SONG OF THE DAY
“The Circle Game” by Joni Mitchell (Ladies Of The Canyon, Reprise Records, 1970). Written by Joni Mitchell.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– Ladies Of The Canyon is Joni Mitchell’s third album, its title referring to Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, a center of popular music culture in Los Angeles during the sixties.
– The album also features “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock”.
– Notable for its expansion of Mitchell’s artistic vision and its varied song topics (ranging from the aesthetic weight of celebrity, to clear-eyed observation of the Woodstock generation, to the complexities of love), Ladies of the Canyon is often viewed as a transition between Mitchell’s folky earlier work and the more sophisticated, poignant albums that were to follow.
– Of all of Mitchell’s work, this album is arguably the most related to her long-standing friendships and relationships with Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young (whose hard rock arrangement of “Woodstock” was one of their three radio hits in 1970). A number of the album’s songs, including the aforementioned “Ladies of the Canyon” and “Woodstock”, feature densely stacked, wordless harmony overdubs reminiscent of David Crosby’s oeuvre; Crosby himself has covered “For Free” for many years. “Willy” is a girlishly infatuating paean to Graham Nash. “The Circle Game”, one of the artist’s most recognizable songs, features background vocals from all four. “Big Yellow Taxi” has also managed to become a standard over the years.
WHY TODAY?
And, yet again, my blog is prominently influenced by the television I watch. A beautiful episode of Thirtysomething ended with everyone cheesily around the record player, sipping wine, holding the baby, laughing and smiling and listening to this song, of course of course of course. It was horribly cheesy, but it was also beautiful and perfect because I love this song, and since I myself think in slow motion old times flashbacks when I hear it, it’s only fitting that the director/writers of Thirtysomething are allowed to do the same.
My flashback always go back to Caiti, in her double bed, before her room was painted bright colors and decorated by a teenager, when it was still Winnie the Pooh and the like. I’m singing this song to her because she loves when I sing it to her, but mom’s angry because I’m in her room keeping her up. You may think it’s hard to sing this song when someone is in the hallway yelling at your angrily, but in reality this song is THE perfect deflector of all things yelling and real. Caiti and I were in a bubble, and we both knew I wasn’t going to leave until the song was over, and that no harm was really done because she was going to go right to sleep at the end of the last chorus. And she did.
VIDEO OF THE DAY