Ha! A **lyric** thread! This is what I signed on for, eh? Thanks for
researching Joni's use of the word "stranger", Bob, the SCJoniGuy. What a
great job of dissecting the various flavors of strangers. I hadn't taken
note of Morning Morgantown's quote. Totally cool. She's so comfortable in
her own skin, with her baby that she'll
"wink at total strangers, passing." Never having "no child to raise", I
haven't felt that but I've seen it in my sister and brothers. There's a
hint of the deeper duality to come there too. Now, on to my own literary
takes on Joni Mitchell.
Bob quoted "Down to You":
"In the morning there are lovers in the street
They look so high
You brush against a stranger
And you both apologize"
then opined that her stranger represents "the unknown". I guess I feel
differently. My feeling is that her "stranger" represents something more
uhh... corporeal. (Sorry Colin- I couldn't resist.) I mean, to me, she's
talking about the difference between last night's stranger (a lover) and
this morning's stranger on the street (an elbow in the ribs?). To me, the
author is noticing an irony that uhhhn, she was uhhhn, seeking a stranger
last evening but is dodging a stranger in the morning. Her strangers
showcase yet another trademark Joni duality- two "takes" on sudden intimacy.
(Ah! Fodder for my "Duality II essay"!)
In "Woman Of Heart And Mind", the author suspects that her friend's
strangers leave him on the empty side. The way I read it, the author
doesn't have a problem with strangers but she suspects that _he_ does. To
wit:
"You're always disappointed.
Nothing seems to keep you high.
Drive your bargains,
Push your papers,
Win your medals,
Fuck your strangers.
Don't it leave you on the empty side?"
I always, always, confuse the friend in "Woman Of Heart And Mind" with
Richard in "The Last Time I Saw Richard". To me, they have always been the
same guy. He's always dissapointed (in WOHAM), he marries a figure skater
(in TLTISR), and accuses Joni, err... the author, of tricking herself about
Luv.
Then, Bob directs us to Joni's stranger in "Hejira" thusly:
>>""Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones">>
In the context of Hejira, Ms. Mitchell is on the lam. (Sorry Colin.) A
defector. She's run away from something that has failed. She's *rejected*
someone. Yet, again, she "still feels the pull" (as Neil Young observed).
Regarding her new stranger, she's not trembling in fright, in my view.
She's going,
"Ooooh, baby, baby", as Smokey Robinson observed.
But because she's the Joanster, she experiences the Duality and irony of
rejecting-that / loving-this simultaneously. I submit that this quote
illustrates why Joni is "deep". As the expression goes over here, "Her
picture is in the dictionary next to the word." :)
Debra Shea noted:
>>>>"You can crawl--you can fly too"
Ooohh, chilly! That person's a stranger even to herself. The crawl and fly
line makes me think it's Joni singing about herself (snake and eagle), which
I'd never considered before.>>>>
Deb, all I can say is "WOW!"
I love this list and all of you who "get" this stuff.
Lama
Randy said,
>> Bob, you've never written a stranger post.>>
Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Hey Moe, a pun!
