A bit about my journey into Joni's world:
I got into Joni when I was 15, when I heard Night Ride Home playing in my uncle's car
on the way to Toronto. I loved her deep, robust voice and the wisdom it evoked. I
asked to look at the sleeve and poured over the lyrics, song by song, in the back of
the car - nearly got car sick. I realized I had found someone really incredible. When
I heard she was Canadian it just added to my resolve, being Canadian myself, of course.
I had always known "about" Joni Mitchell - I knew who she was. She was part of my
parents' generation's vocabulary, part of the Canadian lexicon. I had this very vague
picture of a blonde woman with a guitar singing really girlie songs, maybe getting
high on pot and being utterly shy. But this new Joni, this Night Ride Home Joni, was
so formidable and strong: "I'm not gonna be the jackpot at the end of your purjered
rainbow, not if local justice has even one good eye."
-Wow!
So, Turbulent Indigo came out and again, I was mesmerized. "The Sire of Sorrow" struck
me right away as being utterly timeless and epic. I also loved the title track for its
gusto and energy: "He'd piss in their fireplace, he'd drag them through Turbulent
Indigo..." Damn straight!
Hits and Misses provided an exposure to her older material, which I had up until that
point, not really explored, and honestly felt could not possibly live up to her
current work. Once I got my bearings regarding her older work, though, I started to
buy the individual albums from years gone by. I bought them in trios, starting with
Ladies Of The Canyon, Blue and Court & Spark, only because I recognized so many of the
songs on the CDs from Hits.
It was only last year that I completed my collection with Dog Eat Dog, Clouds and Wild
Things Run Fast. And I have yet to get Travelogue, since it's not released in Canada
until next week.
I've had the last year to really absorb Joni's ENTIRE body of work and only recently
could I safely pick a favourite album and a favourite song. My favourite album is Don
Juan's Reckless Daughter and my favourite song is Hejira. I love that '75 to '79
period in Joni's work, a period that is often not focused on by the mainstream,
unfortunately. But it's very mystical work. Brilliant. Probably the most adventurous
work of her career, which is why I love it so much.
I tend to look at her work in "chapters" or "acts" - a very literary and theatrical
perception, I know, but Joni's music works so marvelously as fiction or cinema, in
visual and aural respects. "Paprika Plains" is begging for cinematic use!
So, that's a bit about my journey across Joni's enormous sea of music. I'm still
paddling, really. It's a part of who I am now. It's shaped my world view and helped
broaden my understanding of humanity, as I'm sure it has to many of you too.
Now THAT is art!
-Andrew
PS: Jody, there are more of us out there. There's got to be.
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now
