Wednesday, April 29, 2015



The reporting over the last few weeks regarding Joni Mitchell's condition is very upsetting.  News ranging from Joni's imminent passing to Joni being up and alert to Joni being in a coma to Joni on the way to a full recovery has been very messy.

I can't imagine the more serious reports being too far from the truth and that is quite heavy.

Of course, I can't help but listen to her music now. One song in particular, "Cactus Tree," always reminds me of an old friend. I don't suspect, in light of recent events, I will be hearing either my friend or Joni singing again. I hope I'm wrong.

This post is for the two of them

7 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

In a lot of ways, Joni was my first girlfriend. I learned a lot from her. There are so many songs on the playlist over here. "Carey" came on last night, and the imagery knocks me out every time. Such good story telling.
Here is a song I forgot about, because I probably didn't like it at the time, but really shows her ear for experimentation. She plays synth and sings over a record on "The Jungle Line". She was into Burundi drums years before Adam Ant or Bow Wow Wow.


http://alanwalkerart.com/audio/the_jungle_line.mp3

Anonymous said...

I tend to forget the early solo acoustic albums other than Blue, only going back to them after hearing Bonnie Raitt's cover of "That Song about the Midway." I can play For the Roses and Hejira all day. Youtube has the full concert dvd of Shadows and Light , which has fabulous performances from Metheny, Jaco, Alias and Brecker.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled across Joni right out of college and fell hard. I'm so sad hearing of her declining health but agree that right now, "Cactus Tree" is the song to get us fans through what may be some very bad news. If anything, she is the first major artist to show that women musicians were not just 'girl singers' but beautiful, substantive humans with the ability to capture living in three minute pop songs.
Paul

A walk in the woods said...

Nice post, Sal. Joni means a lot to me, and her illness has been very sad. She is right up there with the very best artists - a giant.

Great song to pick. Another very early song that just always knocks me flat out is "That Song About The Midway." But this one is right up there. Check out Judy Collins' version of this same song - she performed it live when I saw her last year and it also slays me.

Hang in there, sweet Joni.

Rob said...

I'm sure there are many here who have felt a connection, one way or another with Joni Mitchell. Court and Spark is and always will be 'my' Joni album. It spoke directly to my 17 year old self in 1974 and 40+ years later it speaks to me still.

"The way I see it
He said you just can't win it
Everybody's in it for their own gain
You can't please them all
There's always somebody callin you down"


rick said...

Thanks for posting about Joni, Sal. Her influence on my life and on the world of music is immeasurable. Perhaps we all connect certain songs with specific points/relationships/moments in our lives, as you do with "Cactus Tree". I'm so glad others here have mentioned "That Song About the Midway", one of my all-time favorites of hers. Just the other day I heard Tom Rush's cover of "Urge for Going" which is rumored to have been written when she was a mere 16 or 17 years old. If that's true, the depth of her understanding of the world around her at such a tender age is simply phenomenal.

Anonymous said...

Also love "A Case of You."

I'm sure you'll hear them both sing again.