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

That's a pity! We'll get them in other ways. I couldn't "get" Joni until my 20s. My husband, lovable cliche that he is, played A Case of You on his guitar for me and it was game over.

Teacher looking out window could've been a great Circle Game video! <3 Love the imagery in my head right now.

My husband, lovable cliche that he is, played A Case of You on his guitar for me and it was game over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPsW2FYprfI

hahaha, yup. I'm thankful that wasn't actually ACOY because I was in cringe-ready position. I know I'm getting ahead of the poll here but
"I drew a map of Canada - oh Canada! - with your face sketched on it twice.."
Kills me. Every time.

I was the #1 vote for "I Don't Know Where I Stand". I was in the exact situation described in the song the first time I heard it, via Fairport Convention's cover, when I was a student. Still hits me hard every time I hear it....

Joni sings her own song quite well, but so does Sandy Denny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-1hH0rqeRA

I've never given it much of a chance. I really like that version!

I voted for Conversation. Very evocative storytelling, hippie but without the rough edges, love the guitar jangles. And her voice soars so lightly over it all. You can tell she's holding back. "She speaks in sorry sentences. Miraculous repentances"

In my shortlist...
This Flight Tonight - one of my last cuts - the best part about this is the Nick Drake-esque guitar
For the Roses - her voice has really dropped since Ladies of the Canyon. She sounds like a grizzled old lady.
Rainy Night House - "to SEE who in the world you might BE" and then "TO see who in the world you MIGHT be" - "tan/sand" - so many memorable rhymes - great church vocals coming from nowhere

Down to You is a really great track in the context of the album but the breakdown in the middle kept it off a list of the 20 Joni tracks I'd want to listen to in isolation.

"Conversation" is my biiiig favourite of her "I can sing!" period. It's like "yes! you can indeed!"

This Flight Tonight - one of my last cuts - the best part about this is the Nick Drake-esque guitar

I've long noted this resemblance in their guitar styles in general - the fingerpicking style, the funky open tunings, etc.

Mordy, there's three so far missing from the Spotify playlist on my side (and missing from Spotify at all, says a quick search):

urge for going
let the wind carry me
shades of scarlet conquering

"For the Roses" really reminds me of Nick Drake, at least the vocal melody.

^^^^^^^^^^^

not just the melody, but the descending guitar chords, the pastoral imagery, the butterflies and lilac sprays and the moon sweeping down the black water

Yay for "This Flight Tonight" and "Wolf that Lives in Lindsey" placing. Didn't vote for anything else so far, but it's all good. Nice that "Circle Game" made it too.

I figured that tracks from Blue wouldn't need my help, so cut most of the ones that were on on my longlist. I suspect every song from it will place.

the descending guitar chords

OTM

The Circle Game didn't make my shortlist but at the right moments it feels like the best song ever.

The Circle Game is low on my list of desired Joni tracks. She sounds like a kindergarten teacher.

All Canadians are part time kindergarten teachers.

Working with kids all day keeps us pleasant. And with everyone pitching in, we can ensure the younger generation keeps up on its "Zed"s. Damn you, Sesame Street and Alphabet Song.

Hm well it's not meant to be a shot at kindergarten teachers, who are the greatest, more that I'd rather not feel like a 5-year-old in a classroom after the emotional release of "Woodstock".

I didn't vote for "Circle Game" or "Big Yellow Taxi" or "Woodstock" either tbh. Prefer CSNY's "Woodstock" and am not partial to the other two. "Both Sides Now" was my #1, though, so maybe I'm perverse.

I'm just teasing :) well, the song is about leaving your childhood behind so it fits, I think. Not sure if you were on the Neil thread where clemenza told us this song was her response to Neil Young's Sugar Mountain?

(xp)

I did vote for Taxi, albeit at #20

No Taxi from me, though I did vote for Woodstock.

Mordy, there's three so far missing from the Spotify playlist on my side (and missing from Spotify at all, says a quick search):

thx for checking for me. I don't think I can do anything about tracks that Spotify doesn't have at all.

i totally didn't vote so i have no right to observe, but "trouble child" is too low!

Shit. I come here too rarely. I'd have voted Hissing best album and Harry's House best single, I think.

i would have voted shadows and light best album but it would have been TACTICAL VOTING

A couple thoughts after listening to Blue once at work and twice tonight... 1) There is more piano than I remembered. Her vocals tend to be the focus on those, and the instrumentation has a light touch throughout, so it's easy not to notice that multiple tracks have only piano in the backing track. Plus the piano is kind of jangly and tinny, almost guitar-ish. 2) The sequencing is something else. "Carey" into "Blue" is the most obvious jarring moment but every time you think you get into a positive groove she hits you with a killer quiet track.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2iicy2u.jpg

Original cover of 'For the Roses,' 1972 - Ink and Felt Pen

35. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire (For the Roses): 132 points, 6 votes, 1 1st place vote

A wristwatch, a ring, a downstairs screamer
Edgy-black cracks of the sky
"Pin cushion prick fix this poor bad dreamer"
"Money" cold shadows reply

Just a quick reminder that as the tracks are revealed they will also be added to this Spotify playlist for listening convenience:

http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/79HgvbsptKvCXt6uKHSBl2

My second vote to show up... another great piece of guitar work in addition to the harrowing subject matter. I still find it hard to believe how much her voice drops in the span of 3 years.

That Moog part in "Cold Blue Steel" after the second chorus = A+++

34. People's Parties (Court and Spark: 141 points, 7 votes

And Jack behind his joker
And stone-cold Grace behind her fan
And me in my frightened silence
Thinking I don't understand

33. The Same Situation (Court and Spark): 146 points, 8 votes

Still I sent up my prayer
Wondering where it had to go
With heaven full of astronauts
And the Lord on death row

you're picking excellent lyrics Mordy! I sing People's Parties to myself when I get nervous and socially awkward, trying to be Stone Cold Grace.

thanks! these are all the lyrics i sing in my head all the time. for some of the songs i have to pick between a few excerpts i constantly sing in my head. i try to pick the one i think about the most.

32. Little Green (Blue): 147 points, 7 votes

Child with a child pretending
Weary of lies you are sending home
So you sign all the papers in the family name
You're sad and you're sorry but you're not ashamed

little green kills me every time i hear it.

Absolutely. It's too sad for me to listen to if I'm in the wrong mood. I forgot to vote for it!

i don't get the "but you're not ashamed" line - what is she supposed to be shameful about?

that she have he daughter up for adoption

gave the*

didn't realize adoption is shameful, but whatev

maybe she felt there were cultural expectations of shame around giving a child up* for adoption in 1971. that is how i always understood the line, tho. i agree w/ you that there shouldn't be anything shameful about.

*even that expression 'giving up for adoption' obv contains a sort of negative implication - to give up on a child. it's sorta embedded in the cultural discourse around adoption.

Both of those C&S tracks are more effective in the context of the album than in isolation. And for some reason I had trouble voting for the "slow" Blue songs, the best stuff from Hejira and For the Roses grabs me a bit more.

She has since reconciled with her daughter fwiw

31. Big Yellow Taxi (Ladies of the Canyon): 155 points, 8 votes

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em