Reading about the Blonde in the Bleachers thread and picking out this to add
my thoughts:
> never got the sense that The Blonde in the Bleachers was Joni.
>
This is one of my favorite songs now but as a teenager sequestered up in my
bedroom, it was one I played over and over and over. Sometimes just to hear
Stephen Stills in the background, sometimes to muse over the content.
I get such a Joni first person sense from this song, right from the get go
with:
"the blonde in the bleachers, she flips her hair for you"
I've always felt that the subject who "starts to fall," catches the blonde
hair in the first place because it reminds him of Joni. On the road and
traveling, sometimes it's not the exotic that catches your eye as much as
what reminds you of what's back home. So I'm thinking and seeing Joni right
off the bat.
And it is such a great song. I noticed that Lamadamarama pointed out how it
works on so many levels. I see the song constantly flipping, (could be a pun
but it's late and I'm tired), back and forth between Joni as the main subject
and her man. It may be that she's on the road as well but she's not indulging
in the same behavior. While he's out there "falling," she's touring or
recording in a studio somewhere, trying to be objective about this, ("you
hate living alone, you can still hear sweet mysteries calling you"), but
regretful just the same, ("she tapes her regrets to the microphone stand"),
and sings them out in song.
So for me, I get the two main subjects juxtaposed on each other with Joni
weaving those two visions very gracefully.
That's all folks,
MG
NP: not listening to Jeff go on for the umpteenth time about the Kings game
last night.
