Yes, this secret is so dark that it's taken me weeks to work up the nerve
to confess. That's why only now do I return to the apparently exhausted
thread...
Here tis:
The first Joni song I truly grooooved to, and the first I purchased was....
"This Flight Tonight" by Nazareth. This was way back, in London, in the
early 70's when it came out and was a top 20 hit on the radio. I know this
has to be a truly dark dark dark secret because Bob classifies this cover
as "Dangerously Cheesy." But I liked the chugging rhythm guitar and the
screaming tenor that says tacky "Arena Rock" all over it. I confess! I
especially liked those distorted voices, as if coming through the cheap
headphones provided by the airplane, & the way that he wailed: "Las Vegas
Sands...!"
And-- get this!-- not only did I like all of it, and played that cracked
45 repeatedly (it was one of the 5 I purchased while in London for some 3
years) I didn't even know that it was a Joni tune when I first heard it...
Not until I read her name beneath the title. "Huh? Joni Mitchell??"-- I
asked myself. That's right, Joni was only a distant blip on my musical
radar screen, some hazy indeterminate "Blonde Folkie" over there, strumming
her guitar.
Please forgive me!
--grovelingly,
Bruce
PS Second Joni tune I bought, about 7 years later, "Hissing."
