is Joni Mitchell a YAK in a Thong???

[nostamj]

:grr: now you look at this thread.....


one of my all-time fav "winter" albums

amazing (and depressing) that it's been 27 years! but my vinyl is still playing perfectly! and it holds up so well.

do you have certain music that only 'feels' right in a certain season (holiday music of all types excluded)?

like blaring QUEEN on an early summer afternoon or pulling out some vintage TOM WAITS late at night in late fall?

Amelia

I was driving across the burning desert
When I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens
it was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

The drone of flying engines
Is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets thru to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue
Of picture-post-card-charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other's just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I wish that he was here tonight
It's so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt
As the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia, it was just a false alarm

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Maybe I've never really loved
I guess that is the truth
I've spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything
I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel
To shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s
Over geometric farms
Dreams, Amelia, dreams and false alarms

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Coyote is staring a hole in his scrambled eggs

love that album

[Zomby Woof]

10. picks up my scent on his fingers!

Love that one.

[nostamj]

2. surely there's another Joni fan

surely?

[Zomby Woof]

11. oh yeah

Anyone interested in Joni should start with "Blue" and "Court and Spark", but there plenty of great ones from other points in her career.

I saw her live on a tour with Dylan and Van Morrison back in 1998. Fantastic.

[nostamj]

12. the stuff from MINGUS on...

is more of an acquired taste (which i did acquire)

but the early work is extraordinary and (imho) accessible to anyone.

BLUE, COURT & SPARK, JONI MITCHELL (aka "Clouds") are amazing.

I'm a big fan of HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS and (most) of DON JUAN'S RECKLESS DAUGHTER (if that had been ONE lp... wow)

till i pissed a tequila anaconda the full length of the parking lot

maybe i'll just indulge in JONI tonight!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. I can put any of those on and just hit repeat all night

[Bertha Venation]

14. GOD yes.

She rocks.

[OneBlueSky]

3. Amelia is a GREAT song . . . and so is Coyote . . .

Hejira is also one of my favorites . . . I have most of Joni's stuff, and never get tired of any of it . . . an amazing and unique singer/songwriter, and a great gift from Canada . . . :)

[KT2000]

4. Got the album

or rather CD to give as a present this year because it is still GOOD!

Have you seen her DVD - I think it's called "Woman of Heart and Mind." Really worth checking out if you can find it at the video store. There are a few songs from Hejira, in concert on it.

[TacticalPeek]

5. "myanalystTOLDme...

thatIwasrightOUTofMYMIND"

deedoobeedoodoobop...something, by LH&R actually.

:)

[Karenina]

8. myanalystTOLDme...

That I was right out of my head
he said I need "treatment"
but I'm not that easily led, he said
I was the type that was most inclined
when out of HIS sight, to be out of my mind
and I knew that he thought, I was crazy
BUT I'M NOT, OH NO!!!

[Bertha Venation]

16. now I'd heard little children

were supposed to sleep tight
that's why I got into the vodka one night
my parent went frantic, didn't know what to do
but I saw some crazy scenes before I was through
now, do you think I was crazy?
I may have been only three but I was swingin'

JONI JONI JONI! You are a goddess!

[Karenina]

20. They all laughed at A. Graham Bell

They all laughed at Edison and also at Einstein
so why should I be sorry if they just couldn't understand
the reasoning and the logic that went on in MY head?
I had a brain, it was insane
SOLDIERS USED TO LAUGH AT ME WHEN I REFUSED TO RIDE
ON ALL THOSE DOUBLE DECKER BUSES

ALL BECAUSE THERE WAS NO DRIVER ON THE TOP!!!

[nostamj]

9. I've seen Annie Ross

at a couple of NYC gigs (well, 6-7 years ago)

she was still kicking ass.

[NoPasaran]

6. I'm having "Woodstock" played at my funeral

Unless it's snowing of course.

[SayitAintSo]

7. Great album ... Great Choice

I love Joni

[Crowdance]

13. I'm lovin' Shadow & Light lately

Live double album, with Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius. It's magnificent. She brought so much wisdom to her music at that time, all the songs have a weight and depth to them.

[nostamj]

15. joni & jazz

as I say above, her work post-MINGUS is great, but, not for everyone.

joni is one of those artists who (for me) is always interesting at the very least as they move through genres and 'periods'

Bowie is the same for me, I'm always interested in what he's doing/where he's going.... even if I don't LOVE every note.

in many ways, Joni's artistic 'arc' resembles Tom Waits in that his later work moves WAY beyond the 'safe' structure of his earliest songs into freer and freer compositions

[Crowdance]

17. Pat Metheny is another

His non-mainstream work can be so bold, and it's become extremely complex at times. His music, like Joni's, has been influenced by who he's hanging out with at the time. I can't say I've always enjoyed the listening, but I'm always fascinated.

[nostamj]

18. metheny can TRANCE me out

and i'm not saying that's a bad thing.

when he's ON, i am utterly mesmerized.

jarrett can do that to me too. (and a long list of piano jazz gods)

[Crowdance]

19. I love Jarrett's grunting

He's really living it. Drives my husband nuts, though..

[nostamj]

21. OMG

I saw Jarret live in NYC. Avery Fisher Hall (i think)

that man HUMPED the piano. he (pardon my french) FUCKED the piano. the passion was nearly embarrassing.

Jarrett sometimes just GOES someplace... and it's an erotic place!

(like in parts of the KOLN CONCERT and FACING YOU and.... and....

[OneBlueSky]

22. many years ago, I had a really unusual concert experience . . .

some guys had opened a new jazz club/restaurant in a small seacoast city in Massachusetts and, wanting to draw a decent crowd their opening week, they booked Chic Corea and Gary Burton . . . I heard about the gig, talked to a couple of friends, and we decided to go . . . much to our amazement, the tickets were something like $3/person -- guess they figured they'd draw folks in and make their money on the food and the bar . . . big mistake . . . we arrived a little early and got a table right in front of the bandstand, about ten feet from the performers . . . we couldn't believe the low-cost admission, particularly since the place didn't hold that many people, and I remember commenting that these guys would be out of business in a month if they didn't change their pricing policy . . . the show, needless to say, was incredible . . . and, sure enough, they went out of business pretty quickly . . .

[nostamj]

23. even "many" years ago.. $3 for Corea/Burton

sounds like a bargain.

then again, Corea did one 'jazz' album that, for me, is (was) unlistenable. ditched it. i rarely NEED a headache.

[Deesh]

25. Sorry, nostamj --

--for finding your post so late -- but I wanted to respond...

Joni Mitchell is the supreme artist of our age. This "Hejira" album is among her best, and "Amelia" is my favorite song on it.

Great, great choice. & Thanks.