From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2010 #288 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 Sunday, October 17 2010 Volume 2010 : Number 288 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Hejira + HOSL songbooks [Moni Kellermann ] Video addition in the Library: Woodstock [TheStaff@JoniMitchell.com] Video addition in the Library: Big Yellow Taxi [TheStaff@JoniMitchell.com] Re: DJRD Astrology and Scorpio Totems ["Mark" ] When Charlie... [William Waddell ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 13:28:39 +0200 From: Moni Kellermann Subject: Hejira + HOSL songbooks Look, what I got in the mail today: http://j.mp/di4ckD Thank you, Les! moni k. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 07:25:46 -0600 (MDT) From: TheStaff@JoniMitchell.com Subject: Video addition in the Library: Woodstock Another video has been added to the Library at JoniMitchell.com: Woodstock - Karaoke 2010 View it here: http://jonimitchell.com/library/video.cfm?id=229 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 07:32:46 -0600 (MDT) From: TheStaff@JoniMitchell.com Subject: Video addition in the Library: Big Yellow Taxi Another video has been added to the Library at JoniMitchell.com: Big Yellow Taxi - Karaoke 2010 View it here: http://jonimitchell.com/library/video.cfm?id=230 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 11:45:11 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: Re: DJRD Astrology and Scorpio Totems Ok, I tried to hold out on this one but I couldn't resist. I'll try to be brief. And God/Goddess knows, my thoughts are in no way definitive about these complex lyrics. But I think you all know I love Joni's lyrics and I love to write about what I think about them. Some of you sing and play. I write. Sylvia, if I had read about the totems of Scorpio, I don't remember it but it does seem vaguely familiar. Did Joni elaborate on this in an interview at some point? It sounds like something she would have known about and I think what you write makes perfect sense in relation to DJRD. I believe Joni had read Castaneda's 'The Teachings of Don Juan' when she wrote this. Having never read that book, I don't really know what the specific references are. I had always thought of Don Juan as the legendary lover. I don't really know much about him either. But the title made perfect sense to me, given Joni's statement from 'Hejira' that 'love stimulated my illusions more than anything' and what was known about her at the time DJRD was released. To me, this is her ultimate statement on duality. She runs the postive/negative/balance theme throughout the song with perhaps a special emphasis on male/female romantic relationships. The spirit is 'split-tongued', and 'noble as a nickel chief striking up an old juke-box'. She sets up the dichotomy between our divine, rational natures (the noble Chief) and our primitive, visceral side (the old juke-box, a reference to rock and roll, dancing, appetites that 'release us and bind us' to quote a later song). But nothing is totally one side or the other. Even the 'Chief' is a 'nickel Chief', referencing money and not worth much of that. There are a couple of sets of lyrics that stuck out for me when Sue posted them: Here in good old God save America The home of the brave and the free We are all hopelessly oppressed cowards Of some duality, restless multiplicity and: There are rivets up here in this eagle And there are box cars down there on your snake And we are twins of spirit No matter which route home we take Or what we forsake The Puritanical aspect of American culture forbids exploration of our more primitive nature. It's there, but many are afraid to acknowledge or explore it. Even when we 'fly', there are 'rivets' in our natures that mirror the 'box cars' down on the ground on our 'snake' or primitive side. The reverse is true when we take the 'crawling' route down on the ground. Our 'eagles' or 'eyes of clarity' are always present even when our 'snakes' 'go down to the beads of guile.' We are neither one thing or the other. We have a 'restless multiplicity' whether we acknowledge it or not. And especially, in DJRD, in the differences referenced in the male/female dichotomy, aspects of both the positive and negative are shared. Thank you for your fascinating and illuminating information, Sylvia. Mark E. in Seattle - -------------------------------------------------- From: "S. M. Roque" Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 6:32 AM To: Subject: Astrology and Scorpio Totems > I love the imagery painted on the DJRD double album. > > I was VERY into astrology at the time and I loved how DJRD focused on the > less > obvious animal totems, eagle and serpent, of JM's own astrological sign, > Scorpio. I liked using astrology to explain basic personality traits > and/or to > give me insight on other signs, and this song does a great job of > expressing > the battling spiritual aspects of a Scorpio. > > Some astrologers say the dove is also an animal totem of this sign, > Scorpio, > and on the album cover (back and front) are doves flying all over. > > > "The eagle and the serpent are at war in me > The serpent fighting for blind desire > The eagle for clarity > What strange prizes these battles bring > These hectic joys - these weary blues > Puffed up and strutting when I think I win > Down and shaken when I think I lose" > > When I first bought this album, I rarely played the PP side... > > Sylvia > >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:25:19 -0400 >> From: David Phillips >> Subject: Re: Eagles in the sky crawl and fly >> >> I LOVE THIS SONG! I've been singing it as I stride for 35 years now. >> >> Two stories: >> >> One: >> On my pilgimage from Austin to Saskatoon to pay homage at the Mandell >> exhibit, I stopped for the night in Waterton Park. Hiking by a cliff, I >> got to the line "coils around feathers and talons on scales" and >> I'm-not-kidding an eagle carrying a fish rose from beneath me and off. >> O-kay. >> >> Two: >> I performed this at a faerie gathering last summer, a capella and >> wearing little but boots, chaps, pearls, and a mink pillbox. There had >> been a lot of heart-talk at the gathering about sex and death and lust >> and responsibility and lovers and vectors and youth and age. I changed >> some lyrics (see below) and IT WAS FABULOUS! >> >> This is one powerful song. mmmmm. >> >> djp >> >> >> Susan Tierney McNamara wrote: >> >> > Don Juan's Reckless Daughter >> > by Joni Mitchell >> (adapted, god-forgive-him, by djp) >> > >> > I'm Don Juan's reckless daughter >> > I came out two days on your tail >> > Those two bald-headed days in November >> > Before the first snowflakes sail >> > Out on the vast and subtle plains of mystery >> > A split tongue spirit talks >> > Noble as a nickel chief >> > Striking up a truck stop juke box >> > Spirit says: >> > "Snakes along the railroad tracks" >> > It says, "Eagles in jet trails" >> > She says, "Coils around feathers and talons on scales >> > Gravel under the belly plates" >> > It says, "Wind in the Wings" >> > He says, "Big bird dragging its tail in the dust >> > Snake kite flying on a string" >> > >> > I come from open prairie >> > Given some wisdom and a lot of jive >> > Last night the ghosts of my old ideas >> > Reran on channel five >> > And it howled so spooky for its eagle soul >> > I nearly broke down and cried >> > But the split tongue spirit laughed at me >> > He says, "Your serpent cannot be denied" >> > Our serpents love whisky >> > They love the romance of the crime >> > But didn't I see a neon sign >> > Fester on your hotel blind >> > And a country road swoop off the wall >> > And haunt the back room of that bar >> > And put me at the top of your danger list >> > Just for being so much like you are >> > >> > You're a coward against the altitude >> > You're a coward against the flesh >> > Coward caught between yes and no >> > Reckless this time on the line for yes, yes, yes! >> > Reckless brazen in the play >> > Of your changing traffic lights >> > Coward slinking down the hall >> > To another restless night >> > As we center behind the eight ball >> > As we rock between the sheets >> > As we siphon the colored language >> > Off the farms and the streets >> > Here in Good-Old-God-Save-America >> > the home of the brave and the free >> > We are all hopelessly oppressed cowards >> > Of some duality >> > Of restless multiplicity >> > (Oh say can you see) >> > >> > Restless for streets and honky tonks >> > Restless for home and routine >> > Restless for country safety and her >> > Restless for the likes of reckless me >> > Restless sweeps like fire and rain >> > Over virgin wilderness >> > It prowls like hookers and thieves >> > Through bolt locked tenements >> > Behind my bolt locked door >> > The eagle and the serpent are at war in me >> > The eagle fighting for blind desire >> > The serpent for clarity >> > What strange prizes these battles bring >> > These hectic joys these weary blues >> > Puffed up and strutting when I think I win >> > Down and shaken when somehow I think I lose >> > There are rivets up here in this eagle >> > There are box cars down there on your snake >> > And we are twins of spirit >> > No matter which route home we take >> > Or what we forsake >> > We will rise to the eyes of clarity >> > As we'll descend to the beads of guile >> > There is danger >> > In living out such a reckless life style >> > I touched you on the central plains >> > It was plane to train my twin >> > It was just plane shadow to train shadow >> > But it felt like skin to skin >> > The spirit talks in spectrums >> > It talks to mother earth to father sky >> > Self indulgence to self denial >> Death to life and back again >> > Man to woman >> > Scales to feathers >> > You and I >> > Eagles in the sky >> > You and I >> > Snakes in the grass >> > You and I >> > Crawl and fly >> > You and I >> Ssssssssssssssssss. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 23:30:28 +0000 From: William Waddell Subject: When Charlie... I think this is lovely. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr30kt92dI0&feature=related WtSx ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2010 #288 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe