Catherine wrote:
> Nice one, Bob. Like you,who Joni wrote these songs
> about doesn't interest me much. Well, maybe just a
> little - it does add context in some cases. But I
> find the whole business of trying to find out who the
> lover du jour was voyeuristic somehow.
This is what I don't understand. If Joni herself reveals these people and
her experiences with them either overtly in interviews and in stage patter,
or implicitly in her songs, why is it voyeuristic to discuss what she has
already (often very candidly)revealed? I can see that it can be offensive
if we go beyond what she has revealed and start making judgments on her or
wanting to know more than what she has revealed but I think we basically
stick to what she has told us. Maybe I'm just simple or dense, but it really
baffles me that some people think this should be taboo or is somehow
unseemly.
> The thing about Joni's songs is that, even if they are about
> particular people (and I believe that many of them may
> start out that way), or composites of people (which is
> what I think), they are universal - they speak to many
> of us who connect Joni's words with events in our own lives.
I think many songwriters create composites but jeez, in Joni's case, she
seems to be real specific. Look at the recent discovery of Coyote thread.
After a few people out forth all the compelling circumstantial evidence
there was no doubt who he was. How many composites have a link to the Bay
of Fundy, for example? Here is the paradox to me - if Joni had not written
many of the personal details or characteristics of the real people she based
her songs on, we probably would never have connected her words so closely
with events in our own lives. They are not generic and I don't think many
of them are composites. What interests me in learning more about the
characters is that it is like a real life story to me. I loved Nash's and
Cohen's music before I even knew about Joni. To learn that some of her
gorgeous songs are about these other artists I love is a bonus to me. All
these beautiful souls inspiring each other is uplifting to me.
However, I have thought about this more and can see another side to it. With
the exception of suspecting some of Blue and FTR were about JT, I lived in
virtual ignorance of who these characters were for almost 30 years until I
joined the list. So in a way, I had a lot of time to be blissfully ignorant
and not have the knowledge of who they were about impinging on my experience
of the songs. It may be that discussing "who is that one about" sort of
cheats the people here who are just now or recently experiencing her music
from feeling the music fully from their own perspective and emotions. That
may not be fair to them.
Kakki
