From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2011 #584 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://jmdl.com JMDL Digest Wednesday, November 23 2011 Volume 2011 : Number 584 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- RE: Song for Sharon [Susan Tierney McNamara ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:43:01 +0000 From: Susan Tierney McNamara Subject: RE: Song for Sharon While reading this thread I started thinking about "Barangrill" and the idea of the fork in the road that Joni took all those years ago when she chose her career over a regular life. In this "conversation over tuning" she calls this song "looking for gurus" ... I love it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNX9AJaokNI I think the decision she made to put Kelly up for adoption and leave Chuck to embrace a music career dogged her when the going got tough. There are several places in Hejira where she talks about the spiritual side of acceptance, but then also regret at what she has lost ... it's a very deep place of letting go ... and I think there is a lot of loss in the phrase ... "I'll walk green pastures by and by" ... basically saying someday I'll accept the choices I made, but right now I can't ... "I've got this apple of temptation and a diamond snake around my arm" ... you are good, I'm not really good because I made different choices ... it would be interesting to look at all the songs that have this theme of regret and loss against the songs that show courage and brilliance ... Catherine, I also love the cowboy connection, that's definitely a thread in the songs, too. Bob mentioned the Gene Autry concert last week and she had a lot of love for those guys as she discussed in her other "conversations over tuning" ... - -----Original Message----- From: owner-joni@smoe.org [mailto:owner-joni@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Catherine McKay Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 7:38 PM To: Bob Muller; Betsy Blue; joni@smoe.org Subject: Re: Song for Sharon I hadn't thought of it either, but it wouldn't surprise me that there might be another meaning. Joni does that a lot. For some reason, though, when I hear about "walking green pastures," it reminds me of someone dying. It also reminds me of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans ("Happy trails to you".) Maybe I'm thinking of the hymn, "The sweet by-and-by." It seems like the kind of song Joni might have heard on the radio as a child (maybe played just before the sign-off prayer?) I have no idea where I get that from, but it just comes into my head when I hear that particular verse of "Song for Sharon." >________________________________ > From: Bob Muller >To: Betsy Blue ; "joni@smoe.org" >Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 6:28:28 PM >Subject: Re: Song for Sharon > >for Sharon? > > >I never thought of that but it certainly could be the case. >The song is of course purely autobiographical. By the same token she could >simply be referring to Sharon's green farmland as opposed to Joni's more >metropolitan and hurried lifestyle at the time. > >Bob > >Conference Call by The Bickering Coworkers> This sounds like a scream, I have >to hear it! ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2011 #584 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list, send to joni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------