This woman gave me my voice...I was born in 1960 and watched my brothers, all older than me in '69 take off for the Woodstock festival only a couple of hours from our home in Brooklyn, NY. I was 9 then and very shy. One of my bothers, who was a musician, heard me in my room singing along with my Joni Mitchell album .. (I'd eventually collected all of her LP's....and taught myself the guitar chords to each of her songs so I could sing to myself when I was blue).and he told me..."You sound just like her..". In later years, when I became a mother, I sang to my first baby, a preemie born at my 24th wk of pregnancy, while she was in the n.i.c.u for 4 months to comfort her in her struggle to live. After she'd passed away, 7 1/2 months later, Joni Mitchell's voice comforted me as I would sit alone in my grief. When my other children were bourn to me, again I was blessed and would softly sing Joni's tunes as I'd cradled each one in the carrier every day, over my heart, on our journey to the market, nursing them or just doing my chores around the apartment, lulling them to a peaceful sleep. I, myself was adopted as a child, so parenting is nothing I take lightly. I never knew my birth mother, but I thank heaven I was finally taken in to a permanent family. To this day, when I feel grief and the blues coming on, I sing to myself while going about my day. My heart broke when I had heard Joni was rushed to the hospital. I cried and prayed...There is no one, absolutely no one who compares to this lovely Angel on Earth. She is radiant!
I have not lived yours but your story adds to the poignancy of this moment. Joni's songs almost always bring tears to my eyes; and like you, I began grieving in anticipation of losing this brightest of lights from our presence. Be well, sister.
Anyone who could write one song like this would rightfully be considered a genius. Joni Mitchell wrote tons of songs like this. Add the guitar mastery and her voice and you have a brilliance beyond this world.
Albums full of music like this...I've never seen a singer-songwriter with such power and expression before, in all aspects of her music, but especially her voice.
@@bernlin2000 One of the 3 greatest songwriters of all time (and Dylan isn't one of them, try Richard Thompson and Bruce Cockburn, over time far and away superior)
@@michaelp6776 Richard Thompson for sure. Haven't heard enough Cockburn to have an opinion. I'd say Sarah Jarosz is the current generation's candidate, and maybe Ben Gibbard
She said once that she valued intuition over intellect. Ironically, of all her peers, her intellect shines brightest. This is most apparent here, for me her best song.
It's not how many books you read, but how you can effectively reflect your own experiences to others. It requires a grand mind, indeed, for your life itself to be artwork.
My husband and I met as students in 1982. Hejira was the album of our courtship, and Amelia was my favourite song, this one, my husband’s Amelia and Amy Johnson were my heroines. Although we are no longer married, after 38 years we are still together in a manner of speaking, parents and grandparents, we raised a family together, all the things we dreamed, our hopes and plans, the first time we made love, it was this album. We were soooo young. And so in love. So, thank you Joni. This is the record that built a family xxx
Joni Mitchell, tired, starts off weak, gives herself to the audience, gives herself to the music, gives 110%, gives more than she has, finishes, puts down her guitar, walks off by herself, without a bow, without a word. A singularly great performance.
Well you got it partly right. It certainly is a great performance but I totally disagree that she started off weak and tired. It was wonderful from the first note. Particularly impressive since she was pissed off at the audience which is why she walked off at the end without acknowledging them.
Rebecca Horton She's currently in fair condition at either Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center,(310)825-7484 or Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (310)423-5550. Both neither confirmed nor denied her being there for the obvious reason, but i asked the Spiritual Care department {the ph#'s) to please give her a note if she is there, expressing my regards and wishes to her.
she has more balls than a stadium full of hooligans, she has more voice than the entire chorus of nowadays singer, she writes music like marble columns , you'll find hundred years later in the middle of the gravel the music-industry left . Here ist the difference of music which has something to say (music+words) and the bum-bum-bum on the radio-stations.....
I'm a man, a fan since my 20s...and I share your depth of feeling for her words and music..I'm constantly playing and replaying her poignant songs in my head, reading and seeking their meaning. Yeah, I'm a sensitive guy. Gifted, I feel, in that way
When I finally met Joni in '96, it was her Hejira cd cover that I asked her to sign. Oh, my sweet Joni who traveled with me throughout my 20s and now forty decades onward. Her music and lyrics ooze out into the atmosphere and seep into my veins. I love music, but no other musician can create that feeling. Of awe, of intimacy, of universality. (My son currently lives in an old Victorian house that she rented in her early days... and that single thought, and to stand in that space... thrills me to no ends.)
+Ze Ze Ze I don't know what you disagree with that I said? I simply said about how much she gives in this performance, nothing about its power for non-anglophones or anything?
+Ze Ze Ze generally I guess because she is such a multi talented figure, but I mean as a poet, as a songwriter. shes just a consummate artist, no one can truly be compared to her because she's so singularly talented and unique I think
I disagree music is most certainly attached to all those things thats what gives different types of music its character and subtance and set it apart from other types of music. I understand what your trying to say though that everyone can enjoy music but your premise is wrong music is not created in a vaccum its created by artists who are people who have a culture race society class etc. And all that informs the music.
This is a stunning performance. In 1986, I was 20 years old, and I doubt I would have appreciated this if I’d been there. I probably would have been pissed that Townshend didn’t play. At 53 now, I get it. Joni is brilliant.
This piece is SO prolific, so full of things everyone has felt. Being able to artfully put this into words blows me away. l never get tired of hearing it and each time it sounds new. She just reaches in and grabs my emotions. What a gift! Thank you Joni with all my heart. ;)
I know all her music, THIS show the gracious bravery that cements are greatness as a music, leader, human being---you see so many on you tube harry's house on rosie odonnel, love puts on a new face on leno, she shines brilliantly, flawless performances, but this was a rough event for anyone but big bands party major music, so the grace she gets through this with while still trying to educate an audience, saying That is right, after the lyric superficial is above what all of this generation did, plus this music is utterly brand new and a new form of classical , she and larry move with wild hot gentle ease, no wonder she is always mention when her music was not hitmaking in her time, she points out same true of bille holiday and doris day, billie didn't sell until long after her death the wild things songs are a blast too thank you Theresa and others for getting her, sure has added to my lfe
If anyone asked me to exemplify the music and genius of Joni Mitchell in one song, I guess this would be it. This absolutely kills me. She did it as an encore in a later concert I attended which included nothing from this era of her career. It was so unexpected that out of her enormous repertoire, she would pick my favorite. It was an emotional moment, saying the least. Thank you, Joni!
@@jamesbadham228 Oh yes! And , for me, Song for Sharon! nevertheless, she chose that particular song, and it was like the universe reached out and touched me. One of "those" moments! Thanks for replying!
My deepest thanks for posting this. I hadn’t heard it in a long time. It brought me back to hearing the album when it came out, sitting on the floor and listening to every song without even pausing it. This video reminded me that Joni wrote some simply beautiful songs. I mean, who else could have written “white flags of winter chimneys call truce against the moon….In the mirrors of a modern bank through the windows of a hotel room.”
She scares me shitless, she sets a standard that leaves me totally inadequate, of course I love it, nobody quite gets to me like Joni. I know she is an artist, don't look just listen
She’s a genius. Her tunings, everything. Like Beethoven before her, she is just one of the special people. We never got to see Beethoven at work, but we’ve got Joni. Don’t be scared, be inspired!
Joni is the greatest multi talented genius in the world. She's not just a voice or guitar player. Joni is infact her own category. She has mastered it all. All while dealing with physical challenges. Plus one of the nicest, inspiring, intelligent, honest people in the creative biz. ❤✌️❤
One of her best songs. How weird it must be to perform before such a huge audience where so many seem to be partying and ignoring what's happening onstage. Mitchell's rapport with brilliant bassist Jaco Pastorius was magical, but he was sadly very troubled, provoking bar fights for unknown reasons. The worst of these put him in the hospital where he died of his injuries just a year after this performance. A tragedy for popular music.
I first heard Joni on a Kibbutz in isreal 1979. A young lady from Canada introduced me to the music. Joni is priceless with all the music memories she has given us..
Hejira more than any other Joni Mitchell album makes me cry too! She was such a major part of my childhood. I was a teenager trying to figure out all my mixed emotions about life and my place in it. Joni's ability to paint emotional pictures is incomparable! I had the privilege of meeting her in the 80s, and she was sweet. I will forever cherish Joni Mitchell ❤🎉
Difficult to compute how brilliant this is. She has accompanied my life not long after the forceps to getting increasingly near to the stone. Lyrically and musically this song and this album tops the lot for me.
Just settling down to lose myself in Joni's singing when my guitar nerd jumped up and pointed at the headstock of her Strat that has 'Gibson' on it. Thanks, guitar nerd, now I can't thnk of anything else! It even gave me the moment when you can see it! 0:26
Friends of mine bought dead center seats, for my birthday, about 5 rows back, for a Joni Mitchell Concert in Vancouver in the late 70's or so, she was by then playing with some of the best jazz rock fusion musicians in the world, Pat Methany, Jaco Pastorious, Don Elias etc etc. It was simply the greatest Concert I have ever seen, transforming, brilliant, almost spiritual, and Joni from 30 feet away was simply one of the most beautiful women I've ever set my eyes on. I was swept away. She is a musical genius without parallel.
Stunning performance in every way. She uses her mouth to twist and mold the words so that they fit the music and spit out her conviction. Her eyes look far away beyond the audience as if she is a soaring bird above the mundane. Then she just walks off at the end like she has spoken her mind and got energized and is off to some unknown.
I apologise if this sounds weird, I'm a man from the 60,s but no one ever wrote about being a women better, I do know its not my place to say that. She gives me skin crawls and I keep going back
I can quote many of her lyrics that blow me away, but one of them is definitely "each so deep and superficial between the forceps and the stone". Jesus! -ok the other is: "Maybe it's you Judas in the end when you just can no longer pretend that you're getting what you need Or you're giving out anything for them to grow and feed on." Talk about insight and finding the "exact" words. That's her gift. She says what people struggle to explain sometimes their whole lives.
Returning to myself... Between the forceps and the stone... Theres comfort in melancholy.. Yes. Joni is a goddess of poetry and lyric. My jaw drops to hear her musical interpretation of life..love..longing..learning and loss.
YES! These are two of my favorite songs as well. Incredibly crafted lyrics, even by the bar she set so high. I'm glad you mentioned Jericho- I seldom hear people mention it which confuses me since it's such a masterpiece.
simply amazing, so deep and superficial (yeah) i love it! to have one favorite joni mitchell song or even album is impossible, her body of work is my favorite. im very partial to hejira and its tapestry of songs. it was the year she spent traveling the US when we crossed paths at LAX. she was wearing that beret and her long blonde tresses flowed behind her as she made her way through the throngs of travelers, blue jeans and boots and bag in hand.
And you were no doubt like, "Heeeeelp Me, I think I'm Falling". I've been feeling that way pretty much since Easter night, the CBC interview (she's 70, and I was just falling in love with her spirit, truth telling, mind, independence, the works). It had been but a HITS CD some years ago, and my memories of her radio stuff, as a kid, so...wow. I cannot put it down to one song or collection only, either...but this song is incredible, and Refuge Roads, Hijera as a work inspired by traveling alone, at least in part, and falling in with folks...and that sweet melancholy, it resonates with my soul. PEACE
Yes, absolutely. joni has been the only "celebrity" that i fell starstruck in her presence. refuge of the roads is one of my favorites on Hejira for sure.. "a thunderhead of judgement was gathering in my gaze"
Randall A A flawless song. I have driven cross country three times, and only heard Hejira as an album the last cpl months, but it is indeed made from and for the Road. Crickets clicking in the ferns...running down a white sand road...running like a white assed deer (I picture her just tossing off her clothes, running naked, a child of God), to lose her whatever in the innocence in here. Shine on your witness, indeed. Love the calendar reference (over the month of June), the pic taken of the earth coming back from the moon, all of it. I have shed tears of swirling feelings on so many listens to these and other songs of hers...she is primal, in touch, and just so good, writing, singing, musically...producing, the art, all of it. A real fellow freedom freak, itchy footed wanderer. PEACE, friend.
