Tuesday, March 20, 2018

She Said/He Said

I'm not sure how many posts I have in me, and I'm not making any promises, but here's another fun pair of songs. Fun might not be the right word as they are both emotionally devastating, but powerfully good.


Graham Nash asked Joni Mitchell to marry him. She wanted to be an artist in her own right, and not tied to, or in the shadow of, a famous man. She refused. He was heartbroken. They both wrote songs about it.

She said:




He said:



He's not finished (bonus track):



She is full of regret, and he's reluctantly moving on.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joni's songwriting never ceases to amaze me. Such an ability to convey emotion and feeling in such a seemingly effortless manner. What a beauty.

Graham's no slouch either.

Randy

JAYESSEMM said...

Hey BBJ,

Always remembering what Frank Zappa said about broken hearts ... I dig this post!


I'm not sure how I missed yesterday's post. Thank you!

Tell us if we can help with care taking Chateaux Burning Wood. I don't know what or how but ...

Welcome to spring!


Tumblingdice70 said...

Wow, I knew the story vaguely but didn't realize these songs were tied to their breakup. These are amazing! Thank you BBJ, and much love to Sal!

Bryan

dogbreath said...

Thanks for the reminder of what good songs these are, plus what a lot of great stuff came out of the Laurel Canyon days. Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Don't we wish more musical couples could see their relationships fall apart like this?! ;) Joking aside, this was what great music was about.

Paul

Ken D said...

BBJ,
Kinda on the run today so I'll listen to these later but just want to thank you for relighting the kindling for now...

Chris Collins said...

"River" is one of the most beautiful songs I know

Dr Wu said...

Your post led directly to Graham Nash’s ‘Songs for Beginners’. Pop perfection! Thanks, BBJ!

A walk in the woods said...

Good connection, BBJ - thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hello all...no, please remain seated,

River is a flat-out masterpiece of a song.

Thanks for the post, beeb.

Best....RichD

Anonymous said...

Always loved these three songs without knowing what they were about. Now they take on even more meaning.

I saw Graham perform two weeks ago in Charleston, SC and damn he still has it!!!

Good post!

Captain Al

Zippy said...

It's nothing against you, BBJ, to say I hope Sal is back soon, just because we love him :-)Meanwhile, I wanna second any mention of the majesty of Joni.

Zippy said...

I think you're leaving out her song I Had A King, about Graham, and answered by his I Used To Be A King, as well as her song Willy, apparently referring to him, not to mention his song Our House, reportedly about their life together.

music lover said...

Sal, great theme about couples! It would be good to see (perhaps I can find) some other couples' sagas on records, or at least songs and their reply songs, which used to be kind of a thing. I'll have to go back to Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristopherson, or James Taylor and Carly Simon, or Gregg Allman and Cher, or Neil Young and David Crosby, to see if there are any relationship postcards in their albums!

Michael Giltz said...

Thanks! I had no idea of the biographical origin of Joni Mitchell / Graham Nash songs like "Our House" and these. For those who love Mitchell, the Reckless Daughter biography by David Yaffe is solidly interesting. All hail Sal.

Frito Bandito said...

You just gotta love those Beatle background harmonies near the end of Better Days.

Troy said...

I never got into Joni. Tried a couple of times but just never clicked. I know a lot of you are big fans. Interesting connection via the songs in this post. Thanks for sharing.

heartsofstone said...

What strikes me is what a different time it was then, the way artists collaborated on such an intimate level.

buzzbabyjesus said...

It was a different world.