For me, The Hissing of Summer Lawns will always be the "summer" album. Yea, quite predictable and contrasting Emily's Hejira summer association. But, back in 1997, I was impulsive and went out and bought the album while in Summer College in Newark DE. I was still in High school and had only Turbulent Indigo, Dog Eat Dog, and Court and Spark in my collection. Later that summer, when I was at home and swimming, I would put the album on as background music and it stuck.
Every summer since then, if I don't have atleast one swim with HOSL, then the season is not complete. I guess what made it stick initially was lying on a raft listening to "Edith and the Kingpin" and the orchestrations sweeping over me, sort of caressing me as I floated gently in the pool. Yea, it is corny, but it stuck.
And on a similar note, Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm and Night Ride home always work best for me, when I listen to them when it is raining. Maybe becuase I purchased them and first enjoyed them on rainy days or possibly when I am lethargic or thoughtful, they tend to shine on gloomy days? Don't know.
Blair:)
NP: Time and Love, Laura Nyro
hi everyone.
i love this thread.
my strangest seasonal joni association is "hejira," which for me will
always be a *summer* album. i know, i know, despite the wintry cover
and the chilly emotional tone and "thaw out or freeze"...but i discovered hejira
right when i needed it, which happened to be the beginning of a long, hot,
airconditionerless summer in brooklyn--when i'd left a man i had been
living with for a while and moved, heartbroken, to a great apartment in
a wonderful old school brooklyn neighborhood, fort greene.
hejira got me to come out swinging again--i would play it on my
crappy discman as i walked through fort greene park, and on the
D/Q train stuck over the manhattan bridge, and on my tiny player in the
kitchen, as i figured out all the joys of cooking for one again!
"song for sharon," especially, that new york song, was like a gift joni
had wrapped up and sent to me--honestly!--RIGHT when i needed it.
so, despite all the iceskating visuals, for me hejira will always conjure
summer--and brooklyn. and a tough but strengthening time.
actually, though, because hejira was written on a long, lone cross
country road trip--maybe i'm justified in the summer association--
don't know when joni took hers, but all of my own long road trips
have come in the summer (and, of course, were ALSO airconditioner-less!)
-- emily, in chicago
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