As someone who has written a whole bunch of songs I can tell you without a
doubt that the inspiration can happen in so many ways its amazing. people
have written about the "muse" but that has only rarely been my experience.
Mostly they come from pieces of your life that affect you in some unique (or
happy or bad or sad) way.
Sometimes I have been just driving around and listening to the news or a
commericial or someone walking past my car at a red light. I divide
songwriters into categories. Some write from the instrument out some from the
experience in. Piano songs are different than guitar songs and are different
from synth songs. Some write the melody and try to make up words some write
the words and try to find the best melody to fit the mood of the theme.
However most songs are about relationships and so there is no doubt that the
relationship that a writer is going through (or crashed into the deepest part
of hell over) is a huge influence. Not that all songs are about "I love you".
One time a girl friend sent me (this was before I had a political affiliation
of course) seven pages with only the line "I love you" over the entire seven
pages front and back causing my mother to wonder how sane she was so I wrote
a song about that but didnt mention her. So you never know the exact
connection between the relationships and the song but many times little
nuances and clues are there.
Now in the case of our dear Joni when I hear songs like "Backstreets" the
line about the hair in the bathtub drain I think this clearly is Jonis way of
publicizing the flaw in her current boyfriend-husband. In "I just want to see
you Again" the line about the suspenders made me think it was about james
taylor because of the album cover of him in big suspenders. But maybe not. I
have found many such direct references. maybe you have as well. But i thought
it would be interesting to juxtapose her albums with her relationships just
to see what the songs on the albums would look like. Having said that there
is a caveat.
Songs sometimes take years to nurture and evolve until you have the final
final. A melody that has words about one subject (but never recorded) may
have those words replaced just because the writer thinks that some new words
fit the melody better. Sometimes the words never seem right so they are kept
for months or years until the proper melody is found and that could delay the
words until well past the demise of the relationship.
So I would caution that there may be no connection between the current
relationship and the song appearing on an album. On the other hand there
could be. This is a big mystery. Only the Joan Knows. (eeerie music). On the
other hand taking a break from the Coup D'Etat in progess I thought it would
be fun to publish my findings. Special thanks to jaime Zubari and Steve "The
Dulcitola" Dulson for their contributions many months ago. I did my best to
research the dates but if I made a mistake not only am I sorry but Ill cast
my next vote for mayor of San Francisco for a Democrat next time.
marcel deste
1965 Couldnt make out my handwriting as to the person.
1966 Chuck Mitchell
1967 Leonard Cohen
1967 David Crosby
1968 Mitchell Reed Song to a Seagull
1969 Graham Nash Clouds
1970 James Taylor Ladies of the Canyon
1971 David Blue Blue
1972 Jackson Browne For the Roses
1974 John Guerin Court and Spark
Don Alias Miles of Aisles
1975 " Hissing
1976 " Hejira
1977 unknown Don Juans reckless Daughter
1979 Her "art" Mingus
1980 unknown Shadows and Light
1982 Larry Klein Wild Things Run fast
1985 Larry Klein Dog Eat Dog
1988 Larry Klein Chalkmark in a Rainstorm
1991 Larry Klein Night Ride Home
1994 Larry Klein Turbulent Indigo
1998 Don Freed Taming the Tiger
