This came out when I was a young teenager. Back then she was mesmerizing to me. I think in this song's lyrics, she has the heart of a child and the mind of a philosopher. It felt like she understood what it meant to be a kid facing the prospect of becoming an adult.
Yes. My experience of Joni came at the same age. I too felt as you say, "... she has the heart of a child and the mind of a philosopher. It felt like she understood what it meant to be a kid facing the prospect of becoming an adult." Thanks for putting into words that feeling I've carried for more than a half century. Back then I was also mesmerized , decades later my feelings have matured to admiration and love.
She was and is so brilliant. She knew what she wanted and experimented and adjusted the guitar tuning and her voice to accomplish whatever she wanted. And she was having so much fun! What an inspiration. As a songwriter, I hear regularly that this sort of sophisticated storytelling is 'out'; 'people' want strong, short hooks, short memorable choruses... and not much else. Oh, yeah, and auto-tuned everything. BS. People are still discovering, rediscovering, loving her songs over and over again.
Joni had some of the most insane tunings for her songs. She didn't just play the guitar as an accompaniment to her voice when she sang. She altered it to make it part of the canvas of her music in ways that no other musician has done before or since. She would often re-tune her guitar between songs to get it ready for the next song. And she did it effortlessly. Her musicianship was next level.
The main reason she started to use tunings was because she had polio as a child. She didn’t have the physical strength to use normal tuning hand positions. What a golden voice that is sadly being silenced by a relapse of her polio.
@@jonathanhorne6503 Yes, but she also suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm in 2015. For someone who'd been through all that, she's a better singer, songwriter, musician than most out there.
It's so cool to see an artist so relaxed and just having fun during a performance. She is just herself, nothing contrived. I enjoyed this analysis and would be happy to see more Joni!
Big Yellow Taxi is such an iconic song. Years ago I downloaded the lyrics and shared them with my grandkids. My grandson's guitar teacher taught him to play this. Joni is such an icon! Thank you so much for your wonderful analysis of dear Joni! We are so lucky to still have her.
Her Court and Spark record was not only a truly magical album, it was a massive worldwide hit. So were Blue and Clouds. She was essential listening and everyone I knew at the time had her albums in their record collection. Yeah, I'm that old.
Also, I love this video because most of us here only hear the great vocals and lyrics and take the guitar for granted. And we get a great vocal breakdown too. Great work, Phil!
I saw Joni in concert in 1974 which I still consider the best concert I've ever attended. She had an emotional breakdown on stage but the audience started chanting "we love you, Joni" and she rallied, spent about 20 minutes composing herself by tuning her guitar and just talking to the audience before she recovered sufficiently to continue the concert. She put so much of herself into every performance. It always feels intimate.
@@123RockchildI was friends with the lighting guys and they said she was clearly upset at rehearsal. I didn't want to pry but I'm sure being on the road takes its toll. Decades later, I used to see her regularly at my local family restaurant but never bothered her. Was just happy to see her. Was so impressed at her performance post-stroke.
This was cool! Joni Mitchell is another singer songwriter and musician. that has left her mark in the music industry and with her fans. thanks, Fil, for taking another look at Joni Mitchell in detail. 😊🎸🎤🎶
This whole BBC concert (30 min) is here on YT, and you can see Joni move effortlessly from guitar, to piano, to dulcimer (which she had just picked up) playing songs she was still working on at the time... Even some storytelling about various interesting things, like the woman who made her dulcimer for her. imo, Joni is by far the greatest singer/songwriter/musician combo of the last 60 yrs of either gender! Thanx for this great reaction Fil!!!
Thank you Phil, for reviewing Joni Mitchell my favorite female Rock/folk soloist. Big yellow bus happened to be one of my favorites tunes she performed. Thanks.
Another Canadian musical ikon. I have enjoyed her music all along. She has music and talent just bubbling out of her. I did enjoy how you brought out her guitar ,and your, skills. Great analysis. Thank you for this trip down my memory lane again.
So talented. I enjoyed this so much. She has such a musical way with words and such an intellectual way with voice and melody. I wouldn’t say no to another Joni video. Thank you Fil ❤
Hi Fil, I love Joni , she is an amazing singer and musician! I remember "Big Yellow Taxi", it's a great and fun song to listen to. I enjoyed this analysis and the guitar demonstrations as well. Excellent job! 😉👍
Playing a song by ear is a special talent. I mean I can't play guitar or anything because I have all thumbs on both hands lol, but even some of the most accomplished musicians can't do it. Impressive.
Thanks for your analysis! Always enjoyed Joni Mitchell's singing & songwriting. She covers a lot of genres of music including folk, pop, rock, classical & jazz. She has had so many hits especially in the 60's-80's such as "Chelsea Morning", "Help Me", "The Circle Game", "Both Sides Now", "Woodstock", "Raised On Robbery", "Free Man In Paris" etc.
Hey Fil, great choice. I just want to add how groundbreaking it was in 1970 to see a woman pick up a guitar at all, let alone play it at such a level. But I'm actually happy that we can almost take it for granted these days.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s groundbreaking guitar playing occurred much earlier than Joni Mitchell’s. Bonnie Raitt, Nancy Wilson (of Heart), Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Teena Marie are also women singers/guitarists of Joni Mitchell’s era.
@@RaineW Joni's playing was unique. Bonnie too, but I didn't become aware of her until 1972 when she played in Syracuse NY, with Jackson Browne, in a church basement. Believe it or not! I still remember her playing "Blender Blues." And the other illustrious musicians on your list came to me even later.
This video has it all - great analysis of Joni"s voice and her guitar tuning! Love it! Who else is using the phrase "On the agenda tonight.." on a daily basis? Thank you Fil ❤
Vaše výklady a rozbory jsou pro mě skvělé. Jsem technik víceméně bez hudebního sluchu. Ale slyším všemožné diference tónů. Vaše vysvětlivky nuancí mi moc pomáhají. Díky.
I just loved her laugh at her 'mistake' and the expression where you froze after the final note - she's playing with us. I loved her voice from the first time I heard her, but was interesting to hear you take on her guitar playing too. 🙂🙃
I've always loved this BBC TV performance as much as the Isle of Wight. 1970's Joni Mitchell is my dream girl. Talented and naturally beautiful. Her softness in speaking contrasting with her powerful and confident performances. And the slight yodeling is icing on the cake!
Something I read was that she had polio as a child and it left her left hand with some slight damage. She would do some unusual chord positions to compensate for that. As my grandfather would say “If it’s a lie they told it.”
This is great Fil. Very good tutorial. I've always loved this song and Joni is amazing and such a good artist and professional musician. Her ability to switch back and forth from her upper voice and lower voice is beautiful. One thought about the line about charging people a "dollar and a half just to see 'em". In 1970 the minimum wage was around $1.65 so $1.50 to see some trees is quite a lot if we talk about percentages. Compare that to today's dollars and we can see what that means.
She had a bout with polio which weakened her left hand hence the guitar approach she had to invent. Pure soul, love and determination. I saw her live in ‘72 or so. What a performance!
Joni-one of a kind! A real force of nature. I know she's not been well lately but we are so blessed with her talent she shared with us. Thanks, 'Sir Fil' so, so much! 4:13
Lovely analysis, Fil. I’ve always loved Joni’s music and her powerful, thoughtful and compassionate lyrics. Thanks for the exploration of her guitar technique. Since I’m not a musician, I didn’t know how unusual it was. That was really interesting. 👍 Yes! Please do an analysis of her performance of “Both Sides, Now” from that live performance. It’s a good example of how much more emotional, subtle and nuanced a live performance can be, compared to the original recording. “A Case of You” …. Still one of my all-time favorite songs. ❤️❤️❤️ Thanks, Fil! Love ya! 😘
Great job as always Fil. As an old Candian I"ve been wowed by Joni's musical genius most of my life. No doubt you've see her "Let's Sing Out" recordings from back in the mid 60's as Joni Anderson then Mitchell. She was obviously beginning to add something rare and special to the world even way back then. Thanks Joni.
Love this song, and love Joni Mitchell's voice. She manages to be light and soaring while the song is still very grounded. Would enjoy seeing an analysis of another one. :)
Thank you Fil. I knew she was good but not this good. She flew into Hawaii one night, went to bed at the hotel, woke up the next morning and opened the blinds to see a huge parking lot that stretched to the palm trees in the distance. Uspet, she wrote this song.
Thanks for this fantastic music analysis video of Joni Mitchell performing live! Definitely YES to you doing more analysis videos of her performances from this show.
Hi Fil, This is such a great classic Folk Rock song. Love Joni’s voice and her guitar playing. Love how she changes up the melody a little just to give the song a bit of a different twist. And fun to hear her use her high and low range within the scope of this one song. A very talented lady and performer, always a pleasure to hear one of her songs. Nice job on this analysis and guitar demonstration. ROCK, Debbie ☮️
That was good. Your analysis surprises me every time! You're a great educator on the nuts and bolts of a song. Joni just had that gift of a story much like Gordon Lightfoot.
Fil, the two-man group that I was in was from 1970 -73 during my high school years. We did popular music that you could play on acoustic guitars with electric guitar accompaniment for the lead instrument. My friend and I learned how to Harmonize from listening to The Beatles. We sang mostly folk inspired songs with some popular FM arrangements. IE the turtles, Elton John, cat Stevens. Beatles, so I would say that my first professional gigs were as a quasi folk singer. And then I just play top 40 music during the 70s. And then I became a blues musician. Joni mitchell, Crosby stills Nash & young, Neil young, and America were probably my influences along with the Beatles. At the time! Thanks again for another wonderful video!!
Given her incredible songbook, this has always been my favorite Joni Mitchell song. Such prophetic lyrics. This song came out my senior year in high school and has stood the test of time, as have all her songs. She is also one hell of a great jazz singer. What a set of pipes!
" I'll light the fire, you place the flowers in the vase that you bought today"...from "Our House" too Joni from Graham Nash. What a great time for music!
I can remember the first time I heard this song. It was after school and I was waiting for my brother and sister to finish their last classes so that I could drive them home. In the senior quad, they had music playing that came out over really loud speakers. When I think back on it now, I wonder why they were playing music that loud when classes were still in session. I was on an advanced track and actually didn't have to go to class as long as I maintained a certain GPA. Anyway, this song came on and I can remember stopping what I was doing to listen to the lyrics. We were in a time of change, protest and everything felt very volatile. I can remember feeling like she could touch your soul with her lyric, her voice and presentation style and one didn't have to be in your face to have an impact. She got her point across without the need to bash it into your face. Her voice always has had a certain vulnerability, fragility to it that speaks without screaming. I always felt like she was prescient and that we would likely wake up one morning to a sterile landscape where everything we valued would be put away in a museum. Great review, Fil.
I was blessed to see her in concert in the autumn of 1969, my freshman year at Syracuse University. I'd been at Woodstock in August...Joni was not, so I was deliriously happy to find she was at SU a few months later. She floated out like an angel, in her ecru lace maxi-dress. It was in a building that was originally a chapel and the heavy wood and stained glass windows created an ambiance that transported us all into her world. No head-banging, no mosh pit. You could hear a pin drop between songs. I have bittersweet memories of my friends and lovers from back then. I'm still in touch with several of them. Some of us played the guitar and sang Joni's songs. We were all young and beautiful. Now we reminisce but don't really want to go back to those times. Mostly we want young people today to appreciate...but not waste...their youth because life doesn't get any easier as you grow old. Now that Brandi Carlile (who lives a few miles down the road from me in the verdant, mossy, hydrated foothills of the Pacific Northwest) has brought Joni back into the public arena, it's precious to see her still projecting her poetry and music. By the way, she's a phenomenal painter as well and has always related to that more than to being a musician!
I was in high school then; along with Judy Collins and Seals & Crofts they were so integral to my going into young adulthood and college. This guy from Texas still adores Ms. Mitchell.
My husband and I got married in 1970 (still married 😊) and I remember frequently hearing her songs on the radio. We’re Canadian and this particular song was so meaningful because Canada, like the USA, destroyed historic buildings, some of our best farmland, and forests, all for new development. My husband was from the Netherlands and like much of Europe, respects all of those and don’t allow rampant, unregulated development. His hometown was built in the 1300s and it still has most of its original architecture and lovely city parks. Listening to this song still affects me because politicians do whatever the wealthy and corporations want and don’t care about posterity or preserving farmland, trees in city parks, and forests.
Joni Mitchell is the TOTAL PACKAGE, writer, arranger, ginger/ songwriter , harmonizes, draws the albums, piano songs GREAT too ,dulcimer too,+ flute.She can tune while amusing the audience w/ stories , + so much more. Over 50 tunings to play w/ polio. INCREDIBLE talent.She also keeps many percussion beats w/ whatever she plays. I HATE it that she threw away her talent for cigarettes!!!! Many meaningful lyrics, Magdaline Laundries, I Am Lakota, etc
Story telling, and "protest" in this song. "Hey farmer farmer, put away that DDT now...😄 a lot of artists doing that in the 60's...70's. Great talent for sure! Thank you Fil!🌷
I have not heard Joni before but I liked her instantly. Such a sweet and unique voice with great delivery and a pleasure to listen to. Playing the guitar too was superb. Your analysis was great and I loved her flips. She is very talented. Thanks fil you always bring out the best of great singers
If you haven't heard Joni before, you must hear more. One of the most emotionally evocative and talented singer-songwriters I've ever known of. And, that is not even the main genre I listen to at all. Songs from Court and Spark and from Blue specifically are recommended!
Love your analysis, as usual. Love Joni! The isolated voice and the isolated guitar is something I have not heard in this song and it is so interesting! Thanks Fil. Glad I'm subscribed.
Great live performance by Joni Mitchell. I enjoyed your break down of the song on the Tanglewood, (btw nice guitar) and great vocal ending to the song by Joni. 😊🎸🎵
I do absolutely love this fantastic song. It was the first song I heard from Joni Mitchell somewhen in the 70s and fell instantly in love with this voice.
Its the Cdn again who lived in London in 68 and again in 72 and 73. This performance was many of BBC masterpieces that were recorded in the early seventies especially with visiting N.American artists. They were incredibly well miked and recorded. Check out Crosby and Nash, Neil and of course Joni. This tune wouldnt be my choice but it was intentionally meant to be commercial I think as was Free Man in Paris, but that is OK. My greatest thrill was waking up one Saturday morning in the East End in 1968 when I heard Joni singing out over the radio on John Peels program with Night in the City. Peel was introducing her first album of which I wasnt aware. It was time to go home
"BYT" is so appropriate now. In the woods where we use to have our own mini-Woodstocks (Generator in the back of a pickup, amps and guitars plugged in), now sitting in a library, auto repair shop and large church next door, 400 unit condo going up in the back. Hometown is turning into northern New Jersey; ain't hometown any more.
For me, one of the finest musicians to have ever lived. Stunning songs, playing and her voice is other-worldly. All with grace, truth and humility. An amazing human being. ❤
Thx Fil. I cannot really add anything new, after reading the first 12 or so comments below mine, except that I agree wholeheartedly. She leaves me at a loss for words. ☮
Fil Your vids just keep getting better. I've been turned on to so many people I thought I knew but didn't. ( Kenny Vaughn, Gene Vincent....etc) I really enjoyed your analysis of Joni's guitar work and thanks for showing me another open tuning I don't want to ever use. It just shows what kind of special musician she was. Linked up with Keith's recent interview where he hypes 5 string open tuning with g chord. I consider myself an accompanist type player, but one who's spent too much time on scales and chords to want to learn new ones, but the groove she lays down while singing ( Keith hardly does back up vocals anymore) gives something for singers to think on?
This performance brought tears to my eyes. Such pure enjoyment and humour but the grace and perfect control of vocals and guitar. Mesmerising stuff. Your breakdown highlighted the seemingly effortless technical wizardry and there she is just having a blast. Wish I'd been in the audience. 👍
Thanks Fil, that was great. I particularly liked the "artistically credible" part, for some reason I immediately thought of Mariah Carey, who technically is an amazing singer, with a monster-range, but... Personally, I prefer Joni after she whent from a mezzo-soprano to a contralto. In my opinion, Joni is very underrated as a guitarist. Keeping track of 50+ alternate tunings is just mindblowing. On the 1979 Live-recording "Shadows and Light", Joni is playing 5-6 Ibanez George Benson guitars via her Roland JC-120 amp. (Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, Don Alias, Michael Brecker, Lyle Mays.. What a line-up!!) On the 1998 show "Painting with words and music", she is playing a Parker Fly via a Roland VG-8 guutar-synth that handles all the tunings.. One of the best Live-recordings ever, IMHO.. And you'll see how she frequently frets the lower strings with her thumb, just like Jimi....
Joni has so much feel on her guitar playing and also her vocals. She's simply a genius. Her ear and voice are incredible. In the same way that she has little fills and slides in her guitar playing, she has the same kinds of little accents, tone shifts, and the vocal equivalents of grace notes and turns in her singing. The little yodel sounds and extremely wide intervals in her singing are just mesmerizing. My ears honestly don't mind at all when she slides her voice up a bit too high or sharp for a split second because there's a light-hearted, whimsical embellishment to it. And in any case, she will then hit 10 straight notes in perfect pitch afterward. When I was a teenager, I remember hearing certain pieces of music and just being absolutely mesmerized and floored. I was absolutely mesmerized when I first heard Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" album. I was entranced. I sat there and listened quietly to each note. It was the same when I heard a Joni record for the first time. I think I might have heard "Court and Spark" before I heard "Clouds". Later I heard "Blue". Everything about her singing and harmonies just blew me away. Again, she's an absolute genius and as a musician, I agree that she's absolutely unique and original. She invented so many aspects of her vocal style and also her guitar playing style and harmonic composition.
This video reminds me of a great experience I had back in the 60s. Back around 1968 you could sneak over a fence at the Greek theater in Los Angeles and get to the back wall of the theater. Joni opened for Crosby Still and Nash. We went 4 nights in a row. They were warm still summer nights and she sounded like an angel on stage. After her performance we were let into the seating area for CSN. Amazing memory. We were so lucky then to be able to have that kind of experience.
Great video and analysis, it opened my eyes (and ears) to see a beautiful performance. It also tagged on. my heart, was still in high school then. Thank you. Would be great to see another of her songs. It is so cool how you can isolate a voice, that eas great. Keep going, God bless for helping me see and hear!!
What an immense talent. Oh look; another Canadian too! As far as I'm concerned you can cover her again and again. I'm there for it. I guess I'm more than about Power Pop and Hard Rock because I've got 4 of her albums on vinyl. She wrote about so many personal things and relationships like James Taylor (Blue), Graham Nash (A Case of You), David Geffen (A Free Man in Paris). A Case of You lyrics are just incredible. I believe that's the song that Prince was so enamored of he wrote her letters constantly gushing over it, and because of the way he wrote with hearts and single letters for words - U for you and so on - they were considered just more typical fan mail and got thrown out. In any case, this was a magnificent video of a magnificent talent. Thank you Fil! :)
Not heard this for a while, so great to be reminded of it! Interesting you used 'conversational' and 'story telling' as I have always thought that way she sung/phrased/enunciated certain portions of the lyrics made it seem like she was in the middle of telling a story and (almost) pausing to consider the correct next word/phrase to use.
