In a message dated 6/13/01 10:10:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> And then too, Joni casts herself as the stranger in "The Silky Veils of
> Ardor":
>
> "I am a poor wayfaring stranger
> Traveling through all these highs and lows"
>
> With a lyric that could have been the opening line to Hejira and it’s
>
The role of the stranger is a theme that Joni seems fascinated with, taking
it's roots in her earliest and unreleased songs, and threading throughout her
work...even in other's writing; her latest album begs her lover,
"Don't go to strangers, darling come to me"
I think you're on to something here Bob and I'll add to your synopsis....
Didn't Joni have the hexagram of the Stranger or Traveler etched on her
guitar?
And he lyrics in the song Amelia:
It was the hexagram of the heavens....
It was the strings of my guitar.....
The hexagrams of the I Ching are determined by the forces of Yin and Yang
within the individual. These are represented by broken (Yin) and solid (Yang)
lines.
In the hexagram of the Stranger, it looks like this
-----
-- --
-----
-----
-- --
-- --
I'm convinced that Joni sees something of herself in this mercurial
character, again duality
For those of us who are unfamiliar with the teachings of the
I Ching, a modern interpretation of the hexagram goes like this:
Your life is an odyssey. You are constantly on the move from place to place.
you find comfort in your sense of yourself moving. Maybe you are a practical
nomad like Hemingway; or an aesthetic nomad like Cocteau; or an intellectual
nomad like Norman O. Brown; or a spiritual nomad like Bishop Pike.
You are always on your way into something or on your way out of something.
This is not aimless, chancy wandering-it is the pursuit of it's own fuel, a
search for a means of continuing existence. You feed on the best of the
different places or ideas or roles you wander into; when that is consumed you
wander out again. ( Black Crow)
Because of your mercurial character you have very few acquaintances at any
one time, although you have left myriads behind you. This is a bittersweet
Tao: bittersweet because the joy or discovery is always paired with the
hopelessness of your search.
I can go on, but It's strange enough already without getting into the more
esoteric meaning.
I know I really don't know myself, but I guess that's what life is for....or
about...learning :~)
Rose
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
