From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2007 #148 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Archives: http://www.smoe.org/lists/onlyjoni Websites: http://www.jmdl.com http://www.jonimitchell.com Unsubscribe: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe onlyJMDL Digest Tuesday, May 15 2007 Volume 2007 : Number 148 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Joni's lyrics as relationships go ["Marion Leffler" ] Re: Joni private concert [Dave Blackburn ] Re: Joni's lyrics ["AJ" ] SV: Joni's lyrics ["Marion Leffler" ] poem that mentions JM ["AJ" ] last time i saw richard [Randy Johnson ] Joni's lyrics, then Joni in the Verizon store ["Patti Parlette" ] Struts and Frets some Joni content ["Richard Flynn" ] Re: last time i saw richard ["Randy Remote" ] RE: last time i saw richard ["Richard Flynn" ] Re: last time i saw richard ["Randy Remote" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 09:30:14 +0200 From: "Marion Leffler" Subject: Joni's lyrics as relationships go Thanks to everybody who shared their thoughts on relationships (as interpreted by Joni). You made me realize why I found those lines disturbing. I guess I wanted to forget about the things we (have to) do and later possibly regret when we are in relationships. Compromise - yes, suppression - a harsh word but probably true. The hard part then is to find what you suppressed and once again embrace it. Seems to me that so many people long to become "whole" together with a partner and end up losing parts of themselves? - Anyhow, since the discussion turned to the question of whether or not Joni wrote about herself or was taking artistic liberties, I just would like to say that when I came to this list I had listened to Joni for about 25 years, then lost her out of sight for a period, then returned to her music. And it was only when I returned to it that I gave any thought to her as a person. Before that, I listened but never ever wondered if she was writing from experience or about anybody she had been with. I just listened to what she had to say to ME. Now as I have grown older I find myself more interested in other people than myself (who by this time I know pretty well:-)) So yes, I do wonder about her relationships but I still take her lyrics to be universal as well. So the uneasiness I felt about the lines from Hejira and WTRF was about relationships in general. When I ask myself why Joni got into relationships with men who apparently hurt her (in ways only she knows), it's because a lot of women (and men, too, I suppose) seem to do that, and maybe Joni's lyrics might give us a clue to why. So I am interested in the cultural and societal ramifications for our personal lives and relationships and the way they condition our emotions, and to me, Joni is an interpreter, using her emotional experiences and her ability to sense other people's feelings. Also, I love to learn what other people on this list think, I'm with you on that one, Monika! Have a good Monday, Marion in Sweden ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 23:31:17 +1000 From: Mark-Leon Thorne Subject: Re: Joni's lyrics Marion, I have more trouble with the lyrics, "Willy's my child, he's my father. I will be his lady all my life". What's that about? Heterosexuals must be very confused. ;-) Mark in Sydney NP Stealing Time - Above & Beyond featuring Richard Bedford ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 07:21:11 -0700 From: Dave Blackburn Subject: Re: Joni private concert Joni's management is here if anyone wants to act on this proposal: Macklam/Feldman Management 1505 West 2nd Avenue Suite 200 Vancouver, BC Canada V6H 3Y4 Dave > Date: Sun, 13 May 2007 11:07:03 EDT > From: Motitan@aol.com > Subject: Re: concert northern california Joni? > > Hell, I'd sell my soul to go to this "intimate" concert. So how > about > somebody get on this and give Joni the offer, eh? Tell her she > can play whatever > the hell she wants. > - -Monika > "Rock and roll rang sweet as victory." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 09:37:05 -0500 From: "AJ" Subject: Re: Joni's lyrics - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark-Leon Thorne" > Marion, I have more trouble with the lyrics, "Willy's my child, he's my > father. I will be his lady all my life". What's that about? > Heterosexuals must be very confused. ;-) > > Mark in Sydney I think many complicated romantic relationships--especially when you are young, as JM was when she wrote that song, and when legal and illegal substances are flowing freely as they were in the 1960s and 1970s--include a dynamic wherein one has both the feelings of being the parent and the child in a relationship. Willy has an 'ancient injury" that prevents him from living with the speaker and yet he wants to. And yet he feels he gave his heart too soon. Great passion, but fear of committment--not such an unusual collision of feelings between people in love. Don't know about the rest of you all, but I certainly felt like the speaker in this song many times (too many) in a couple of relationships during my twenties. I just downloaded this song, as well as ordered a couple of JM CDs. Also a Susannah McCorkle CD. Unfortunately ITunes doesn't have THOSL--I have most of the songs on it, but not Shades of Scarlett Conquering, which I adore. I mean, how many times do I have to buy THOSL? If I get the CD, it will be the third time. I feel like Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black when an alien brings a new technology and Jones says, Damn it, I'll have to buy The White Album again. Exposure to this list is putting a deep burn on my credit cards. Since any CD order also includes a bunch of books. BTW anyone on here a fan of Joan Didion? She's my favorite writer of the 20th century's second half (with the possible exception of Walker Percy) and I've always thought the particular LA feel of THOSL was tonally remininscent of some of Didion's essays. And passages in some of the novels. - --AJ, financially broker but musically more complete ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 17:53:28 +0200 From: "Marion Leffler" Subject: SV: Joni's lyrics Like AJ I have no trouble with those lines, they have always been perfectly clear to me. Maybe you have to be a woman to get them :-) Marion - -----Ursprungligt meddelande----- Fren: owner-onlyjoni@smoe.org [mailto:owner-onlyjoni@smoe.org] Fvr Mark-Leon Thorne Skickat: den 14 maj 2007 15:31 Till: joni@smoe.org Dmne: Re: Joni's lyrics Marion, I have more trouble with the lyrics, "Willy's my child, he's my father. I will be his lady all my life". What's that about? Heterosexuals must be very confused. ;-) Mark in Sydney NP Stealing Time - Above & Beyond featuring Richard Bedford ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 17:16:44 -0500 From: "AJ" Subject: poem that mentions JM This isn't a poem about JM, but it mentions her. (Oh, I wrote it.) (The hotel bar mentioned is my beloved Gramercy Park Hotel before it succumbed to, well, "improvements" and chic-ness. - --AJ NP: Shades of Scarlett Conquering Imprecations Across the room a vase of pale-pink roses which appeared transparent, petal after petal unfolding only to vanish as they fell to the floor. In my hand a button that pushed Demerol into my bloodstream-a rush that took me back to apartments in the seventies, Court & Spark on the stereo, a boy from my Latin class passed out, his head in my lap. Cable news muted & at night a silk scarf across my eyes, orchideous air, the only blue the cashmere shawl I asked my husband to bring from home. Schools of transparent fish off Cayman Brac, organ-pipe coral, algal brocade: memory, not life, although I'd never known a sky so knotted with stars until I saw it from that island. The hospital on one side of State Street & my neighborhood on the other: from the window I had a bird's eye view & realized, for the first time, how even in the dead of winter it was a green rectangle in the middle of the city. Not the island nor the narrow hotel bar mirrored in midnight-blue where one night we watched snow fall & waited for a cab to take us to La Guardia. Not the ferry in Hong Kong, the affairs of the past, spiked with extremes of weather & intoxication. All that I lived, as I don't live now, at a slight disconnect. A worker on a scaffold cleaned the window & I hoped the grey would brighten to silver. Disappointment isn't always augury or injury. Mild delirium prevented my filling geometric abstraction with the colors of plausible flowers-if not for the trees I could have seen my house. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 15:16:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Randy Johnson Subject: last time i saw richard upon wakening today i had the urge to play the MOA's version of "The Last Time I Saw Richard" and Joni's inflection on the word "gorgeous" somehow swirled through my day. strange how one word can be made such a thing of beauty. does anyone have any idea why "Love or Money" never leapt off a live album onto a studio album? in the 70's i thought some of it a bit cryptic but now i get it. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 00:57:10 +0000 From: "Patti Parlette" Subject: Joni's lyrics, then Joni in the Verizon store Bob Muller wrote: Oh, I know quite well where it's from - it's one of my favorite Joni lyrics. To me it's not as confessional as it is universal. I mean, haven't you ever ended a relationship where you had to suppress parts of yourself either because the other person asked you too or because you couldn't feel like you could truly relax and be yourself around them? Matter of fact, I would submit that there is a degree of that in EVERY relationship.< What? You're supposed to supress parts of yourself in some relationships? NOW you tell me! LOL... Seriously though, I love those lines, too. Also, from Hejira, I really love how she sings: "....but you know I'm soooooooo GLAD to be on my own...." The way she sings those two words "sooooo GLAD" just nails me. You can tell she really means it and feels it. I sing it to myself whenever me and them lonesome blues collide. If hard pressed, on most days I'd have to say Hejira (on Hejira) is my favorite Joni song. It's the one I chose to christen my new vehicle. And like many have said, I didn't really "get it" when I first heard it in 1976 as a college senior. Maybe it takes thirty years of witnessing hope and hopelessness to finally get it? Speaking of favorite Joni lyrics and songs, I have a headful of quandary. My son and I recently went to the Verizon store for new phones. The salesman was showing me us these different phones and their capabilities, and it was very confusing for me. Mail-in rebates, in-store rebates, different features and capabilities, and you know..... Some phones have the feature (I forget what you call it) where, when your phone rings, the caller gets a message that says something like: "Enjoy the music while we reach your party." I turned to Michael (you need the help of these young uns in these situations): "Do I want that feature? Yeah! I could put on a Joni song!" Michael rolled his eyes as if to say: "Uh oh. She's gonna get all Joni in the Verizon store." His spoken answer, though, was this: "Well, personally I think those messages are kind of obnoxious, but in your case of Joni Mitchell obsession, it would probably be good for you." (Ha! He approves my self expression!) I asked the salesman if I could get a Joni Mitchell song, and he said: "Sure. You can get anything." I asked him if he knew who Joni Mitchell was and he replied: "I think so. Is she the one with the curly hair?" "Curly hair? Huh? Who are you thinking of? Well, she had this perm in the 80s but she started out with long straight blonde hair...." and then Michael gave me a pleading, embarrased look so I quieted down. When I finally decided on the phone I liked, I asked if it was a "Joni Mitchell phone" and the salesman (and even Michael) laughed, and said: "Yes." While we were paying and checking out and signing receipt after receipt (it's like being at a house closing!) I asked Michael if I embarrass him less now that he is older (the years spin by and now the boy is twenty-three). He just smiled and said: "I'm getting used to it. Although if I were still in high school I would have probably run out of here." (TIC: Either he's going to have to stand and fight Or take off out of here...) So now here is the headful of quandary: I can't decide which song to have on my phone! Most of the people who call me are not Joni people, so I'd like to hook them in a little bit with a great song, but simple. Like Joni 101, you know? It's can't be TOO out on some borderline. I'm considering Woodstock, because so many people know it (and perhaps don't know who wrote it), and because it's so, you know, get the bombers out of the sky and peace-y. Some of the crazy you get from too much choice! I want to get a Joni ring-tone, too. Does anyone know where to get one easily and without incurring a lot of spam and stuff? Call me at the station...the lines are open to all things Joni! Love (TIC: "Love's a repetitious danger You'd think I'd be accustomed to Well I do accept the changes At least better than I used to do..." Those are great lines, too), Patti P. _________________________________________________________________ Make every IM count. Download Messenger and join the im Initiative now. Its free. http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_MAY07 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 18:19:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Muller Subject: Re: last time i saw richard Don't know why it never made it into the studio - maybe she just felt like she got the take she wanted on MOA but wanted to retool Jericho. I've never read a good explanation - guesses at most. But I would like to hear more about what you think of it - it's still sort of cryptic to me. Bob NP: Wilco, "What Light" (from their 'Sky Blue Sky' CD, out tomorrow and amazing) - --------------------------------- Finding fabulous fares is fun. Let Yahoo! FareChase search your favorite travel sites to find flight and hotel bargains. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 21:47:43 -0400 From: "Richard Flynn" Subject: Struts and Frets some Joni content There is a fascinating profile of Ken Parker in the May 14th New Yorker magazine with some Joni quotes. Unfortunately, it's not one of the articles they let you read for free on the web. Favorite rock 'n' roll contrast in reactions to the Parker Fly: Joni: "It looks like something you found on the beach." Keith Richards: "But why does it have to look like a bleeding assault rifle?" Seriously, though, it's a fascinating article. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 17:48:31 -0700 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: poem that mentions JM Nice poetizations, I must admit, I looked up "imprecations" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 17:42:08 -0700 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: last time i saw richard From: "Randy Johnson" > upon wakening today i had the urge to play the MOA's version of "The Last > Time I Saw Richard" and Joni's inflection on the word "gorgeous" somehow > swirled through my day. strange how one word can be made such a thing of > beauty. does anyone have any idea why "Love or Money" never leapt off a > live album onto a studio album? My guess is either she was completely happy with the version on MOA, or felt it was a lesser composition. Now, why did she feel the need to redo "Jericho"? Did she put it on DJRD because she thought it had single potential? Ironic, if so, since MOA sold pretty well, and DJRD didn't. RR ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 22:24:43 -0400 From: "Richard Flynn" Subject: RE: last time i saw richard "Jericho" was the single, so I guess someone thought it had potential. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-joni@smoe.org [mailto:owner-joni@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Randy Remote Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 8:42 PM To: Randy Johnson; joni@smoe.org Subject: Re: last time i saw richard From: "Randy Johnson" > upon wakening today i had the urge to play the MOA's version of "The Last > Time I Saw Richard" and Joni's inflection on the word "gorgeous" somehow > swirled through my day. strange how one word can be made such a thing of > beauty. does anyone have any idea why "Love or Money" never leapt off a > live album onto a studio album? My guess is either she was completely happy with the version on MOA, or felt it was a lesser composition. Now, why did she feel the need to redo "Jericho"? Did she put it on DJRD because she thought it had single potential? Ironic, if so, since MOA sold pretty well, and DJRD didn't. RR ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 20:53:00 -0700 From: "Randy Remote" Subject: Re: last time i saw richard I didn't know that-was it pressed into 45s or 12 in? From: "Richard Flynn" > "Jericho" was the single, so I guess someone thought it had potential. ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2007 #148 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe ------- Siquomb, isn't she? (http://www.siquomb.com/siquomb.cfm)