--- mia ortlieb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bob wrote: "Sisotowbell Lane is an interesting > song...I wonder if it's about > a place that Joni actually experienced, or a place > she imagined. I mean, I > know the NAME is fictitious, just wondering what > she's referencing." > > I alway thought that Joni was referencing a time or > a place for pregnant > unwed mothers -- imagined or real, I do not know. > The biggest clue that I > see is the repeated reference to "rocking chairs"... > and the line that "Noah > is fixing a pump in the rain, he brings us no shame, > we always knew that he > always knew" indicates that this man, Noah, is not > judgemental of the > character's out-of-wedlock pregnancy. > > Also, the last line "we wait for you" indicates to > me that the character is > just waiting out the time until the baby is born. >
That's an interesting take. I never woulda thunk it but it does make sense. To me Sisowtobell Lane sounds like a place remembered from childhood, out in the country. (Joni and her acronyms - I thought of a sisowtobell (Sp?) as a kind of flower like a larkspur or bluebells maybe.) I figured the pump Noah was fixing was the pump for the well. I think Joni is a kid when she's singing this song. The kids are sitting on the front porch eating muffin buns and berries by the steamy kitchen window, out of the rain, watching Noah do his work, taking turns on the porch rocking chair. The people are friendly - they'll always be there when you come back, even years later. When you come back as a grownup, they'll even lend you their car. If I were a teacher and I taught young kids, I'd teach them this song. And Morning Morgantown would be the other side of it - the fun part of being a kid in town. These songs seem very nostalgic to me - you may have a point about the pregnancy. Depending on when Joni wrote SL (I don't feel like trying to spell it again), maybe she was pining for simpler times, or wishing the simple joys of that kind of life for her own child. ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
