Hi Steve, You wrote: > But I think the main reason is that her music is not > formula and a lot of > people can not cope with that.
I agree with you wholeheartedly on this. (I was going to get into this in some detail in my workshop at JoniFest.) In the early years, Joni didn't usually add a chorus as such. (BYT, The Circle Game, Little Green and Woodstock being some notable exceptions.) ) Her early song forms are often A A A A, sometimes with a sort of 'tag' line at the end of each verse. The standard folk form is A B A B A B, with A being the verse and B the chorus. I think that's one reason she was pigeonholed in the folk category for so long. I'm not sure which song is the first of hers to use a bridge, but I think it's pretty far along in her career. The form in that case is often: A B A B C B, with A being the verse, B the chorus, and C the bridge. This is the form most pop songs follow these days. It's amazing to me when I listen to the radio to see this form repeated over and over, song after song. A bridge is used to change the pace a bit, grab the listener's attention, and build momentum for a big chorus to finish. Anyway, that's all to say that I agree. And, if any of you are bored sometime, just TRY to figure out the form of Pirate of Penance. Man, that song has no known form! lots of love Anne
