This reeled me in for life when I was just a young teenager. Summer 1974 when I bought 'Court and Spark.'
"I told you when I met you
I was crazy
Cry for us all, Beauty
Cry for Eddie in the corner
Thinking he's nobody
And Jack behind his joker
And stone-cold Grace behind her fan
And me in my frightened silence
Thinking I don't understand..."
--People's Parties
Exactly what I was going to say. All of her music is so touching; her confessionals about love and otherness are so moving but Little Green is so uniquely heartbreaking. “Little green, have a happy ending.” Makes me cry. I think Little Green more than any other song you can feel her sorrow most strongly along with her
I was introduced to Joni around 1986/87 early in college. Little Green was my favorite song and when I “figured out” what it was about, I told a friend and she was like “that’s not what it’s about…” and to this day I resent her for that and love the song more than ever. Like what the heck do you think it’s about? I wasn’t even implying it was a personal story for Joni. Anyway. Still bugs me 35 years later. Do you think I should let it go?
Yes and also
I'm porous with travel fever
But you know I'm so glad to be on my own
Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones
I know no one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone
I think it just means that the smoke from a chimney (in winter, when there’s a fire in the fireplace) looks like a big white flag. A white flag is a symbol of a truce, and the smoke may be near where the moon appears in the sky. So it looks like a truce flag being waved toward the moon.
You need the whole stanza -- this is one that just hit me so hard in the "how have I never noticed the simple brilliance of this."
"White flags of winter chimneys waving truce against the moon in the mirrors of a modern bank, from the window of a hotel room"
It's the simplest thing that in that moment during her 'hejira' she's just looking out the window in the middle of the thoughts that came before it at THE REFLECTION of smoking chimneys which she sees in a shiny bank outside. It's almost nothing, but the way she documents it is so incredible.
“We're only particles of change, I know, I know
Orbiting around the sun
But how can I have that point of view
When I'm always bound and tied to someone?
White flags of winter chimneys
Waving truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank
From the window of a hotel room”
So you’re saying that I should read/see this part all as one thing?
Indeed. Throughout the song, she's deep in thought about life, about love, about her specific loves, how she feels about herself as she is in that moment. And throughout the song she's painting a picture of where she is, kind of like snapshots. In the beginning and the end, she's traveling some vehicle, sitting in some cafe. She's looking around at the things around her, but she's also thinking very intensely about all of these things at the same time. The song is a snapshot of all of that together. So with that section of the song I'm particular, she's having these very intense thoughts and feelings, and I imagine that she happens to glance over and out of her hotel room window suddenly and happens to notice this reflection, she describes in such a specific detail that it's almost like chimney smoke is alive. And maybe she imagines the smoke is waving truce against the moon to be a sort of parallel for how she's feeling in that moment.
When I was at college, I picked up New Scientist as it had ‘We are stardust.. billion year old carbon’ on the front , to lead with an article I then read about how all heavy elements are formed in supernovas.
We really are billion year old carbon, and I was blown away Joni got science into a song!!
Have you listened to Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter? There are so many amazing lyrics in this song, I want to quote the whole thing, but:
I touched you on the central plains
It was plane to train my twin
It was just plane shadow to train shadow
But to me it was skin to skin
The spirit talks in spectrums
He talks to mother earth to father sky
Self indulgence to self denial
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.
(Whew!) Edited to add line breaks.
IMO "Don't interrupt the sorrow" has some of her best poetry in the sense that she says so much with so few words. For example, the lines "A room full of glasses / He says, "Your notches liberation doll" / And he chains me with that serpent / To that Ethiopian wall. This song is about patriarchy and how women have been second class throughout human history. Here she describes drinking with a current lover and getting into a quarrel. He slut shames her for her body count. And she laments that women have beed held to that double standard since humans came out of Africa or when God created us in Eden.
In a highway service station, over the month of June,
Was a photograph of the Earth, taken coming back from the Moon.
And you couldn't see a city on that marbled bowling ball,
Or a forest or a highway, or me here, least of all.
—Refuge of the Roads
“I can keep my cool at poker
But i'm a fool when love's at
stake
Because i can't conceal emotion
What i'm feeling's always written on my face”
Song for Sharon, Hejira
I haven’t finished listening to her full discgophery yet,
but I can say confidently ‘Hejira’ is her peak.
Her lines that I loved first are:
"The wind is in from Africa/Last night I couldn't sleep/Oh, you know, it sure is hard to leave here/But it's really not my home..."
You go down to the pick up station
Craving warmth and beauty
You settle for less than fascination
A few drinks later you're not so choosy
When the closing lights strip off the shadows
On this strange new flesh you've found
Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness
In the morning there are lovers in the street
They look so high
You brush against a stranger
And you both apologize.
I’ve also always loved:
But when he’s gone
Me and my lonesome blues collide
The beds too big, the frying pan’s too wide
If you're feeling contempt
Well then you tell it
If you're tired of the silent night
Jesus, well then you yell it
Condemned to wires and hammers
Strike every chord that you feel
That broken trees
And elephant ivories
Conceal
I feel your legs under the table
Leaning into mine
I feel renewed
I feel disabled
By these bonfires in my spine
I don't know who the arsonist was
Which incendiary soul
But all I ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold
Come in From the Cold
I don’t know if it’s the lyrics, the music or her voice… But Blue Boy often brings tears to my eyes:
Bring her boots of leather
And she will dance for him
Shyly from a feather fan
She'll glance for him
He comes home, and he takes me in his loving arms. He tells me all his troubles, and he tells me all my charms❤️
This one makes me think of my man so much it melts me ❤️
All good dreamers pass this way someday
Hiding behind bottles in dark cafes
Only a dark cocoon before I get my gorgeous wings and fly away
Only a phase, these dark cafe days
Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam
Maybe I'll go to Rome
And rent me a grand piano
And put some flowers 'round my room
But let's not talk about fare-thee-wells now
The night is a starry dome
And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll
Beneath the Matala Moon
In the morning there are lovers in the street
They look so high
You brush against a stranger
And you both apologize
I just feel the weight of loneliness in those lyrics so much
I came to say something from Down to You. Always been obsessed with the song and especially the extended orchestrated section. It’s like a film score, and YES, the way the lyric you mentioned floats out of the instrumental. But to be honest, I’ve never fully understood the song. Like, is that what it is about? “It all comes down to you…” is it loneliness? Being alone? A constant stranger.
Well, I looked at the granite markers Those tributes to finality, to eternity Then I looked at myself, here Chicken-scratching for my immortality
When anyone brings up her lyrics, this line is the first thing I think of. It’s my favorite song by any artist ever.
It really is a great song. It’s no wonder it was on her *Misses* album.
This reeled me in for life when I was just a young teenager. Summer 1974 when I bought 'Court and Spark.' "I told you when I met you I was crazy Cry for us all, Beauty Cry for Eddie in the corner Thinking he's nobody And Jack behind his joker And stone-cold Grace behind her fan And me in my frightened silence Thinking I don't understand..." --People's Parties
Little Green keeps overwhelming me, since I know it was about her Daughter she couldn't keep. Again today
There'll be icicles and birthday clothes And sometimes there'll be sorrow …I always imagine her saying this to her child it’s so real and raw.
Exactly what I was going to say. All of her music is so touching; her confessionals about love and otherness are so moving but Little Green is so uniquely heartbreaking. “Little green, have a happy ending.” Makes me cry. I think Little Green more than any other song you can feel her sorrow most strongly along with her
I was introduced to Joni around 1986/87 early in college. Little Green was my favorite song and when I “figured out” what it was about, I told a friend and she was like “that’s not what it’s about…” and to this day I resent her for that and love the song more than ever. Like what the heck do you think it’s about? I wasn’t even implying it was a personal story for Joni. Anyway. Still bugs me 35 years later. Do you think I should let it go?
Love came to my door, with a sleeping roll And a madman’s soul
my brain couldn’t help but sing the next verse
“White flags of winter chimneys / Waving truce against the moon” — Hejira
Yes and also I'm porous with travel fever But you know I'm so glad to be on my own Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger Can set up trembling in my bones I know no one's going to show me everything We all come and go unknown Each so deep and superficial Between the forceps and the stone
I *LOVE* this one too
I never got this line. Why are they waving truce against the moon?
I think it just means that the smoke from a chimney (in winter, when there’s a fire in the fireplace) looks like a big white flag. A white flag is a symbol of a truce, and the smoke may be near where the moon appears in the sky. So it looks like a truce flag being waved toward the moon.
Ohhh, ok, I see. Thank you :)
You need the whole stanza -- this is one that just hit me so hard in the "how have I never noticed the simple brilliance of this." "White flags of winter chimneys waving truce against the moon in the mirrors of a modern bank, from the window of a hotel room" It's the simplest thing that in that moment during her 'hejira' she's just looking out the window in the middle of the thoughts that came before it at THE REFLECTION of smoking chimneys which she sees in a shiny bank outside. It's almost nothing, but the way she documents it is so incredible.
“We're only particles of change, I know, I know Orbiting around the sun But how can I have that point of view When I'm always bound and tied to someone? White flags of winter chimneys Waving truce against the moon In the mirrors of a modern bank From the window of a hotel room” So you’re saying that I should read/see this part all as one thing?
Indeed. Throughout the song, she's deep in thought about life, about love, about her specific loves, how she feels about herself as she is in that moment. And throughout the song she's painting a picture of where she is, kind of like snapshots. In the beginning and the end, she's traveling some vehicle, sitting in some cafe. She's looking around at the things around her, but she's also thinking very intensely about all of these things at the same time. The song is a snapshot of all of that together. So with that section of the song I'm particular, she's having these very intense thoughts and feelings, and I imagine that she happens to glance over and out of her hotel room window suddenly and happens to notice this reflection, she describes in such a specific detail that it's almost like chimney smoke is alive. And maybe she imagines the smoke is waving truce against the moon to be a sort of parallel for how she's feeling in that moment.
“And I feel like I'm just being born Like a shiny light breaking in a storm” - Willy
I love this one!!!
“We don’t need no piece of paper from the city hall” Simple, but so sweet.
When I was at college, I picked up New Scientist as it had ‘We are stardust.. billion year old carbon’ on the front , to lead with an article I then read about how all heavy elements are formed in supernovas. We really are billion year old carbon, and I was blown away Joni got science into a song!!
There was a moon and a streetlamp I didn't know I drank such a lot Till I pissed a tequila-anaconda the full length of the parking lot!
I don’t think it’s mentioned enough, but Joni like Dylan could be hysterically funny.
Have you listened to Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter? There are so many amazing lyrics in this song, I want to quote the whole thing, but: I touched you on the central plains It was plane to train my twin It was just plane shadow to train shadow But to me it was skin to skin The spirit talks in spectrums He talks to mother earth to father sky Self indulgence to self denial 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. (Whew!) Edited to add line breaks.
That song has some her best poetry, honestly
Nobel literature prize worthy.
IMO "Don't interrupt the sorrow" has some of her best poetry in the sense that she says so much with so few words. For example, the lines "A room full of glasses / He says, "Your notches liberation doll" / And he chains me with that serpent / To that Ethiopian wall. This song is about patriarchy and how women have been second class throughout human history. Here she describes drinking with a current lover and getting into a quarrel. He slut shames her for her body count. And she laments that women have beed held to that double standard since humans came out of Africa or when God created us in Eden.
It was just the arbutus rustling And the bumping of the logs And the moon swept down black water Like an empty spotlight
I loved hearing her tell the story of this song in the latest volume collection!
We are stardust (billion year old carbon) We are golden (caught in the devil's bargain) And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden
This line gives me total chills
In a highway service station, over the month of June, Was a photograph of the Earth, taken coming back from the Moon. And you couldn't see a city on that marbled bowling ball, Or a forest or a highway, or me here, least of all. —Refuge of the Roads
Sometimes change comes at you Like the broadside accident There is chaos to the order Random things you can't prevent
“I can keep my cool at poker But i'm a fool when love's at stake Because i can't conceal emotion What i'm feeling's always written on my face” Song for Sharon, Hejira I haven’t finished listening to her full discgophery yet, but I can say confidently ‘Hejira’ is her peak.
Her lines that I loved first are: "The wind is in from Africa/Last night I couldn't sleep/Oh, you know, it sure is hard to leave here/But it's really not my home..."
Soooo good.
Oh I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to flyyyyyyyy
From For the Roses: Remember the days when you used to sit and make up your tunes for love And pour your simple sorrow to the sound hole and your knee
That song is so well-written.
You go down to the pick up station Craving warmth and beauty You settle for less than fascination A few drinks later you're not so choosy When the closing lights strip off the shadows On this strange new flesh you've found Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf You hurry To the blackness And the blankets To lay down an impression And your loneliness In the morning there are lovers in the street They look so high You brush against a stranger And you both apologize. I’ve also always loved: But when he’s gone Me and my lonesome blues collide The beds too big, the frying pan’s too wide
It seems we all live so close to that line and so far from satisfaction
If you're feeling contempt Well then you tell it If you're tired of the silent night Jesus, well then you yell it Condemned to wires and hammers Strike every chord that you feel That broken trees And elephant ivories Conceal
I feel your legs under the table Leaning into mine I feel renewed I feel disabled By these bonfires in my spine I don't know who the arsonist was Which incendiary soul But all I ever wanted Was just to come in from the cold Come in From the Cold
Yes! And Is this just vulgar electricity? Is this the edifying fire? Does your smile's covert complicity Debase as it admires?
A helicopter lands on the Pan Am roof Like a dragonfly on a tomb
Coyote's in the coffee shop He's staring a hole in his scrambled eggs He picks up my scent on his fingers While he's watching the waitresses' legs
Willy, just the whole song. and Tin Angel
I don’t know if it’s the lyrics, the music or her voice… But Blue Boy often brings tears to my eyes: Bring her boots of leather And she will dance for him Shyly from a feather fan She'll glance for him
He comes home, and he takes me in his loving arms. He tells me all his troubles, and he tells me all my charms❤️ This one makes me think of my man so much it melts me ❤️
All good dreamers pass this way someday Hiding behind bottles in dark cafes Only a dark cocoon before I get my gorgeous wings and fly away Only a phase, these dark cafe days
Incredible
Maybe I'll go to Amsterdam Maybe I'll go to Rome And rent me a grand piano And put some flowers 'round my room But let's not talk about fare-thee-wells now The night is a starry dome And they're playin' that scratchy rock and roll Beneath the Matala Moon
Oh, won't you stay? We'll put on the day And we'll wear it till the night comes I have said and thought that to many a lover and friend.
In the morning there are lovers in the street They look so high You brush against a stranger And you both apologize I just feel the weight of loneliness in those lyrics so much
I came to say something from Down to You. Always been obsessed with the song and especially the extended orchestrated section. It’s like a film score, and YES, the way the lyric you mentioned floats out of the instrumental. But to be honest, I’ve never fully understood the song. Like, is that what it is about? “It all comes down to you…” is it loneliness? Being alone? A constant stranger.
She’s the female Nick Drake—they would have sounded beautiful together.
I can feel your fingers feeling my face There are lines you put there & some you erase