joni mitchell - blue - poll

I put this on tonight for the first time in a decade-and-a-half. I really wasn't ready for it - the starkness of the arrangements took me aback a lot. The first three tracks in particular are pretty uncompromising as a lead-in; I think it's 'Carey' before we get a backing vocal, and by then I was pathetically grateful for that little bit of colour.

I must have listening to ever-lusher music without realising it, as this initially felt very alien to me - as if it was from another time, like hearing ragtime or ye olde blues. A trick she pulls from time to time is to throw in a couple of odd notes or a strange harmony so that for a second or two I think the tune has gone off in another direction entirely, when it's actually returned to its original pattern straight away. I've grown quite unaccustomed to this sort of songwriting and it's not exactly pleasant, more unsettling.

On the basis of one listen, the best thing here is 'California' - beautiful rolling melody, it feels like the words are tripping over tumbling out of her mouth. So catchy and uplifting. Worst: 'My Old Man', I think her diction there is quite horrible.

wtf @ My Old Man hate.

― Salvador Dali Parton (Turangalila), Monday, December 7, 2009 5:56 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I don't know, I think it's maybe too complex - it keeps taking these unexpected jazzy turns that break it up too much, and the song and arrangement aren't strong enough to hold it together. I'm not expecting a pub singalong exactly, but mentally I feel like I'm always a bit behind where she's going, without it being satisfying when you get back to the main thing (maybe not a very good example, but I've got 'Penny Lane' in my head as complexity where the tune is so good that you don't even notice). A bit of a dirge, in short.

I hate the 'we don't need no piece of paper from the city hall' line too, just the sound of it.

The only part of the song I don't like is how she sings "hall."

ha, i always thought that was

"we don't need no piece of paper from the city, aww"

(i obviously don't ever look at lyric sheets)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

huh?

that is the only song i do not like on the album!

huh? indeed. strange victory.

i like Ricard a lot, but i totally forgot how much i love ALL I WANT

definitel should've voted for that

i like those results, but then again they are all incredible

I voted California btw

They're all worthy -- it's a shame that My Old Man got no votes.

Classic choice, slow-burner gets its due. Much more surprised by "River" placing second tbh

missed this thread but would have voted "this flight tonight" or "california."

great winner - what i voted for in the end. if there's a surprise here it's the title track coming in so low.

this is just such a fucking amazing record

i sorta love every song on this in a way that deprives them of much individuality but i think i like 'california' the most its so spry and lovely but deeply sad, 'the streets are full of strangers' part, where her voice lifts up on 'strung out on another man'... its just so perfect

this is just such a fucking amazing record

cannot be said enough

"---well, surely you touched mine"

― lex pretend, Monday, December 7, 2009 6:15 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this post made me tear up. this record has held me for two decades.

another line I love:

"he gave me back my smile / but he took my camera cell..."

actually it's "my camera to sell" isn't it.

It's the way she says it that is so effective.

i have listened to so much joni tonite

the line 'it's just that now you're romanticizing some pain that's in your head' is sorta killing me rn

ohhhh the way the tone of her voice changes on "i'm gonna blow this damn candle out"

As I was kinda saying upthread, "The Last Time I Saw Richard" is a song which I suspect only Joni could write, she plays both sides of the song so convincingly.

haha yr first post itt is really good although i had a chuckle @ 'in a Bakhtin sense'

Man. I'm glad this is the first bookmark I saw when wandering by - a week of doing PWolf over at OneWeek/OneBand has sent me to Blue and Hejira at every spare moment/opportunity.

The dulcimer is such a gorgeous instrument.

Her pacing on "undoes all the joy that could be" is lovely. Just stretching out those last two words.

'A Case of You' used to be such an easy default answer for best song on Blue and now I don't understand how I was ever capable of not struggling with the question.

Besides maybe 'Little Green' and 'River', which I love slightly less than the rest, I have no idea how I'd answer today.

haha yr first post itt is really good although i had a chuckle @ 'in a Bakhtin sense'

tbh when I read my first post again I died inside a little when I saw this.

guys, i hope u all vote in upcoming joni artist poll. also - this album is so good i can't even listen to it anymore. every time i put it on i just feel entirely overcome with emotion. i have to save it for an evening when i have no responsibilities and don't mind enter blue-affect for a few hours.

i haven't been able to think about listening to it for months but tonight may be the night

my old man is a great song fuiud

we don't need no piece of paper from the city hall/fuck you if you disagree

"he drinks at home now most nights with the TV on/and all the house lights left up bright" = one of the most devastating descriptions in any song

Besides maybe 'Little Green' and 'River', which I love slightly less than the rest, I have no idea how I'd answer today.

oh man "Little Green" just kills me - when she says "you're sad, and you're sorry, but you're not ashamed" I completely collapse. a song of almost unimaginable honesty in my opinion.

yeah how could anyone not love "little green" it destroys me

this thread revive is kind of stressing me out--i can't listen to this album right now, okay???

"child with a child pretending" devastates me

shit i think i'm going to play this album.let me go hide the alcohol first

maybe i'll just play hejira instead as a compromise

I'd have gone with "all i want"

this album and me, we've parted ways
don't know how long, won't count the days
a classic yes, will always be
just not in my heart, no more for me

'richard' is nice but very surprised that won this poll.

I went to Crete a couple years back and stayed near Matala ("beneath a Matala moon" is the line in "Carey" that I'd thought was "beneath a map of the moon" when I owned the album on cassette) and the vibe of that song became so, so, so vivid to me. The wind was in from Africa every night, there's all these little tavernas you can just hang out in, all these caves the hippies used to camp out in (which they thought were monks' quarters but were actually ANCIENT TOMBS)...getting a connection to a Blue lyric made me deliriously happy

:D

i was singing "Carey" to myself all last night.

cdn't bring myself to wrestle with the album tho.

YOU'RE A MEAN OLD DADDY BUT I LIKE YOU

I've always thought that line was "Beneath the mantle of the moon." I've probably misheard a lot of lines on this album.

California is my eternal summer jam, even though I don't live there. So many subtle touches to the arrangement, i fuckin love it when the steel comes in at the very end.

("beneath a Matala moon" is the line in "Carey" that I'd thought was "beneath a map of the moon" when I owned the album on cassette

Always thought this was "the mantle of the moon"!