From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2008 #167 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website: http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Saturday, August 16 2008 Volume 2008 : Number 167 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- movie songs [JEFF HANKINS ] Re: movie songs ["Bob Muller" ] Re: sjc, I've been traveling sooooo long... ["Randy Remote" ] RE: ABBA, NJC ["Rob Argento" ] RE: ABBA, NJC [Em ] Re: ABBA, NJC [Victor Johnson ] RE: ABBA, NJC [Catherine McKay ] Re: ABBA, NJC ["Randy Remote" ] Re: ABBA, NJC [Catherine McKay ] Joni's music and more...(long) [Monika Bogdanowicz ] Bob's voice, njc [Marianne Rizzo ] RE: ABBA, NJC [Joseph Palis ] re: sweet bird revisited NJC [Alison E ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:28:12 +0100 (BST) From: JEFF HANKINS Subject: movie songs Didn't Joni write 'Harry's House' for a film too? The Carrie Snodgress film 'Diary of a Mad Housewife' or whatever it was called (but not used)? It is a very 'filmic' song. I didn't know she'd written Sweet Bird for 'Shampoo'!! I always thought it was a response-song (like a couple of the songs on'Shine') to 'Sweet Bird of Youth'. Similarly I kind of imagined that 'Midnight Cowboy' was a response-song (after seeing the movie) - would she have had sufficient notoriety back then to have written it 'for' the film? Of course, 'Songs to ageing Children' WAS used for Alice's Restaurant, though not the voice that would have made it come alive! Jeff ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:46:35 -0400 From: "Bob Muller" Subject: Re: movie songs At the time she was hanging out with James Leo Herlihy, the writer of the novel. This was back in the Laurel Canyon days. When the book was touted as a film project, she composed her song for it but in the end they went with Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking", sung by Nilsson who had also written a song for the film which wasn't used - "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City". Good trivia from my favorite movie of all time. Bob NP: Al Green, "Love & Happiness" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:14:12 -0700 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: sjc, I've been traveling sooooo long... From: "Patti Parlette" >(I was in some hotel room, and yes it had a view....and it was a *pink* >hotel to boot! With a boutique, and a swinging hot spot. I kid you not! Patti, this time you've gone too far!...Ha, really, glad you had a wonderful trip, hope you're not down to a roll of dimes.... Re: The Beatles Love:::I gotta see it but glad someone from the jmdl was there to represent- Re: CSN on Colbert- pretty good interview but the song.... I don't know which was scarier, that they let Colbert sing with them on Teach Your Children, or that he sang as good as they did...not a shining moment. Colbert: Do you want to take back all the terrible things you said about Nixon? CSN: No way! Funny, the radio today announced David's birthday, and proceeded to play (Nash's) Lady of the Island (which is probably about Joni now that I think about it). Happy birthday to the Croz!!! And thanks for bringing Joni into our lives! And thanks for all the music!!! RR RR ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:35:07 +0700 From: do9eatdo9@yahoo.com Subject: Re: ABBA, NJC > Is ABBA a guilty pleasure? > Rian Randy added : Not a pleasure of any kind. >>> WaaWaaWeeWaa I thought everybody loves ABBA. Randy, is there any reason why you don't like ABBA? And speaking of ABBA... I'm always "fascinated" by their music videos. All of their music videos. They all came in a same formula : 1. BjC6rn comes with Benny, Agnetha with Frida 2. When it comes to love song, BjC6rn with Agnetha and Benny with Frida. 3. Special effects = lamps. Yes, lamps, not light. Check their Money Money Money video 4. Silly moves, silly make ups, silly costumes. Specially on Take A Chance On Me. 5. BjC6rn is a genius. But in most video, he always look like a frog character on sesame street. Specially on Chiquitita where he word a silly banana green jacket. 6. Etc etc Rian NP. ABBA - Gimme Gimme Gimme ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:39:44 -0400 From: Jerry Notaro Subject: Re: ABBA, NJC Yeah, Randy. I would have thought you would at least be impressed with their sound engineering. Jerry >> Is ABBA a guilty pleasure? >> Rian > > Randy added : > Not a pleasure of any kind. > > >>>> > WaaWaaWeeWaa > I thought everybody loves ABBA. Randy, is there any reason why you don't like > ABBA? > > And speaking of ABBA... I'm always "fascinated" by their music videos. All of > their music videos. They all came in a same formula : > 1. BjC6rn comes with Benny, Agnetha with Frida > 2. When it comes to love song, BjC6rn with Agnetha and Benny with Frida. > 3. Special effects = lamps. Yes, lamps, not light. Check their Money Money > Money video > 4. Silly moves, silly make ups, silly costumes. Specially on Take A Chance On > Me. > 5. BjC6rn is a genius. But in most video, he always look like a frog character > on sesame street. Specially on Chiquitita where he word a silly banana green > jacket. > 6. Etc etc > > Rian > NP. ABBA - Gimme Gimme Gimme ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:03:06 -0400 From: "Rob Argento" Subject: RE: ABBA, NJC Well, I am going to defend ABBA - JUST BECAUSE! I was living in Sweden during the entire ABBA period and later on for that matter. It was certainly not considered "cool" to like ABBA, especially within progressive circles. The music was diametrically opposed to other Swedish music types of the time which were more and more social political and things like ABBA and IKEA were considered to be without any social merit. And they were making money hand over fist which in Sweden really makes you a target. But musically speaking they were doing some very interesting stuff. Benny, at the very least, is a very serious musician and few people outside of Sweden know of his work in Swedish traditional folk music. The fact is that they knew exactly what they were doing with the silly 70's costumes and in the texts of most of their songs. They were certainly not trying to be Joni or James. They were trying to and succeeded in tapping the "common" market with just plain fun and somehow without the cynicism of many successful American groups who have hit it big throughout the years. But, once again, in their harmonies...am I the only one who detected some musical relation between their 4 voices and how they were used with The Mamas and Papas? For me ABBAs "Dancing Queen" - not the words maybe but the music - makes me think of M&P "California Dreamin'" and "Do you want to Dance". Agneta and FridaB4s voices went very well together in BjC6rn and Benny's work and this was further enhanced in the mixing. Many of us have a tender place in our hearts for The Beach Boys". I usually attend their concerts on the sand of Cocoa Beach. No great social content in their texts either - but it is simply great fun. Silly little texts about hot rods and surfing, no aggression, just plain fun. And so, these were 4 Swedish musicians of ABBA, all previously active in different groups in Sweden, simply trying to make a living and finding a formula which would appeal to many. Oddly enough it appealed more to people outside of Scandinavia than within our boarders. But that is another story. Now I am older and much less of a musical snob. I am old enough to remember Dylan's "coming out" and the distaste shown for the new style by many of my fellow Folkies. (I was still in the closet about my really liking "Maggies Farm") While I put Joni's music highest on my list, followed by Cohen, delta blues et al, today I can realize that there is a place in my heart even for ABBA. There was certainly some creative engineering done there, some good musical construction and while most of their texts were quite banal, there were actually some interesting one's snuck in there - not many- but a few. Come on, all you fellow JMDLers. Kick off your shoes! Lighten up a bit! You can dance with the girl with a hole in her stockings! There is a time for introspection, and god knows we all do that. But there is also a time to forget bit all and go with the musical flow - of ABBA. And Sweden, at least, would be musically poorer without Benny Andersson, the folk musician. By the way, Agneta is personally more like Joni than you might imagine. But then that, too, is another story. /Robban - with his neck stuck way out. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:30:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Em Subject: RE: ABBA, NJC I don't hate them, lol... they're kind of like an umbrella drink. There's a certain time and place for them. I always liked "S.O.S.", which is pretty good cuz I hated EVERYTHING back then... happy Friday, folks! Em - --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Rob Argento wrote: From: Rob Argento Subject: RE: ABBA, NJC To: "'Randy Remote'" , joni@smoe.org Date: Friday, August 15, 2008, 1:03 PM Well, I am going to defend ABBA - JUST BECAUSE! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:24:58 -0400 From: Victor Johnson Subject: Re: ABBA, NJC Hey....that's my favorite ABBA song as well, S.O.S. I just got back from Tampa on Wednesday. One of these days I'll have to look you guys up and have a Joni minifest, though there never seems to be enough time. I managed to hit three different beaches though, Siesta Key (my favorite that I've been going to since I was not even 6 months old), Anna Maria Island, and Indian Rocks beach right before we skadoodled back to Atlanta. Tonight we're just going to chill and watch Harvey, the Jimmy Stewart movie about an imaginary giant white rabbit. Victor On Aug 15, 2008, at 2:30 PM, Em wrote: > I don't hate them, lol... > they're kind of like an umbrella drink. There's a certain time and > place for them. > I always liked "S.O.S.", which is pretty good cuz I hated > EVERYTHING back then... > happy Friday, folks! > Em ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:58:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: RE: ABBA, NJC I was never a fan of ABBA and, in fact, really couldn't stand them at the time- and yet some of their songs just stuck in your head and wouldn't get out. While I was attending Laval University in Quebec 1974/75, the song "Waterloo" was really big and you'd hear it in both English and French (you'd never know the difference if you weren't really listening to the words.) Years later, I don't mind them as much, although I always found their arrangements to be too mushy or sickeningly sweet for my taste. However, I truly did enjoy the film "Mamma Mia." I've never even seen any of their videos but suppose can find these on Youtube. However, I did watch "My life as a dog" on the weekend. I had never seen it. There were extras, including an interview with director Lasse Hallstrom who did all of ABBA's videos. He mentioned what you said about the Swedes hating that commercial/successful side (Hmm, they sound kind of like Canadians to me!) and that being associated with them was considered somehow "evil." - --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Rob Argento wrote: Well, I am going to defend ABBA - JUST BECAUSE! I was living in Sweden during the entire ABBA period and later on for that matter. It was certainly not considered "cool" to like ABBA, especially within progressive circles. The music was diametrically opposed to other Swedish music types of the time which were more and more social political and things like ABBA and IKEA were considered to be without any social merit. And they were making money hand over fist which in Sweden really makes you a target. __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now at http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:17:16 -0700 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: ABBA, NJC > Yeah, Randy. I would have thought you would at least be impressed with > their > sound engineering. > Jerry Hmm......I can listen to well engineered music I like, so why listen to well engineered music I don't like? At the end of the day, it's like Jerry Garcia said; some people like licorice, some just don't. Although I'm somewhat reluctant to say, on a recent road trip, I enjoyed the new Kid Rock song on the radio, "All Summer Long" (?). Even though I've seen him on the tube many times and thought he sucked. Who can say why someone likes brocolli, and someone else (I'm talkin' to you, George Bush Sr.) hates it. Side note: vocal pitch correction effects are ruining music! I mean it is everywhere now, country, pop... even Tejano tex-mex* accordian tunes have that robotic, life-sucking sound. It really blows. I mean sucks. You hear the latest pop sensation on the radio, and they sound pretty good, then you hear them on Letterman, and they are horrible singers-usually the only good musician is the drummer. Studio creations. And don't get me started on the frickin' Jonahs Brothers! Straight out of a test tube in the Disney sound labs....ick... Curmudgeonly yours, RR, Hannah Montana fan (hey, if Joni can write a song about her...) * in Central California about a third of the stations are Latino. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:24:08 -0700 (PDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: ABBA, NJC Why do they pick people who can't sing and do stuff to make them sound good? Because they look good? Aren't there enough good-looking people who CAN sing without all the engineering? For that matter, if someone sings well, but isn't that good-looking, they can do things to make them look good. So, what's the point? Rhetorical question. I don't think there's a real answer to that. And how come all these young people sound and look as if they were cloned from the one who came just before them? (Oh, maybe it's because I'm old and crabby and turning into my parents.) - --- On Fri, 8/15/08, Randy Remote wrote: Side note: vocal pitch correction effects are ruining music! I mean it is everywhere now, country, pop... even Tejano tex-mex* accordian tunes have that robotic, life-sucking sound. It really blows. I mean sucks. You hear the latest pop sensation on the radio, and they sound pretty good, then you hear them on Letterman, and they are horrible singers-usually the only good musician is the drummer. Studio creations. And don't get me started on the frickin' Jonahs Brothers! Straight out of a test tube in the Disney sound labs....ick... Curmudgeonly yours, RR, Hannah Montana fan (hey, if Joni can write a song about her...) * in Central California about a third of the stations are Latino. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:18:55 -0700 (PDT) From: Monika Bogdanowicz Subject: Joni's music and more...(long) I had previously asked a question about honesty in music and in particular the honesty in Joni's music. I had been meaning to write this email for a while but have had very little time to myself. I'm almost always working (2 jobs currently) and when I am off, I am almost always doing something. Not to mention I'll be in Vancouver, Canada this Tuesday and won't return until the following Tuesday, the 26th. I will have no access to a computer but very much free time to absorb the culture and enjoy myself. That is one of the reasons why I decided to just stay home tonight after getting home from work--just have a nice, relaxing night all to myself. Sweet solitude. Anyhow, I think one of the most beautiful aspects of Joni's music is the integrity in it. Just recently we read how a song can be so valuable to someone's life. Even in the songs that Joni writes about a "character" or a song that simply expresses a point of view, you know a little (or a big) part of her went into it. Even if she has said in interviews I wrote that or this song purely as an exercise and don't believe in it (has she ever even said such a thing? I'm just saying) you know something of her went into it. I never believe the writers who after writing something say that there was no personal input or outlook put into it. Yes there was! You wrote it! It came from your mind....if not your heart. It is a part of you. Anyway, I can't cite a song that I find dishonest by Joni. Now of course I could be partly biased but even such a song like You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio which was indeed written with the intention of being a hit had some sort of personal input into it. It was kind of a joke pointed at Geffen who wanted Joni to write songs more suitable for "radio" exposure. Kind of clever, no? I think Joni's most soul baring song is Little Green. I'm sure that was very hard for her to perform. You know what? I retract. Perhaps it had the opposite effect on her as her music has on us. We all relate to her music and are comforted by it. I would say Joni's most honest (and beautiful) song is River. I absolutely positively love that song. Although I would say that if I wanted to dance to a Joni song, I'd probably pick DJRD as well though I wouldn't tape myself doing so. It does have a solid groove though. - -Monika ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:01:28 -0400 From: Marianne Rizzo Subject: Bob's voice, njc I would give almost anything for this. : - ) >More trivia: Joni has written (and had rejected) songs for at least two>more movies. What are the songs and the movies? Winner gets Bob Muller's>voice on your answering machine. Les _________________________________________________________________ Get ideas on sharing photos from people like you. Find new ways to share. http://www.windowslive.com/explore/photogallery/posts?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Photo _Gallery_082008 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:17:45 +0000 (GMT) From: Joseph Palis Subject: RE: ABBA, NJC So okay, I'm delurking yet again just to say that I too listened to ABBA (isn't one of the B's supposed to be a mirror image of the other) as a kid. In the Philippines. It was during the time 'Dancinf Queen' swept the airwaves with its bouncingly intoxicating blend of disco, female vocals and yes, a clean and quite adept sound technology that was prolly underappreciated at that time. B But I listened to them a lot. One can't get away from them. Ubiquitous doesn't begin to describe their omni-presence. This was pre-iPod era of course. LPs rule (as they do still now in some quarters!). B After watching 'Mamma Mia!" I wished I was listening to ABBA than the singers hired to sing their songs, although Julie Walters was quite a minx and did a very campy "Take A Chance on Me" that worked for me. B 'Muriel's Wedding' is probably still the best film that incorporates ABBA music. Although Terrence Stamp's immortal words in "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" still makes me smile: "No fecking ABBA". B Anyone heard of Anne Sofie von Otter's ABBA album? I love this mezzo a lot and Elvis Costello agreed with that, but cross-over albums rarely work for me. Still curious about the album though. B And oh, I like "My Life as a Dog" too. Still the best coming-of-age movie for me. Too bad Lasse Hallstrom squandered his talent when we went Hollywood. B Joseph in Chapel Hill np:B Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance - --- En date deB : Sam 16.8.08, Catherine McKay a C)critB : However, I did watch "My life as a dog" on the weekend. I had never seen it. ____________________________________________________________________ _________ Envoyez avec Yahoo! Mail. Une boite mail plus intelligente http://mail.yahoo.fr ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:02:51 -0700 (PDT) From: Alison E Subject: re: sweet bird revisited NJC LOL, i haven't been reading the jmdl lately, but i pop in for this specific kind of post, to have bob muller send coors light spraying out my nose on a boring friday night while my beautiful baby sleeps next to me on the couch. thanks, bob! alison np: mad about you rerun p.s.: what new music should i be listening to??? Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:29:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Muller Subject: Re: Sweet Bird revisited NJC Not a problem, I typically call myself at least once a week to sing "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" Bob NP: Steely Dan, "Babylon Sisters" ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2008 #167 ***************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------