bob wrote, "3. Silky Veils of Ardor - Now she withdraws herself from the relationship altogether, but just like in "Amelia", she longs to crash back into the arms of love. She realizes that only in her dreams can she return to the way things used to be, whether it's her life in the country and that attitude, or the romance that once was a flame and is now a cinder. " i loved this post, bob. i remember last year sometime i wrote about struggling with DJRD, how the different themes of individuality and community and history and timelessness tangled up and tripped me up -- especially when i think of this record coming after hejira, which in my mind is a paradigmatic joni album: a masterpiece of unity, or variations on a theme. DJRD after that seems cluttered, broken up into pieces, frustrating -- a joy, certainly, and one hejira is all i will ever need, but a crazy joy. i remember last year many people wrote about their thinking about this album and helped me gather more understanding. so when i read this part about "silky veils" i had to chime in. this is ONE part of DJRD that makes perfect artistic sense to me, and i chimed in with this last year, but here it is again: i find "it's just in dreams we fly / in my dreams we fly" to be one of the most powerful, heartbreaking, beautiful and redeeming couplets in all of JM's work. i hear her first line as addressed to someone, a lover, or me, listening alone: she says, i know the reality -- the hard work that goes into life and love. but THEN, with a small change of language she bursts into a beautiful sound and vision (oh i love her voice here), saying, but wait, but wait, here is the crazy wonderful thing: in my dreams we can fly! meaning: in my art and in my imagination, we can do those things that cannot be done. and what a gift that is! one line answers, completes, refutes the other. and ends with an incredible affirmation of art's power to transform. on a personal note, i have thought about this couplet often when i am sad about not having my beloved grandmother alive any more (she died three years ago.) i dream about her often. and when i am dejected i might think, it's only in dreams that i can see her or talk to her. but sometimes i will then be overwhelmed by happiness, because, of course: what a gift! i sometimes have dreams where i am granted time with her! i try to wake up thankful, not crushed. thanks for reading. --emily NP: "don't go to strangers"
