Oh I Wish I Had a POLL, I Could Skate Away On: The Joni Mitchell Tracks/Albums Results Thread (ILM ARTIST POLL #26)

I just received it. I double checked and this is the first time I've received it. I'm sorry I wasn't able to include it in the albums poll, but I'll make sure it's counted in the tracks poll.

:(

It's OK, shenanigans means I can assume dozens of Hissing votes got lost down the back of the sofa :)

I've been busy = voter fail. how many ballots have you got so far Mordy?

C&S is so good. I relistened last night.

Surprisingly close for #1, wow.

is it too late for me to get a tracks ballot in

i should have switched C&S for Blue in my #1 spot...i can't decide which one i like more most days though

go for it shakey

nm, i see that i got it already. it'll be counted.

Ladies of the Canyon was my no.1 for that moody sequence in the middle. I'm surprised it was just me.

Wow, so y'all really dig that fusion-y stuff, eh? I didn't do an albums list because I only really like the first 4, but now I wish I did.

my ballot was super-conservative, with zero entries post-1976

it was tardy, rushed but heartfelt! am going to spend rest of the day youtubing her, not many mp3s on my phone atm

― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Monday, October 1, 2012 9:47 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've been busy = voter fail. how many ballots have you got so far Mordy?

― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, October 1, 2012 1:05 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ah, those conflicting emotions almost kept me from voting in this poll, don't know much from after Wild Things Run Fast much less obscurities, side projects, or boots, but in the end just couldn't not vote, so my ballot is going to skew the results towards the earlier stuff I already knew. Forgot all about the albums poll, but I'm fine with how they were ranked here.

I'm surprised "A Case Of You" is on the Misses collection rather than Hits - I'd always thought that was one of her better-known songs, and maybe the best known from Blue.

Thanks to its appearance on xmas comps "River" has that honor imo.

I forgot to vote for "River".

Oops, me too.

TRACK COUNTDOWN

http://i49.tinypic.com/s4rn2q.jpg
26½ x 22½ x 2½ in - Oil on linen - 1995

29 Ballots, 105 Tracks Nominated

Tracks will also be cross-posted to this Spotify playlist for listening convenience:
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/79HgvbsptKvCXt6uKHSBl2

50. Jericho (Don Juan's Reckless Daughter): 95 points, 4 votes

Just like Jericho I said
"Let these walls come tumbling down"

49. Conversation (Ladies of the Canyon): 101 points, 5 votes

He comes for conversation
I comfort him sometimes
Comfort and consultation
He knows that's what he'll find

I do love that painting, I might do one of myself one day

48. I Don't Know Where I Stand (Clouds): 105 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote

Picked up a pencil and wrote "I love you" in my finest hand
Wanted to send it, but I don't know where I stand

47. This Flight Tonight (Blue): 108 points, 6 votes

Starlight, star bright
You got the lovin' that I like all right
Turn this crazy bird around
I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight

(I made a little mistake. This Flight Tonight is tied for 45th w/ the two next tracks that I'm posting.)

45-- TIE. Urge for Going (Hits): 108 points, 4 votes

See the geese in chevron flight
Flapping and racing on before the snow
They got the urge for going
And they got the wings so they can go

45-- TIE. For the Roses (For the Roses): 108 points, 5 votes

Remember the days when you used to sit
And make up your tunes for love
And pour your simple sorrow
To the soundhole and your knee

43-- TIE. The Circle Game (Ladies of the Canyon): 110 points, 4 votes

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down

43-- TIE. Blonde in the Bleachers (For the Roses): 110 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote

So sweet and wild
It's youth
It's too good to waste

42. Let the Wind Carry Me (For the Roses): 113 points, 5 votes

Mama thinks she spoilt me
Papa knows somehow he set me free
Mama thinks she spoilt me rotten
She blames herself
But papa he blesses me

I didn't vote for it but I'm happy "Conversation" placed - though I sorta feel it should be "comfort and consolation".

"Let The Wind Carry Me" is amazing, that and "This Flight Tonight" were on my ballot.

41. Trouble Child (Court and Spark): 114 points, 6 votes

Up in a sterilized room
Where they let you be lazy

40. Down to You (Court and Spark): 116 points, 5 votes

Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness

39. Shades of Scarlet Conquering (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 119 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote

Out in the wind in crinolines
Chasing the ghosts of Gable and Flynn
Through stand-in boys and extra players
Magnolias hopeful in her auburn hair

38. My Old Man (Blue): 127 points, 7 votes

But when he's gone
Me and them lonesome blues collide
The bed's too big
The frying pan's too wide

37. The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey (Mingus): 128 points, 4 votes

His grandpa loved an empire
His sister loved a thief
And Lindsey loved the ways of darkness
Beyond belief

You're going very fast Mordy!

36. Rainy Night House (Ladies of the Canyon): 128 points, 6 votes

You are a holy man
On the F.M. radio
I sat up all the night and watched thee
To see who in the world you might be

Sorry! That's the last one for today. I mentioned earlier in the thread that the rest of the list would be more staggered, but today (and yesterday) I'm short on time. Anyway, feel free to discuss. And if anyone checks out the Spotify list, please let me know that all the tracks listed so far are there. I'm a little worried that they aren't (since I have hard copies of all the tracks on my computer, so I'm not sure if it automatically synchs them to the Spotify library and what).

Rainy Night House has to be higher than that!

I love the "in the morning there are lovers in the street, they look so high, you brush against a stranger and you both apologise" bit in Down To You.

The provisional schedule for the rest of the week: 35-21 tomorrow, 20-11 Thursday, 10-1 on Friday.

Don't apologise, I just hope we do justice by talking about the choices enough.

I love the "in the morning there are lovers in the street, they look so high, you brush against a stranger and you both apologise" bit in Down To You.

^^^^

The use of "thee" on "Rainy Night House" is probably the only flaw in an otherwise perfect song.

Didn't vote for anything off Mingus but 'The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey' was on my shortlist so I'm glad it made it here.

Love 'Trouble Child' and 'This Flight Tonight' so much.

'Shades Of Scarlet Conquering' was my number one...probably one of fave musical moments evah is when the strings go all wonky behind her when she sings 'Given in the night to dark dreams'...fuck I love that song!

Blonde in the Bleachers was my number one

I inexplicably didn't vote for "Down To You" - I could have easily filled almost half my ballot with C&S tracks. This is a great lyric:

You go down to the pick up station
Craving warmth and beauty
You settle for less than fascination
A few drinks later you're not so choosy
When the closing lights strip off the shadows
On this strange new flesh you've found
Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness

omg this flight tonight is so low! did Nazareth kill it for everyone? it's such a beautiful song to me - the fear of meeting someone who is getting a second chance, who may still let you down.. the 'ooh baby, baby come by' song within a song..

holy many xps!

The frying pan line in My Old Man is A+. If I cook eggs for myself when my husband's not home I invariably get that stuck in my head. Pretty sure I took a photo of my spreading egg whites & sent it to him captioned with those lyrics once.

She seems to be putting the guy down in the first verse, though.

It could just as easily mean "you don't do anything for me (anymore)".

"Hejira" was my favourite song in the world at 14, I printed out all the lyrics and stuck them on my bedroom wall.

― Tim F, Wednesday, October 3, 2012 10:42 PM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I am now 14 year old Tim F

xp well she's certainly teasing the guy, answering his metaphysical boast with an acerbic and then a prosaic remark, but anyway since the next thing she remembers is drawing his face on a map of Canada it's reasonable to suggest there's also a level of vulnerability, even love (though it's ofc slightly undercut by the drawing being on the back of a cartoon coaster lit by a tv screen)

what makes the central metaphor unlikely as a putdown imo are
a) the singer's fetichization of the lover - even if she does not explicitly desire drinking a case of the lover, the repeated focus on the act suggests infatuation
b) the beautiful preceding lines:

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter
And so sweet

If you wanted to criticize wine for being weak or harmless, this is not how you would describe it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_dY2cy0E2I

That's phantastic dreamy stuff. It reminds me of another song, something from "wild things run fast"?