilliant
A quintessential Joni Mitchell composition. I think it describes looking at life during phases of life, in maturing. One of the sad things in getting older is we tend to get jaded, and experienced.
Love this video. You are a so right about so much: I connect with " always another point of view, to look three dimensionally...multiple ponts of view can be right".. In my study for life Ive heard that called Two opposite poles can be true.
Im on a WEA course UK and have chosen this song for my assessment. Love it.
P.S This is what Im reading(about opposite poles )'THINKING AND WILLING AS TWO POLES OF HUMAN SOUL-LIFE Rudolf Steiner '
Wonderful episode. Hope we see more music by her done.
Joni is a treasure. Her albums "Court and Spark" and "Hejira" were the pinnacle of the singer-songwriter genre of the late 60's - early 70's. Her voice is angelic and the lyrics she wrote were miles above all the others (Jackson Browne, James Taylor).
That F# you her throughout the song comes from the open D tuning she used on the guitar: D A D F# A D (vs. standard tuning of E A D G B E ), with a capo on the 4th fret to bring everything up 4 semitones. Songs played using open tunings usually have a note that drones throughout and have a haunting quality as a result.
Other artists of the time also used open tunings. Check out Stephen Stills' "Suite Judy Blue Eyes", "4 + 20" and "Love the one you're with". All played in E E E E B E tuning or a variant thereof ( e.g., D D D D A D). Stephen was a friend of Joni's since she lived with his band-mate, Graham Nash, so she could well have been the inspiration for his use of open tunings.
Hi Doug, I’ve been working hard at learning this song playing it acoustically just like Joni’s original studio version. Thanks to Jerry’s Guitar Bar for transcribing it so accurately. As an accomplished guitarist, I have to admit it’s taken me longer than expected. Really required many many repetitions to get the syncopated strum pattern muscle memory while singing smoothly over the top. Genius on Joni’s part.
And, I really appreciate your take on the lyrical meaning and perspective. Especially when comparing the 60s version to the 2K - bookends of an artist’s life? How wonderful?
Empathy and Humility and Perspective - has any song captured these traits any better?
This is a very Important song.
Well done!
Wonderful analysis Doug. Music is a funny thing I am 65 and I remember my sister, 3 years my senior, having this album and playing it for me. I'm not sure how old I was but it would be over 50 years ago and it comes back to me immediately. Music is powerful.
Thank you so much for this very sensitive, astute lyrical & musical analysis. 🙏💕 Joni will gradually & eventually be recognized as the 🐐 (male OR female).
Music keeps me alive.
My first exposure to this piece was Neil Diamond's cover version that came out in 1969. A different, yet no less emotionally jarring take on it and I love it dearly to this day.
Same here. My mom had used to play that version all the time when I was young.
So beautiful and poignant - thank you
Her album Court & Spark is a masterpiece. Her voice was an instrument. Angelic.
Where's the "love" button?
In the 2000 version I sense the years of actual experience and the trials seen in those years. It brings me to tears, as I too at 70 yrs old can relate to the changes in my world view from that as a 20 year old.
I heard the first recording when I was in college. I liked it a lot, and played it many times on the guitar. I didn't appreciate the song near as much as I do with the interpretation Joni gives it in her older age. That deeply resonates with me at 72. I love your comments.
An absolutely gorgeous piece. I especially love the newer recording, there's so much empathy being projected into the lyrics.
The profound multidimensional aspect to her work is on display here listening to these 2 versions back to back. It is looking at the bulk of her life and work, through the differences in the arrangement and vocals, from both sides of her career. The other lyric that alludes to the ideas you expounded on are at end of "Sweet Bird" from The Hissing Of Summer Lawns... "Guesses based on what each set of time and change are touching."
Thanks for a great vid.
Such brilliant analysis, Doug. Thank you! This is inspiring me to go and play my own interpretation of Joni's iconic and ageless song.
One of my favorite songs and you have helped me see so much more. I now connect with it on such a deeper level!
thank you for doing this incredible piece of music.i have been waiting for someone to do this classic. well done. i would love to hear FLOOR cover this song
Um. You're fantastic! Landed here by seeking a meaning behind the lyrics to this song and clicked without knowing who you were. So impressed with your interpretation and musical analysis that I'm marveling and subscribing by the end. Bravo!
Superb analysis of some brilliant music.
Beautiful and sublime. Great analysis Doug. Lovely and thoughtful consideration of the meanings of a timeless song.
Thank you
Excellent analysis Doug. I've been a Joni fan for as long as I can remember, and still have my copy of Clouds on my shelf. I learn something from every one of your videos. Another of Joni's that is a favorite of mine that I think shows how she channels her empathy into songwriting is For Free.
As you explore female artists, another from Alberta I would suggest you check out is k d Lang, an interpreter of songs without compare. For her performances on CZcams I would suggest starting with her 2010 Winter Olympics version of Hallelujah. Follow that with her performance of Crying at the Roy Orbison Tribute, then to top it all off, her totally unprepared stunning performance of Crying with an unrehearsed backing band on an Australian morning show. As an Albertan myself I have seen and heard k d for going on 40 years, including one incredible warm evening outside under the stars where she delivered a stunning performance of Hallelujah, and her interpretation of Heaven by Talking Heads.
Have you listened to the arrangement on "Down to You" on the album Court and Spark? She won some major award for that. People often don't realize how much she has a hand in all of her musical arrangements and mixing. Creative genius just flows out of her. Smoking her whole life changed her voice probably more than it would have without that.
I love Joni. Thanks for your analysis.
Nice discussion. It's refreshing that you can discuss both music and lyrics with accuracy and insight.
This is outstanding!
The featured saxophone part toward the end of the later version that I think you aptly characterized as shards of clarity is none other than possibly the most gifted jazz sax player in the last 60 year's, Wayne Shorter from Weather Report. It is a short but brilliant exclamation point on this beautiful interpretation of this classic song.