<<tho i must add that i dont really think that any album can be categorised as *best*,
but it can be categorised as "as favourite and most relevant to me">>
Well put, Ron - How you "rank" Joni's work (or anybody's, for that matter, can depend
on a lot of differing criteria...
<<and on the subject of s&l and lyrics HELP!!
"the perils of benefactors,
the blessings of parasites...."
or is it a case of joni putting in a dual meaning so the listener can take whichever
is relevant to them, while only she knows which is relevant to her
personally??>>
I would argue that this is the case because it's her style to write in this way, from
her perspective yet speaking to us in such a way that we look at it from our own.
And I think that Joni even tells us that she is going to be challenging us to a "dual"
with this song with its opening:
"Every picture has its shadows
And it has some source of light"
Like the song Hejira, this one is a masterpiece and features one brilliant insightful
line after another. The one that keeps ringing in MY head is:
"Compelled by prescribed standards
Or some ideals we fight
For wrong wrong and right"
Maybe Joni was talking about the making of this record, about being pressured to
follow up her "hit" with something just like it, but that simply has never been the
ideal she's fought for. At any length, the phrase can be interpreted by the listener
and applied to whatever THEY hold as an ideal. And even if we see it as 'wrong', we
persist.
To include it on her '79 tour with The Persuasions was pure genius, as was the choice
of a rock and roll cover "Why do Fools Fall In Love". Given her song history, it's
amazing to see the depth she brings to this song, without changing a word!
Bob
NP: Keb Mo, "Dangerous Mood"
