I've been thinking over the line(s) "last night the ghosts of my old idea(l)s reran on Channel 5" (first of all - is it ghosts of my old *ideas*, or *ideals*? I always thought it was "ideals" but on the lyrics page of www.jmdl.com, it's "ideas." I suppose it could be either, esp. where Joan is concerned.
If Channel 5 is an oblique reference to CBC TV which was likely the only game in town for young Joni in Sask, it's clever. I always thought this was a reference to a dream though, rather than some rerun on a real TV. She has these images running and flickeringthrough her mind. When I think of this, I see these images in black and white - that's how these ghosts present themselves to me when I think of these words. If it's a recurring (or reoccuring!) dream, then it's one that probably shows up from time to time according to the emotional state of the dreamer (this dream comes in on Channel 5 where the more prosaic stuff probalby shows up on Channel 10, community access TV). Think about channelling - couldn't this also be a reference to mediums (media?) channelling particular spirits (like Ethel Merman, for example - Hi, Smurph). The dreamstate is the medium by which the old ideas/ideals are channelled through to the consciousness to become a song or a piece of art or whatever. TV is a medium; Joni is a medium. Channel 5 is an old idea dredged up possibly subconsciously from Joni's youth in a day when TV was new but moving rapidly into the fore of modern media, changing all of our lives and society as it did; Joni is channelling images of eagles and snakes; of planes and trains; of clarity and blind desire. This song is so full of rich imagery and duality that a thesis could be written on it alone, IMO, but you'd need to be channelling to do it. NP: Alison Moyet "Invisible" ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
