Joni Chatroom: http://www.jmdl.com/chat.cfm
NE JoniFest 2001: http://www.jmdl.com/jfne2001.cfm
This is one of my absolutely favorite Joni songs. Yeah I know it got smoked and
chided in the song rating on the JMDL two years ago but I have always loved the song
because Im a singer and the beauty of the vocals entrances me just as the Dawntreader
has always done. I looked it up in both her songbook and the Tab page on JMDL and
there always seems to be a chord missing that is on the record but what has been
printed doesnt seem to strike my ear as correct. I have found chords NOT printed that
work. I have a good ear as many of the listers could attest but this one has me
stumped. Having said that I would suggest that this song came from the era when Joni
first went to New York. Many of the songs on her first two albums orignated from that
"New to new York" experience like Marci and Chelsea Morning and Nathan La freneer. I
believe that this song is filled with the images of New York. As such I can only
speculate that what she seems to be describing in the song is something !
!
akin to the Times Square area an
d the pinball parlors that she may have encountered or a visit to Coney island. The
quasi Olde English atmosphere melody and harmony lines and lyric imagery juxtopposed
to the tacky big city imagery seems to fit in my mind. Others may get something
completely different out of it. Thats cool. My take is below.
Songs to Aging Children
by Joni Mitchell
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Through the windless wells of wonder
By the throbbing light machine
In a tea leaf trance or under
Orders from the king and queen
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
[[[When i read this the first thing I pictured was the arcade at the Santa Cruz
Amusement park. ]]]
People hurry by so quickly
Don't they hear the melodies
In the chiming and the clicking
And the laughing harmonies
{{{Marcel: Sure sounds like a video or pinball arcade to me. Was it Jonis first trip
to Coney island which would have had big colourful signs of Royalty imploring hapless
visitors to see the two headed snake? Personally being into music as much as I have
been i have marveled at the incredible Caliopes in the merry g-rounds Ive seen and I
to have noticed that those there couldnt care less. Think about it, How do thise
things actually work ?.One of the mysteries of life to me.I treied to actually get off
the things and go into that little room in the middle and the guard threw me out
before i learned the secret. ))
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
Some come dark and strange like dying
Crows and ravens whistling
Lines of weeping, strings of crying
So much said in listening
((( People in the tacky "mirthful" atmosphere of the amusement park trying to escape
some problem or spoiled relationship yet wearing the face of the dejected amidst the
joyful sounds of the kids.?? Joni is a super sensetive person and if her innate
sensetivity and poetic ability was combined with something like a first vist to Coney
Island or Times Square theres no telling where these images could have actually come
from)))
Songs to aging children come
Aging children, I am one
Does the moon play only silver
When it strums the galaxy
Dying roses will they will their
Perfumed rhapsodies to me
(((In the 60's there was alot of gratuitous imagery included in lyrics and i could
give many examples. Joni was at this point a young songwriter and not as developed as
she obviously was to become. She could have simply put together words that sounded
wonderful as the final verse as these do or she could have had meaning behind them but
like the strange etching on the wall of the Incan Master discovered by the
archaeologist we may never know for sure. Who cares by this time the harmonies have me
entranced))
Songs to aging children came
This is one
Ultimately I think Joni was experiencing the first pangs of awareness that you are
leaving total youth behind. Far away from home. Not yet successful. A woman alone not
very far removed from giving up Kilauren. I believe that if you have that experience
where you go back to visit a place (like an amuselment park for instance where when
you were small it was so filled with true wonder and you are now an adult it tends to
make you feel older than you are because you are really experiencing the end of
innocence forever.
Of course Joni could always call me personally on the phone and set me straight as per
the true meaning (hope hope hope).
Marcel Deste
