Like Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell is one of the great poets of my lifetime. Like Simon, she also writes music around her poems.
If he’s the poet of a hustling New York City and of men beaten
down by it, she’s all about the secluded canyons of LA and relationships seen
from the female perspective. Her apogee might in fact be her Ladies of the
Canyon album. It’s certainly my favorite.
The poetry Mitchel's songs seem to go best with her open tuning of the guitar and her ethereal voice. There have been some good covers (Eva Cassidy; Judy Collins; Crosby, Stills & Nash), but there's something haunting about Mitchell singing her own compositions.
For National Poetry Month today I was going to give you “Willy”, from Ladies. But then
there was “Woodstock”, also from Ladies. Or “Big Yellow Taxi”, from Ladies.
And the eponymous “Ladies of the Canyon”…
Yeah, okay—Ladies is the best.
So I’m just going for two of my all-time favorites from the album. First up, “The Circle Game”, which pops into my head every single time I see a dragonfly.
And “For Free”.
©2024 Bas Bleu
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