<< These are the clouds of Michelangelo
Muscular with gods and sungold
Shine on your witness in the refuge of the roads. >>
Well, I've been sitting with this message for about a week, waiting for the
time to transcribe an introduction that Joni gives to the song on her '83
WTRF tour...there are several, this is the one she told to the crowd at
Clarkston Pine Knob, on the 4th of July 1983:
"A few years ago I was driving along the Gulf of Mexico, and I was coming up
on the Mississippi Delta when I saw a strange cloud formation, and it
reminded me of Michaelangelo...you know the story of Michaelangelo, right?
Well, Michaelangelo, was uh...well, his record company was pretty rough, you
see, he liked to work in white marble, that's what he felt he did best, but
they insisted that he had to do the Sistine Chapel roof.
So, next thing he knew, there he was up there with trends all being as they
were...he was lying on his back with paint dripping in his eye, and thinking
to himself, "Anybody could do this, I mean, this is ridiculous, you know, and
he saw visions all the time while these colors were leaking all over him, he
saw visions of pure white form, and he was SO frustrated, so one day he
climbed down off of the scaffolding and he said to the Pope, you know,
"Listen Mr. P", he said, "I just have no inspiration, I can think of ten
different guys that could do this job just as well".
Anyway, the Pope wouldn't let up, and he said "No no man, this is bad, finish
what you gotta do"...this by the way is not autobiographical, I'm a free
agent...so anyways, uh...ol' Michaelangelo in his frustration goes wandering
across the bluff...suddenly he looks up in the sky, at the peak of his
frustration, there gliding above him are all these brawny, muscular
torsos...it's a gift, all he has to do is pick up a pencil, and sketch
it...there they are, they're all like given to him, right?
So as I was comin' up on the Mississippi Delta one day, there they were - the
clouds of Michaelangelo,I mean you didn't have to know anatomy, he just
picked up a pencil and drew them, you know they had pecs and biceps and
fingers (laughs) that's the wrong one...anyway, this is called Refuge in the
Roads".....
And yes I know what the title is on the record, but that's what Joni said
that night...
'Night all...
Bob
NP: Refuge Of the Roads, Clarkston '83
