Well, just days away from Joni's Swan Song... I did not truely understand Joni until the brilliant piece done for Star Art, during the heady days between recording Don Juan and Mingus. The shots of her surrounded by turqois, lavander and ochre landscapes. The radiance in her gaze and the sweeping land behind her revealed the true picture of her. I had always imagined the music was the difficult part and that her beautiful words flowed easily, effortlessy and often. It turns out I had it backwards. Melodies and music come easy to her. It's the words that take forever and at times were as difficult as child birth. The poetess and intellectual I envisioned turned out to be an emotive and spiritual painter. She thinks in metaphor and imagery.
Understanding her as an aural painter allows everything about her to make sense. She was never a commercial success because she was never about commerce. The girl made Art songs with the aesthetics of a painter. The melodies and chords are but painterly strokes of emotion or painterly visual references in sonic form. While the rest of us here see "Orchestral" in the context of padding, cheese, and insubstantial flourish, Joni heard the Orchestra as a deeper palette of color tones to aurally paint with. She heard it as a sweeping panoramic visual to float her voice across. -I suspect the end result of that one lone voice against such a sweeping musical backdrop (-Canadian plains again?) will lend her music the same intimacy and emotion as the early days when it was just her and one lone guitar. Except now, we can physically hear the full painting she heard in her head as she played them, and had so much trouble finding musicians to help make it audible and real. She is flesh and blood, and vision. The great ones can see posibilities the rest of us are simply blind to. Her Swan Song will prove again that she's won of the great, great ones. Thanks, Joni. You have painted with words. You have painted with music. Release yourself in the genuine thing and enjoy your living time. j.
