What Makes This Song Great? "Amelia" Joni Mitchell
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- čas přidán 26. 05. 2020
- In this episode of "What Makes This Song Great?™" we explore the music of Joni Mitchell.
#jonimitchell #amelia #hejira
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And I thought I was the only man who cried listening to Joni Mitchell’s songs. I guess there is still hope for this world then!
naaah lots of guys love her. We're all humans and she has a way of getting to you
Not at all. We are many.
Literally wiping tears from my eyes as I type this. First time hearing Amelia, and I’m just overwhelmed.
No there is only hope for subscribers to this channel. :-)
Joni is one of the all time great artists of the 20th century. You are definitely not alone.
Thanks for giving Joni her due. Lots of people get labeled as “genius.” Joni deserves it with a capital G.
You got that right! Even Prince thought she was a genius.
Yes❤️
Especially this album! So much glorious music!
YES!!!
Truth (with a capital T)!
The first time I heard this song, it was as if time had stopped, and I had been dragged off into another world filled with a beautiful melancholy.
No one sounds like Joni. Intimate stories wrapped up in haunting melodies; who can ask for more. She is a force of nature.
Tears and chills. No other artist has brought so many to so many.
Check out Janni Littlepage, “Strange Angels”.
@@rhmayer1 Try comparing her with that mediocrity who is raking in all the attention and $$$ now, whose "music" is so trite and repetitive and who is obsessed with the long list of ex-lovers she hates. Sad. But we will always have Joni.
@@lefantomer I am not a "Swifty" (just not a musical style/genre that's my cup of tea) though I do think she has some talent and I appreciate her business smarts. And there are far worse out there than her! That all said, yeah - of course. She's not even CLOSE to the same league as Joni, who is probably the greatest overall musician of my lifetime, with such a broad range of outstanding and unique talents - her unique guitar and piano playing, her incredible poetry/lyrics, her art work, and of course that phenomenal voice and range. Joni and her music is unique and timeless - will be around for many generations. Even with the amazing and overwhelming popularity of Taylor Swift, she will be forgotten much sooner, with no real classics that I think will survive the test of time, and sustained for future generations like Joni's music undoubtedly will.
@@rhmayer1 I notice the "Swifties"always drag in that woman's "business smarts" as some form of argument for her "talent". But that has nothing to do with musical talent. And that there are worse out there is hardly an advertisement. She uses people cynically -- men especially -- to build her "brand" of the poor little put-upon victim of men who fail to "save her", her lyrics are pretentious word salad without Joni's genuine poetry. (I was playing "Amelia" on cd today driving in Maine -- old car! -- and it was so perfect.) It's all so very manipulative, perhaps that's what bothers me. But I feel so fortunate to have had Joni as a big part of the soundtrack of my youth!
Joni loves this video too: "... [Rick] did one on “Amelia.” And she was on the phone one night telling me how much she loved this video and how much she was impressed with how this guy really understood her and the song and got it on every level." - from an interview with Patrick Mulligan about Joni's new Archives release on The Second Disc, Oct. 30.
Is Rick aware of this? Hopefully this encourages him to do more videos on Joni, so that more people get to know her
@@FernandaGomezVasquez I once said, there should be a series called: What makes this Joni Mitchell song great. Just a thought. I Think i have to dig out that interview too. I love it, when Rick gets recognition for the right reasons.
@@shirohige6024 that would be awesome. She is no blocker so...
Joni Mitchell is my all-time favorite. I'm so happy to hear Rick Beato discuss her songwriting! And, yes-that concert is astounding to watch, Jaco and Metheny and Joni Mitchell oh yeah!
@pbarrow I am impressed with Rick. Just found his channel a month ago. He is thorough and knows his stuff. I've been a Joni fan for ages. She is a genius. Everyone promotes Dylan through the ages, but Joni, to me was much, much better and the jazz...OMG...the jazz. Jaco being on her records just confirms it, along with Larry Carlton and Pat Metheny. I mean, c'mon! She was doing stuff back then that people didn't understand, but they do today. She got a lot of flack for the jazzy albums, but she blossomed and metamorphosed into this ascended genius beyond a genius as a writer, singer, poet. I can't express this enough. It kind of makes me sad that she wasn't given her due as much as the male players. She is so phenomenal. What a mentor to me.
This song affects me like few others. David Crosby played this when I saw him with my dad a few years ago. I think I had only seen my dad cry once before in my life. He didn't even cry when we found out his cancer was terminal or as he went through the dying process. But he cried when he heard David sing this song.
Thats beautiful, mate. All the best...
In "A woman of heart and mind" Malka Marom says that the best time she saw Joni singing (I had a King) she sobbed. I think her. music taps directly into our unconscious emotions, better than anyone else.
It's on his album "Sky Trails". Fits perfectly on a great album.
Well I’m not crying now reading this....much. 😔
So much respect for you and your father
When you mention all the “lift” in the song she’s intentionally/musically creating the mood and feeling of aviation. Such a genius she is.
❤❤❤
As we used to say at the conservatory, Hell, yeah. I heard it for the first time about a month ago, and right away, even without knowing the subject of the song, I felt aloft.
The line “the ghost of aviation, she was swallowed by the sky and by the sea” is just so evocative
The big sus4 from a sliding steel helps establish that feeling too!
200%
The whole of the Hejira album is a masterpiece on every level, the greatest song cycle since Schubert's Winterreise no question. If there is a jewel in the crown then it is Amelia, a shimmering, deliquescent piece of musical word-painting. Perfect.
It truly is. . ✨🎶✨🎶❤️🔥
@@DaleRC75 furry sings the blues is my personal favorite (I love when she sings low and does that voice imitation)
To me, Coyote is Joni’s greatest song. But Amelia is right up there. 2 masterpieces.
Deliquescent what a fantastic word, perhaps it sums her up will try and use it
Spot on. You cannot talk about lyrics, melody, instrumentation, any of it without invoking painting. What are they all but waves? And let's get real, Joni's box of colours is never going to restrict itself to the visible spectrum. Sequences of mass and space. Shadows and light. The clues are everywhere. We are fortunate that we have shared the planet with a genius.
When a guy tells me he cries when he is moved by a piece of music (especially a piece of music by the true genius of Joni Mitchell), I know immediately he’s a good guy.
I find it hard to imagine music being able to move a guy who's capable of wiping his family out with an axe.
G.E. W. - I AM “ THAT” GUY ☮️❤️🎼🇺🇸
God I wish that were correct. Never collect red flags.
Jerry Jazzbo - ????
I am such a guy also 💖
Rick, I was a touring rock musician in the 60's, then I got injured in multiple car accidents and stopped playing. Ever since I began watching your videos the Joy you display when discussing music and musicians has given me the motivation to play (Hammond Organ) again. It's been 50 years and I can hardly play, but I realized I was missing the joy you live in and I need it!.. Thank you
:D
He def displays joy!!💜💙⭐🎶🎼
Great post. Music is indeed one of life's greatest joys.
Best wishes to you....🙏
gabriel forzano I didn’t have anything that prevented me from playing. I just came off the road and started doing something else. That was 33 years ago. Rick has reminded me of the joy I felt back then, and I’m starting to play again.
Thank you for paying homage to Joni. She's an absolute treasure.
Young women now think they have a "songwriter". THIS, my girls, is a SONGWRITER, and this song is a masterpiece.
Joni Mitchell is, quite possibly, the greatest songwriter, lyricist, and storyteller throughout the history of rock (folk, jazz, classic) music. 😄
For popular music she is in the same category as Bach is in for classical.
True art lasts forever
I was working with Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays on their Warner Brothers Music Show LP when they got the call from Joni asking them to be in her band. They were so psyched. The show they put on that evening was smokin'. After the gig, they packed up, went to Massachusetts, recorded the "American Garage" LP, and then started rehearsals with Joni. I met up with Pat when the "Shadows and Light" tour passed through Philadelphia two months later. He told me that he was having the time of his life.
Wow, great story!
Chris Gately I’m so to know glad they enjoyed playing with her.
This anecdote is great. Thanks for sharing!
Chris Gately has
On the "Shadows & Light" DVD they certainly seem to be enjoying themselves. Pat and Lyle are smiling and laughing a lot.
Who's back to watch it again after Rick's Video bashing WMG ? We're more than happy to see the video back up, Thanks for all your knowledge, enthusiasm and hard work Rick.
Came here to check right away 👊🏼
@@c1audius ne too
Must have been another CZcams "mistake".
Yep!
Maybe this is why the disable them. Rick makes another video and then people watch this again :)
I'm a Lynyrd Skynyrd, Outlaws southern rock fan who also loves good basic classic blues rock. But I absolutely respect the ethereal folk sound of Joni. She has sick freakish talent with her tunings and melodies and as a blue collar rocker I have great respect for Joni and her sound and voicings. Anyone who plays music has to bow in respect to her sound and feel. God bless you Joni and thank you for your music.
She's a genius.
This is the amazing thing about Joni. Musicians from all backgrounds will tip their hat. Just watch the expressions of all the men on stage in The Last Waltz when she is playing. This is the 70s, when men ran the place. The crowd may have gone quiet, because their minds were being blown, but every world-class musician on stage knew. She also saved Neil Young's ass in that segment. He had been up for three days, apparently. In case you think I am dissing him, he was the second best songwriter on that stage.
@@ecstaticist Exactly, good sir, I'm a semi-pro guitarist, and she's an absolute master of her craft and a musical genius.
Very well put Floyd! Thank you for putting into words how we all feel about Joni Mitchell and her outstanding work. I just love this
artist of Canvas, words and music!
Joni is a true artist. Blue is an absolute masterpiece, and River just might be the saddest Christmas song ever made.
I was named after this song!! Joni Mitchell holds such a special place in my heart. Thank you so much for doing this!!
Very nice to be named after a gem by a great artist. I am sure you will make Joni proud.
Wonderful!
That is awesome
Your parents were very cool to do that.
Rick named his children Dylan and Lennon (I forget the third one). No Joni though...
Rick, I don't know but, it is possible you may have saved someone's life or at least changed it fundamentally forever with this emotional yet compassionate appraisal of your love of a great song. The world needs more of this, thank you.
I'm a portrait photographer, and if I had a series called "What Makes This Album Cover Great" that gorgeous black and white photo of Joni that was used on Heijira would make the top five, easily.
Agreed it is so iconic!
Yep, it's on my wall.
Make it!
@@Zehn-X Sounds good! Any nominations besides this one?
Yep…you got that right!
Joni, being from Canada and through her work, might give some insight on what it means to be from here. Much like Rush, Neil Young, The Band, The Tragically Hip etc, the sound really belies the vastness of this place, and the empty space, of which there is plenty.
And I know some American states get real winter weather, but there is something awe inspiring and terrifying about travelling across Canada in the winter, or just getting up for work when it's minus 30C and it won't be light until 9am. You need the solo from Limelight on the car radio, while you sip coffee and drive through slush. You need Joni in the background, painting with words, or Gord from The Hip (RIP) wailing about Wheat Kings or doomed fishing trips.
Canada is really a nation of people with little to no ideology, or maybe even identity, but somehow, perhaps involuntarily, each is a natural feature, like the trees, mountains, prairies, or the coasts.
Sorry if that's flakey sounding.
Not at all (says a fellow Canadian). Although now I'm really missing the road trip I would have been taking this week in other circumstances. Joni is well represented in my open roads playlist.
Joni is one of Geddy Lee's favorite artists.
When Blue came out, I wore out the grooves, sang and knew every word. From then on, Joni was the brightest light in my world. A great many of the singer-songwriters I knew cited Joni as their most profound influence. A great many listeners consider her the Greatest of All Time. David Crosby said (paraphrasing) "In a hundred years, they'll look back and realize that Joni was the best of all of us". Thank you, Rick for the great analysis of Amelia. I'd have a hard time deciding between Blue and Hejira as my favorite album.
Elsewhere, Crosby said that Joni was not the best of this generation, but the best EVER.
I have bought Hejira three times! Didgital couldn’t come fast enough.
Blue was my favorite in my twenties .. really her first five albums were on constant spin during that decade. I wasn’t able to appreciate her later albums until my late 30s and 40s. Hejira was definitely my favorite of that era. It’s like I was growing right alongside her whole catalog. So confessional, evolving, brilliant. The soundtrack of my own life. Most definitely my favorite artist of all time! 😍
After all these episodes, I just realized what you're doing. At least for me, it's like you're unlocking hidden secrets behind these iconic songs. Joni's music has always been on somewhat of an other-worldly plane for me, I don't have the musical aptitude to connect with the more sophisticated and beautiful songwriting structures she utilizes, but after watching this episode, I finally feel like I grasp her songwriting a little more deeply, which makes me appreciate her talent a hundred fold. Thank you for sharing your own unique talent of making a breakdown of a song an art in and of itself.
"Hauntingly beautiful" --perfect snapshot of Joni's music
Tragic that we will never again fall under the melodic incantations of this bedeviled enchantress in live performance. Rising up from the ashes of polio, this waif of the Saskatchewan plains, learned to transmute her demons whispers into a Siren's voice for every mind and soul. Until now and forever, with only a strum from her twisted tunings and sweet rebelliousness, she draws me, helpless and eager, to revisit her ramshackle entourage of wondrous and tragic timeless characters moving round and round in this circle game only Joni could guide one through. A voice more compelling than the winds or crashing waves....a vision more insistent as life itself...a painter of words... a lyricist of light.
I seen what ya done there Señor. Que bonito!
Miraculously she’s back!
Oh, you get extra props for explaining your reluctance and delay in featuring her music, Rick! She's intimidating, and I find it totally impossible to closely listen to her without losing a lot of myself in emotion. I wept as I watched this! Thanks for honoring this amazing artist and craftswoman. She's peerless. Then, now, and forever.
So well said.
Amen, Cathy!
'peerless'... spot on!
Dead on, Cathy. Exactly what I thought too! Saw her in concert in Glasgow many years ago, one of my favourite gigs ever...
Exactly! Well put! What's really baffling is that some people just don't get her music.....but then people also elected "guess who"
I named my daughter Amelia after this song.
Beautiful record and love the live version with Pat Matheny. My personal favourite album of Joni’s.
Nice. My guitar is called Amelia 😌
Oh I love that too. I almost named my daughter Amelia after this song too (also, the Amelia the song is about)
I have loved Joni Mitchell since the late 1960's. So many of her songs have been my saviors when I have needed something to lift me up. . . 'Amelia' in particular. They can be so satisfying, so intelligent, so completely beautiful. . . and there are so many of them.
I just listened to the "Blue" album for the first time. I think I'm in love.
Man, surprisingly enough, albums like 'Hejira', 'Court and Spark' and 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' are somehow even better than Blue.
Heijira, Court and Spark, and Blue are all among the greats. I liked her early stuff first, but there's just so much good Joni stuff to choose from
Blue made me fall in love with Joni, too. I'd heard all her singles, but had never heard any of her albums. I melted when I heard Blue. She opened her heart and poured it into that disc. I'm still in awe, 50 years later.
Blue is really good but hejira melts me every time, Amelia, coyote, ect so amazing
They're all great but "Blue" is almost a solo record. Just Joni on guitar, dulcimer, piano. The songs are so deep. It's an astonishing achievement.
One of my top 100 days as a parent was the day I overheard my youngest daughter @ 14 yrs singing A Case Of You in the shower.
In an era of iPads & headphones , I didn’t realize that she had been paying attention to the music which I play .
She then asked if she could have my original album of Blue. My heart ✨
I informed her that she could have that , Court N Spark and Hejira, as the three albums belong together -in my mind.
If the current generation hears Joni’s music, they love her as she has inspired so many of the female artists who came much later.
While I was mesmerized, they find something familar ,yet much deeper and richer than what is normally commercially available to them .
In time they will see the genius .
Thank you so very much for not only covering a woman, but covering Joni Mitchell 💗
This must have been difficult to even know where to begin. Layers upon layers upon layers ...
Again, thank you !
ah, you have done well, @Lois Kane!
@@ScottHz That album, Joni with Pat Metheny live is a high water mark. On par with
the live version of The Weight, by The Band, with the Staples. It is rarified air when you
have artist, performance, music and lyrics all converging in magic.
Nobody write lyrics like Joni. From, "Furry Sings the Blues"
"Pawn shops glitter like gold tooth caps
In the gray decay
They chew the last few dollars off
Old Beale Street's carcass"
It's mind blowing.
I’m so sad to be losing my hearing, Joni M has long been part of my essence😔. But I still remember her wonderful vocal performances.
Joni Mitchell is mind-blowingly talented. I've been playing for years and her use of tunings still astounds me.
I love how you just get so overwhelmed by the beauty and perfection of this song that you can’t even say anything except AAAAAH. 😂
Rochelle. Yes. I love it when Rick expresses his love of songs.
Love Rick Beato. Adore Joni Mitchell. Amelia is a miracle of a song. The lyrics the poetry draws from the human experience from ancient to the now. It perfectly weaves a tapestry of musical and visionary lyric elements from the longing for a lost relationship, to the imagery of sound and observation. Each line, maybe word is a masterpiece. The music is the colors.
Rick you are the guy that will load $5000 of musical equipment in a $500 vehicle to go play a gig that pays $50!! You make these videos not for profit or gain, but for the love and appreciation of others that would do the same. I see your work as being the keeper of lost souls...never letting others forget they were here and how they made the world a better place.
That is the business model for most musicians. The $50 is for moving the equipment.
You guys are daft! Just look around the room. Maybe when he was 16, but not now. He's smart. He's doing well! 50 bucks in a $500 car, ROTFLMAO
He is doing it for profit, said it's his main source of income. Obviously also for the true love of the craft, so all is good. But load the van ruin your back scratch your gear and lose money, I doubt he does that anymore
The true function of old people is teaching. We're too old to gad about the country, and our heads are stuffed with all kinds of knowledge.
So happy to re-watch this after seeing that Rick went for dinner with Joni. Vicarious ecstasy!
This is why I love Rick. You can clearly see the passion, the awe and the respect that He has for these wonderful musicians. Gotta love that !
I find Joni Mitchells talent to be so extraordinary that its emotionally overwhelming. Creativity is an easy word to say but when you see it in full reality through her music its just stunning and inspiring at a level that’s beyond words. Joni from Ft McLeod Alberta...simply a gift to the universe. Thanks Rick for sharing the emotional impact of her brilliance.
My fiance and I both owned Joni albums before we met, and we never talked about it, but Everytime we hear her, we know.
I haven't cried over Joni's work. But I HAVE been deeply moved and then stunned at how accurate she is in her insights. How completely like my experiences on the road. How gifted she is musically, and how effortless she makes her mastery feel.
Fighting back tears seeing somebody actually get Joni and illuminate some usually unexamined aspects of her work. Thanks, Rck
Rick, Joni Mitchell....sigh.... At 67 less a day I am still moved to the core by her immense candor and lyrical interpretation - of her own songs, let alone anyone else's! Did you hear her sing at this year's Newport Festival?! Med beds had better be real, coz I can't imagine a world without her! Glad to make your acquaintance here, Rick. More, please!
Yeah we need her many talents and heart for a bit longer. Med beds, zero point energy whatever it takes.
Changes are upon us and I want Joni around to witness those changes. And to write us a tune or two about it.
@@galumpher8107 I vote for Medicare beds!!!! For us all!!! How amazing that would be to have her completely recover and tell us everything she knows whether in song, or by candid interview!
OMG That little period at the end of a phrase!!! I always hear it and enjoy it but actually didn't KNOW it was real until you just told me. Love it!! Music is so rich in people's lives. And YOU TUBE university is awesome. I never could appreciate/ enjoy JM's music until I just now watched a biography of her and then tuned into the fabulous Rick Beato teachings again. It all comes together now and her poetry speaks to my heart.
This entire album is a masterpiece - lyrics, music, arrangements, textures, performances, everything is out of this world! Joni at her peak IMHO.
Yup, my favourite Joni album. It's not quite as accessible as something like _Night Ride Home_ (another favourite album) but the songs are very poetic etc
Maybe my favorite all time album. I have to listen to it in its entirety. When finished, I'm thrilled to have taken this trip with Joni.
Better late than never to preach the Gospel according to Joni, Rick. Thank you for this wonderful analysis! This is my favorite record of hers, but it is a difficult choice. You are right to tell people to explore her entire catalog. She is a true artist, ever evolving and never satisfied by her genius work. In my humble opinion, she is one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century - period.
i'll join that Amen choir, any day, Peter!
I'll rank her on a short list of the greatest all around artists of the 20th century with Frank Lloyd Wright and Pablo Picasso
I love Joni and this is one of my favorite songs as well as the album Hejira. I have a hard time choosing between Blue and Hejira as my favorite album of hers. Perhaps her writing, voice and musicianship are the best on Hejira, but so many of her songs color the tapestry of my youth that it is difficult to choose. To be honest I have never heard a Joni song that I don't love. She is a true legend and anyone who has not taken the opportunity to know her music is doing themselves a huge disservice. Thank you for doing this podcast, I loved your analysis of this song. Joni paints a moving mural with her lyrics.
Joni is a treasure.
As a child, the Beatles changed my world. As a young adult, the world again changed when Joni entered. Her growth from coffee shop folk music to a superb jazz artist (and beyond) and everything in between has influenced me. I laugh, I cry, and feel everything. I can never get enough Joni.
The most beautiful thing about Joni's songs is that the scansion, the pauses, the stresses, always match how you would speak if the lyrics were a conversation.
Notes (heh heh):
3:02 Tuning - CGCEGC (C-Major slightly sharp ~10 cents)
3:33 Chords - F full bar chord on fret 5
Bb Major Add9/F
4:04 Initial chord voicings
4:16 Direct Modulation to G (G Cadd9/G)
(or, I say, a G to a Gsus4,sus6 see 9:50 )
4:38 Direct Modulation to Bb (Bb Ebadd9/Bb)
4:43 Gorgeous Chords and Melody
4:56 LIFTS - Intro in F, modulate UP a M2 (whole step) to
Verse in G modulating UP a m3 to Bb to
Am7, Bmb2,b6, G, Cadd9/G
5:34 Melody - emotionally moving melody notes
in sync with the chords
5:58 (visual of notes)
5th of chord (G),
3rd of Chord (C),
5th of chord (G) descend add 9
repeat up a m3rd
6:51 Am7 4th to 3rd
Bm7 4th to 3rd
This is just a Chord-Tone Melody
7:32 "Cap" - his term for a melodic lift at the end of a melodic phrase (much like a Jazz/Blues player does) to give it closure like a period at the end of a sentence.
8:04 "Artists don't know what they are doing"
Joni does. Interview - Sus chords. "Chords of inquiry" Unresolved chords. Using them as a paint brush stroke.
10:18 Lyrics (also 2:05 - 2:30)
Imagery - driving across the burning desert
6 jet planes leaving six white vapor trails
across the bleak terrain --> 6 strings of my guitar
hexagram of the heavens
strings of my guitar
11:22 Guitar solo - Larry Carlton - pedal steel sound.
(he's painting!! Aural painting.)
11:58 Chorus "Amelia, it was just a false alarm."
12:08 Eargasm/Chills section
12:40 Bass enters
12:58 "Blue" album
14:08 Intro Chords - the chord shape = E/F# in standard tuning (222100) then (444300)
15:12 "hauntingly beautiful" (Rick, wow. You did a fine and good job of reflecting her brilliance to the world. Thank you.)
... and thank YOU!
In Nevada on 95, heading south, you run through the desert. About 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas, just to the north of 95 is Indian Springs AFB, the practice field for the USAF Thunderbirds. Joni must have been driving down from Reno or San Francisco to Las Vegas and witnessed the team doing maneuvers with smoke on ("vapor trails"). It's a captivating thing to witness when the whole team is together as "six jet planes." That 747 she describes at icy altitudes could have been just south of her headed into or -out of, LAX.
In 1981 I was a student going through flight training at Williams AFB when I stopped by a stereo store and "Amelia" was on. I was absolutely captivated at the grandeur and spot on imaging she brought into that song. Having witnessed her song from the side of the pilot, like you, I find it immensely moving. I can't count the number of times I have been at sub-zero temperatures at altitude in summer, looking down on a baking desert, and thought of Joni's amazing words. After a 30 year career in aviation and with a lifelong love of music, Amelia is still one of my all-time favorite songs, and my favorite from the incomparable Joni. Thanks for the reminder Rick.
right on
Beautifully said.
Thank you for this. Beautiful. Life creates so many amazing connections.
Thankyou for adding color to JM's music - I'd not heard the Thunderbird flight team idea before as an explanation of the six trails, then the hexagon, etc, etc. Makes such complete sense now. I also then learned in this video about the strings of her guitar ....what an absolute master lyricist she is...
@@PaulJHershey1 The "hexagram of the heavens" reference is to the Chinese mystical fortune telling system the "I Ching" which uses hexagrams of 6 solid or broken lines for its symbols - there's 64 combinations, but Hexagram 1, six unbroken stacked lines exactly like 6 guitar strings, is called "The Creative" - so very fitting as Joni was writing songs for "Hejira", including "Amelia", on the road as she journeyed across the States and saw the vapour trails.
I’ve discovered Joni’s music earlier this year and I came into it knowing she was some kind of a legend, so I wasn’t completely unbiased when hearing her material, I knew it was something big. But nonetheless I was actually stunned and moved as mover before. This music is something otherworldly, hearing a woman being so open in her creativity, flowing in harmonies and melodies just regularly makes me cry as I can’t be even remotely as free in my daily life and because her chord progressions actually hit me to the core, they are so unbearably moving. I’m so glad to be alive in the same era as her 🙏🏻
❤
Beautifully said! Bless your Heart and Soul!
“Free man in Paris” is one of my favourites. She wrote it in a few hours in a hotel room in Paris while on a trip with her then producer, David Geffen. The song is entirely about Geffen. And it’s so beautifully written… “I was a free man in Paris; I felt unfettered and alive. Nobody calling me up for favours; nobody’s future to decide…….. Stoking the star maker machinery behind he popular song.”
“I deal in dreamers, and telephone screamers. Lately I wonder what I do it for. If I had my way, I’d just walk through those doors…..” Amazing…. she conveys what it’s like to be a music producer in a way we can all relate. Geffen didn’t like the song. Not because it wasn’t a great song. It definitely is. But for Geffen it was too personal and made him feel uneasy about being the subject of the song.
I will never forget the first time I saw Joni on Ed Sullivan over at a friends house. All I could say was, "Who the heck is that!" I've been in love with her ever since.
An older woman I worked with said "I had friends that knew her in art school, and they said they were glad she made it, 'cuz they all just thought she was weird." I understood immediately that my colleague was unredeemable, if that's the only thing she could think of to say about Joni. I lived off Hejira for months when I first discovered it. Some people are lighthouses, showing you how you can navigate forbidding waters, but look out there's rocks here.
Hi Rick . I'm a 62 year old farmer from New Zealand and I have loved your video on Joni. She was the sound track of my young woman years and you have taken me right back there complete with tears and ripped heart that only her music can do. I loved sharing the experience with you describing how much you love and are affected by the music that has always been quite a solitary experience for me . Kiora
I'm called after her. I love her voice and lyrics. Thank you for your technical explanation. Her talent puts her in her own category.
I hope she sees this and gets to read all great comments about how much she's loved. For me, it will always be the "The Circle Game". I was a young man in college listening to a borrowed cassette tape of Ladies of Canyon. The tears started welling up halfway through the song. I called my eldest sister that night and asked her if she'd ever heard it before. "Of Course" she said. "I used to sing it to you when you were little".... Thanks Joni!!!!
MykeyOh The Circle Game. Such a simple childlike song, but it does just creep up on you and tear your heart out.
One of the greatest songwriters of all time. She is a painter of songs, a writer of colors, and most of all, a poet .
I had the extreme pleasure of being alive when Joni was touring with Tom Scott/LA Express and attended the smallest of venues in Rochester NY. Roger McQuinn opened for this 400 seat venue. I was following Joni Mitchell since 1965-66 when she was writing world class songs and performing in Toronto. I was thunderstruck watching her perform barefoot standing on a Persian rug. The 35 year old genius who surpassed every performance I had seen up to that point. I've seen my share of the greats in concert, but I reach back in saying that of all, Joni was the most prolific of all, knowing of her ability,and courage to overcome her childhood illness which affected her vocal presentation, she embraced the love of words( the greatest wordsmith in the industry) and expressed her music in emotional tunings from her heart. Which I believe was the one thing overlooked by everyone she connected with and cared about. She is the GOAT.
Hey Rick, I've watched episode 91 many times like an old movie, and your perspective and knowledge and appreciation of music theory to bring light to Joni's Greatness is a gift, thank you Rick and Joni
Joni Mitchell is a Canadian music icon. Plain and simple. Cheers! ✌️🇨🇦
Totally! Born in Fort Macleod AB, grew up in Saskatoon SK, and attended Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary AB.
@@AndyFunke Exactly!
Joni Mitchell is an icon of all humanity.
Maybe West Virginia will claim her, too?
@@AndyFunke Joni Mitchell paved the way for other female Canadian singers, like Sarah MacLachlan, and others.
Oh I wish I hadn't seen this. I Love Joni. Last time I started listening to Joni it lasted almost 2 weeks listening to everything I could find. She makes me cry too. She is a gift from the heavens. Thanks Rick. God bless.
yes, I know the feeling! But I bless the internet & YT for being able to answer questions & fill in the gaps of 50 (or more) years of being an avid music fan. And I can fall in love with dead people, or in her case: imagine meeting her before I can die. (If she's still in LA she's only a couple hr away from me.) I wrote a poem about her in 1975, trying to express how much her music/words/sounds have meant for my life. It's so sweet to revisit all of this.
5,329 comments? Only Joni could do this. Thank you Rick for your thoughtful explanation of her music to help other generations appreciate her genius. You are the best!
For many years, Jimi Hendrix was my favorite musician of all time, but about 3 years ago I got on a Joni bender, and I had an incredible musical epiphany where she is indubitably THE BEST!!!
Joni and Jimi actually met here in Ottawa back in '68. I saw her play that week at Le Hibou (The Owl) - I was a young teenager. Missed Jimi - a year later I had also become an avid Jimi Hendrix fan. I heard that he took the time to catch one of Joni's sets...and they hung out together after.
It boggles my mind that there is anyone on this planet that doesn't know who Joni Mitchell is. I can't even fathom it. The greatest singer-songwriter in my lifetime, that's for sure.
A thing about the chorus. She sings the beginning, but the completion of her thought and feeling is completely instrumental. The guitars finish and articulate words that can't be said. Oh, Amelia, it was just a false alarm. The rest of it, and the heart of this song, is spoken by guitars and bass and is absolutely the most haunting thing I ever heard.
Cathy Keating Never thought of it that way. Very astute observation!
This commenter understands Joni's music. Nice to read.
What an insightful observation Cathy. You surely truly feel Joni's emotional commentary.
.Lucky you!
Interesting analysis.. I always looked at it as, there is actually no 'chorus', but 7 cycles of verses with the same resolution, lyrics and all, re-using the intro each time.. Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" works the same formula.
@@PM-nc1km Yes, I can see that. Although each verse in Tangled Up in Blue takes you to such a very different place, and time. Each chorus + instrumental bridge seems devised to usher you into each of those different times, scenarios, and outcomes, which makes it sort of a saga, kind of like a Nordic poem. Hard to pinpoint the writer's point of view but that is what makes it feel epic. Different from the structure of Amelia, but I see your point.
Having been a child born in the 60s to two very enlightened parents we always had great music playing in the house, and Joni Mitchell was one that my mother particularly loved and would play a lot. I would see her sitting still, listening and reflecting on what this beautiful music was saying to her and her place in a world that was so male dominated and I would see her get so angry that it made me aware that something in this world was incredibly wrong in the way it treated women. It was so confusing for
my young mind to comprehend how such beautiful music could make my mother so sad and so angry. And I could see some of that anger being directed towards my father and even myself but I felt like I grew to understood where it came from, and I have tried very hard throughout my life to not be like the men that came before me and to treat women with respect and to recognize that women must be treated as equals even if being faced by their anger. The struggle persists today but because of great women like Joni Mitchell making her voice heard through music and speaking for other women of her generation I see the change in the world - but I also see where it still gets pushed back upon. So here’s to the voices of those who are set upon and struggle to be seen and heard as equals as those who fight to cling so greedily to the powers that shape this world and may we all realize how much greater we all become when we all come together to shape this world as equals. Thanks Rick for recognizing such a magnificent and important musician and thank you Joni Mitchell for helping me understand my mother’s anger.
Hejira has been a huge part of my life since the day it was released. I was born & raised in the Canadian prairies, just like Joni, and the first time I heard Amelia I wept because she paints that landscape and the experience of travelling across it to perfection.
In that interview with her, she exemplifies the age-old saying about creative endeavors that "In order to break a rule you must first be aware of that rule."
She and her art are truly magnificent.
Brutal that You have to explain the existence of Joni, to a generation that may have no idea.. surely, she and her music are immortal..
Well hopefully a few who were not aware will go check out Joni for themselves. Rick did a public service IMO.
This is a brilliant deconstruction of Joni Mitchell's incredibly complex songwriting, and I really enjoy it. This is what music appreciation should be.
I cry to all Joni’s music. Thanks for FINALLY covering Joni! This lineup with Metheny and Jaco is HISTORICALLY amazing!
Tears at Larry's entrance. Just brings it up that last 10% to heaven... We don't deserve Joni. We just don't.
"Blue" is my all time favorite. Every song on it is perfect. Lyrics are just incredible and take some surprising turns. I cannot play or listen to this album in particular and others of Joni without crying. Either in sadness or because of the sheer beauty of the music.
Joni has always been my absolute favorite artist of any medium.
Rick, thank you. I’m 16, and if it wasn’t for your channel and others, I wouldn’t find this great music! A lot of people say the internet is ruining my generation, but I think we’ll turn around and surprise those people. I’m excited for the day that I’ll put my music out there from inspiration of your videos.
Great music is great music. I'm so encouraged that you are not afraid to reach back into the past. Absorb everything you can and make great new music!
I was only a couple of years older when I discovered Joni. I'm so happy to know you are exploring her work now.
Be a student of music all the days of your life. You'll never be bored. Ever.
Keep up the good work young blood.
High praise. I’m sure this comment will please Rick more than most. His passion is passin’ on his passion! He’s obvious achieved that with this young artist. I too would be interested in hearing the music this composer will someday write. A total “win” for all involved.
When you first experience Hejira, if your soul is open to it, you’re never the same again. And Amelia is the pinnacle of that life-changing experience.
Joni Mitchell is that artistic type who moves constantly forward, never content to tread the same way twice. Such an inspirational songwriter and tonal painter to my mind. Studying the harmonic and melodic interplay in her compositional breadth is never boring or without revelation.
I can watch the Shadows And Light concert over and over without tiring of it. You don't have to be a Joni Mitchell fan to enjoy it, just one who appreciates excellence.
Joni is a genius. The more I listen the more I am blown away by the power of her composition.
It takes as much artistry to appreciate Joni Mitchell's music as it does on her part to create it! It's sad that so much of today's music lacks the soul of work like this! Just a brilliant musician and artist! Thank You for this presentation of her!
So much of the music then lacked the soul of work like this!
The problem is that trust me, there such amazing music, it's just that the industry wants to sell music that doesn't make you overthink our society, lives etc... It started somewhere at the end of the 90's...
It’s so good to be amongst people who get Joni. This song in particular is a pean of yearning. She is a genius.
This is exactly how I visualize Rick: mad musical scientist with guitar on lap, hands on piano, notations in the background. All he needs is to strap on a harmonica, deploy a kick drum somewhere, and there you have it...an orchestra! Great analysis as usual.
I bought this album around 1977, and when I heard the lines " I pulled into the Cactus Tree motel to shower off the dust, and I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust", I suddenly realised what poetry is, because it can be taken poetically or literally. I'd never really got what people meant by the word poetry until then.
Brilliant comment
Interesting comment ~ ☝️😊
Jimmy Page said Joni is the greatest lyricist... ever! 💖
Listen to Two Grey Rooms.
Simply... elegant.
Or Edith and The Kingpin 💔
Or Trouble Child.
Or Blue 💙
There's just no one like her.
Tears and chills. No other artist has delivered so many to so many.
I'm the same age as she is and my wife is from the small city where Joni started playing. I was familiar with her but not a big fan and we've never met. But, here we are, 55 years later and I have to say I'm finally starting to realize her genius. Better late than never.
Mitchell‘s daughter realized that, too.
Now that she knows her after decades...
Rick you bought me back to one of greatest memories of my youth. I was hunting for aloft space in NYC back in the 70’s and as my bass player and I got off the freight elevator on I forget what floor and we heard this incredible piano and voice ringing out and we walked into the loft since the elevator had stopped on that floor when we opened the door and way down at the end was Joni Michell who hadn’t noticed us enter and we had no idea who she was but when she stopped and turned around and realized I almost wet my pants. Anyways it was an amazing accidental experience and I still think of it today when I play her vinyl and I always smile.
Joni is what it feels like to be fully observant and fully alive, talking with your lover over coffee on a quiet morning by the lake.
She makes me believe we have souls.
I've been wondering how familiar you are with Joni's work and if you were ever going to discuss one of her songs in this series... And there you are covering one of my absolute favourites and it turns out you are as passionate about her music as I am. Wonderful to see someone share that enthusiasm. It was a delight watching this video. Here's to crying to Joni's music!
This whole album is a masterpiece, especially "Song for Sharon" which is one of my all time favorite songs. Glad you're doing some of Joni's work
Absolutely. I love 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter' and I wish Rick would do 'Talk to Me' from that album....
Rick needs to do a WMTSG on “Disorder” by Joy Division
Personally really love Hejira, Joni's voice together with Jaco's beautiful melodic playing is perfect
I love that song....
Really, there's no song that evokes emotion like "Song for Sharon". It's not even close.
Released in November 1976, Joni's "On The Road" album, with her reflections on traveling alone across our country. The first time I heard Hejira, I was standing in a dimly lit crowded room in Buffalo during Christmas week '76. It was 5 degrees outside, with snow and ice that would not melt until springtime (a great setting for a song writer). The weather explained in part why there were so many people there. The body heat everyone emitted was welcomed warmth. .
I tuned out the chatter in the room and listened closely to "Coyote" and what followed. Joni's music is so magical, beautiful, and thought provoking. She is a national treasure, as explained so eloquently by Rick.
Another most amazing thing about that song, that you did not mention, perhaps you are unaware, is the fact that it isn't a pedal steel guitar, rather Larry Carlton on an ES335. This is - and I don't think anyone could argue otherwise - the most AMAZING presentation of pedal steel guitar effects ever recorded or performed. I spent 20 years certain that it was a steel and then i heard it was Larry and his regular ES335. I inquired and, as I recollect, got the man himself to confirm, via an email reply, he did it on his electric hollow-body guitar. Joni had laid the basic track down and as I recollect Larry went in afterwards, just he and the engineer and did that stunning guitar work. That's not to say what Joni was doing was any less. It is a beautiful song and I thank you for those chord demos.
"Honor died in World War II. You know, it just kinda died. Not very many people know how to do it anymore. If they honor you wrong, it makes you arrogant, because it stung. If they honor you right, it's humbling because it's inspiring." - Joni Mitchell. Rick you honor her right, thank you.
I swear I was just thinking the other day, "why doesn't Rick cover Joni?" "Is he scared?" "Alt tunings?" Cuz I *knew* you had to love her.
She makes me cry all the time,too, Rick. Thank you.
Beyond beautiful. She deserves all the accolades in the world.
Beauty that surpasses time and space,
Joni Mitchell songs.
Thank you Rick for sharing your tender heart.
I'm 67, grew up with Joni Mitchell as the soundtrack
to my life.
Hers is the music of the ages.
Tears are thunderous applause across eternity.
I saw the show a few days before the one on "Shadow's and Light" the night before I was heading off to college to study music in 1979. The show was part of the Mississippi River Festival at SIU Edwardsville, IL. The sound was so incredible you could hear the bend in the wire if you dropped a pin on the stage - no small feat in 1979. It was the 2nd of two concerts (the other being Jethro Tull in1975) that made me say "I want to do THAT!" and I spent the next ten years trying to find the inner Joni, Pat, Bruce Cockburn, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, until I finally started to have a voice of my own. 40 years, and 11 albums later, I still strive to even come close, but that show made everything coalesce. Maybe some day... Thanks for your great stuff, Rick!
I was at the very same show - and it was magnificent!
One of my favorite lines on Heijira:
What a strange, strange boy
He sees the cars as sets of waves
Sequences of mass and space
He sees the damage in my face
Joni helped me through my young adult romances, and general youthful angst. If I wasn't listening to her songs, I was singing them.
Thanks for the loving tribute, Rick!
Here Here ...👏👏👏BRAVO RICK B.
Astonishingly Joni Mitchell SIMPLY blows the rest away.....musically and as a wordsmith SIMPLY PEERLESS......Dylan fades into insignificance ......his jealousy has always been apparent......the noble prize should have been presented to Joni Mitchell
>If I wasn't listening to her songs, I was singing them.< Or living them! (In many cases among many of us)
@@kelguy2002 Surely. you mean "hear hear" -- that's how it's written and what it means. :)
Me too..."he sees the cars as sets of waves" and then "he sees the damage in my face." She does this a lot, the sudden change in perspective that brings awareness.
Congratulations Rick on your deep dive and love of music.
I must be so rewarding to have Joni really appreciate your uncovering her brilliance. To have you meet her is the culmination of such musical joy
I have a whole new appreciation for Joni's music ability, it blows you away, & thanks to Rick B. to dissect and explain all the music to failed musicians like me, at 67 I need to seriously apply myself if not for anything else but to entertain myself and perhaps others🎸👍😎
watching you trying to do the clinical break down of such powerful and emotionally resonant music to you on a personal level was kinda tough to watch! When you let that guard down and just told us how much songs like these make you feel was so cathartic and real! i know you gotta play songs you don't like along with ones you do for this series, but watching that smile ramp up along with the chord changes is so expressive and says more than any technical breakdown. Watching it affect you... like knowing how the whole thing is made, the backstory, yet the gestalt makes you feel all the same is the best testament to amazing songwriting. anyways keep sharing songs you love and why they're great. fantastic show!
Well said!
seconded!
Spot on! I third that emotion. Thanks, My love for music grows stronger and with new insight every time you put out a new episode. Great work Mr. Beato!
Excuse me for my English but Tried to explane my gratitud for Rick because it was very emotional this Joni Mitchell song. Thanks Rick because when I was young and listened this kind of jazz songs I never underestand why the acords or melodies were so intensive and deep and strange and beautifull. Today I open my mind for this masterclass. I am 58 years but I look my pass and the life with other eyes. Rick is not only the an amazing person and teacher, I considered my friend and guru.
Your message comes through loud and clear. Your heart carried it through. Peace.
Joni in my opinion is genuinely one of the greatest poets of all time. I am 25, I discovered "Blue" at 14 and have since collected all of her releases. She touches my soul with every verse and crushes me with every chorus. She is timeless, transcendent and pure energy. ❤
Though I'm not musically, I so appreciate your enthusiasm, understanding & breakdown of "Amelia". I love Joni, her lyrics & melodies. As a Canadian from Toronto, I grew up on Joni's music. Discovered her at 16 in 1966. The first time I saw her live was at a small venue - the Mariposa Folk Festival summer of 1967. Have all her albums - waited for each one to be released. Joni's brilliance continues to fill my life to this day - beyond amazing! (BTW - my granddaughter is named Amelia - a beautiful melodic name).
This is what I love about this channel (and Rick) we go from Korn to Nirvana, to Joni. When someone asks what kind of music I like I tell them all kinds as long as it is good. A lot of folks say this but I find very few that actually do have a love for ALL music and can find something to appreciate in any genre or style. Thanks Rick.
Nicely said. I feel the same way.
Nice sentiment, I mostly agree. I eventually learnt to appreciate some opera and some country & western. Still struggling with metal though. :-)
100% agreement. Thanks for the thoughtful, insightful and well put-together posts.