White flags of winter chimneys Waving truce against the moon In the mirrors of a modern bank >From the window of a hotel room I find these lyrics very cinematic, almost halucinatory. Everytime I hear them, my brain runs the same imaginary little film clip. It starts with a tight image of the chimneys and the smoke, panning out slowly to reveal the smoke's interplay with the moon. Even though the moon is out, it is just approaching dusk - the sky is a dull, moody grey, while the moon is full and oversized. You can practically feel the frost in the air. There is a great sense of mid-winter melancholy. Slowly, the 'camera' pulls back to reveal strange distortions and abstractions in the image, until it becomes obvious that what is being observed is nothing more than a reflection in the mirrored walls of a downtown building. Your emotions become even more unsettled as you fight to recognize what's real, and what's imagined. It reminds us that what we preceive as reality is often colored by our personal perspectives. Finally the camera retreats even further, to reveal the interior of a hotel room! ! - and there sit's Joni, alone a t the window, taking a long needed rest from her journeys - this hopeless romantic, trapped in a modern world, ever observing, waiting anxiously to see where life will take her next. All this in only 24 words! Now that's what I call imagery. Jack
