Some time ago a guy named Matthew Hall appeared on the list, saying
that he was putting together a fanzine that would focus on current
singer/songwriters. He was looking to find someone to write an
article about Joni for the premier issue. I had always wanted to
write my own take on Joni's career. So with the full realization that
nothing would probably ever come of it and the knowledge that I was
risking being plagiarized, I wrote a rather lengthy retrospective of
Joni's career up to the release of BSN. I sent it to Matthew, heard
from him once or twice and haven't heard from him since. That was a
year or so ago. I really don't care since I'm not a published writer
and had wanted to write something like this anyway for a long time.
Any way, there's been some talk about For the Roses recently, so I
thought I'd post my take on where it fits into Joni's life and the arc
of her career. If any one is at all interested in reading my
mini-novel on Joni, please let me know. I did some research on it on
the JMDL & Joni Mitchell.com homepages but I'm not sure I got all my
facts exactly straight. So if anybody wants to see it, let me know.
Here's the part about FTR:
Joni took a break from the L A music scene after recording 'Blue',
retreating to the
Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. She even considered giving up her
musical career
entirely at this time. But her creative muse was too strong to be
silenced & she emerged from this period of solitude and reflection a
stronger & wiser person. She was still vulnerable & a die-hard
romantic, but less inclined to be knocked down by the ups &
downs of life & love. She also came back with a collection of songs
that would comprise
her most ambitious & mature album up to that point, 'For the Roses'.
In the song 'Woman of Heart & Mind' from 'For the Roses' (1972), Joni
sings: 'I am a
woman of heart and mind/with time on her hands, no child to raise/you
come to me like a little boy/and I give you my scorn & my praise'.
The song and the album are a declaration that she has emerged from her
dark night of the soul a survivor, tempered & strengthened, better
equipped to handle romantic relationships & ready to take on
increasingly mature & ambitious work. While the lyrics are much more
bare-bones & to the point than anything she had written before, the
musical background she gives them is fuller & more complex. The album
features woodwinds & reeds played by Tom Scott of the LA Express and
also a string arrangement by Bobby Notkoff for the song 'Judgment of
the Moon & Stars' . 'FTR' also produced Joni's first top 40 radio
hit, the tongue-in-cheek country flavored 'You Turn Me On I'm A Radio'
. Her voice shows an increasing maturity on 'For the Roses',
employing less of her stratospheric upper register and taking on an
earthier tone and the songs 'Banquet', 'Cold Blue Steel & Sweet Fire',
'Let the Wind Carry Me' and 'Blonde in the Bleachers' reveal
increasing depth & maturity in her songwriting.. The title track
from 'FTR' is the first of Joni's songs to express her growing
discontent & disillusionment with the record business and the culture
of celebrity. The first but not the last.
