Lyrics of the week, 8 August 2015, Joni Mitchell

In the early seventies Joni Mitchell made a name for herself as a singer-song writer with covers of her songs by the like of Judy Collins (Both Sides Now), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Woodstock) and others. Her early albums contain songs which remain important today, such as Carey, River, Chelsea Morning. Her song Big Yellow Taxi ("They paved paradise to put up a parking lot") has been recorded by over 15 artists, including Amy Grant & Bob Dylan and most recently Counting Crows with Vanessa Carlton.

In 1972 Joni created For the Roses, which the Library of Congress added to the National Recording Registry in 2007. The album bared her soul on so many levels that it is the benchmark against which folk singers, both rock and jazz, should be measured. The songs profoundly deal with her personal search for identity (Lesson in Survival, Let the Wind Carry Me, For the Roses), relationships (Woman of Heart and Soul, Blonde in the Bleachers) and social commentary (Banquet, Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire). Ironically, it is her sarcastic You Turn Me On (I'm A Radio) that wound up the highest on the charts.

My favorite cut, however, is her tribute to Beethoven: Judgement Of The Moon & Stars. It explores his personal response to going deaf, his frustration in love and the pain of dealing with the hypocrisy of Vienna society. It celebrates his undying passion and determination to excel that propelled him though the last half of his life despite these hardships.

Judgement Of The Moon And Stars
by Joni Mitchell

No tongue in the bell
And the fishwives yell
But they might as well be mute
So you get to keep the pictures
That don't seem like much
Cold white keys under your fingers
Now you're thinking
"That's no substitute
It just don't do it
Like the song of a warm warm body
Loving your touch"

In the court they carve your legend
With an apple in its jaw
And the women that you wanted
They get their laughs
Long silk stockings
On the bedposts of refinement
You're too raw
They think you're too raw
It's the judgement of the moon and stars
Your solitary path
Draw yourself a bath
Think what you'd like to have
For supper
Or take a walk
A park
A bridge
A tree
A river
Revoked but not yet cancelled
The gift goes on
In silence
In a bell jar
Still a song

You've got to shake your fists at lightning now
You've got to roar like forest fire
You've got to spread your light like blazes
All across the sky
They're going to aim the hoses on you
Show 'em you won't expire
Not till you burn up every passion
Not even when you die
Come on now
You've got to try
If you're feeling contempt
Well then you tell it
If you're tired of the silent night
Jesus well then you yell it
Condemned to wires and hammers
Strike every chord that you feel
That broken trees
And elephant ivories conceal

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMD7mcEpU6U>