Hi all, A friend sent me a tape with some great stuff on it, including some very early Joni stuff -- a really giggly "Coke Commercial" thingy that apparently (with different words) became Ballerina Valerie, or did BV precede the Coke Commercial version?
Another thing on the tape was "Winter Lady", which she wrote from the point of view of a man -- which makes me wonder, did she write it for Chuck (Mitchell, her brief husband), or for Gordon Lightfoot, who I believe was their roommate for a while in Tornto or Detroit, I forget. I would swear in this version from '67, she sings sort of like Gordy, same vibrato and phrasing. Just wondering if anyone knows -- did he ever sign a version of this song, say in performance? For that matter, did he or any man ever record the song? Oh, also on the tape, is the demo version of Man From Mars, which is a zillion times better than the version on TtT!!! The piano arrangement is similar to the one I adapted from the TtT PVG sheet music -- I found that arrangement to be shrill, requiring a right hand jump of a couple of octaves that didn't sound good (although it is closer to the sound of the TtT CD version). And is that a mandolin that comes in on the second verse? Nice. And the harmonies are cool, and I love the way she wails "Man from Mars" a couple of times at the end, which isn't done on the TtT version. Vigard's version (from the Grace of My Heart soundtrack) is very similar to Joni's demo version, which, I was told some time back, accidentally showed up on early copies of the CD, and was replaced by the Vigard version. One more thing before I put you all in a coma -- I noticed that where Joni sings "Every time I think of you/swallowed by the dark", Vigard sings "Every time I picture you..." Not sure it makes any semantic difference. Anyway, pity Joni didn't put the demo version on TtT. It's just better. IMHO. warmly, walt
