SONG OF THE DAY
“Blue” by Joni Mitchell (Blue, Reprise Records, 1971). Written by Joni Mitchell.
MY TAKE
Well, obviously I’m having a little bit of a Joni Mitchell moment this week. I always love Joni, but the amount of time I actually spend listening to her is sometimes diminished by the amount of time I spend listening to all of the music made by the rest of the world in all other decades. Ah well… at any rate, I’m happy to see she’s back in my consciousness this week, and also happy to report that my humming (read: outright singing) of her songs doesn’t seem to be something that will let up for at least a few more days.
Blue. “Blue”. The best album she ever gave us. One of the top 10 songs she penned, easily. So that got me to thinking: I’m grossly overdo for a solid Joni Mitchell Top 10 or playlist. Or how about some both?!? (Read: It’s your lucky week). Look for it tomorrow!!
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
- Blue (1971) is the fourth album of Canadian-born singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.
– Exploring the various facets of relationships from infatuation on “A Case of You” to insecurity on “This Flight Tonight”, the songs feature simple accompaniments on piano, guitar, and Appalachian dulcimer.
– Blue was a critical and commercial success, reaching #15 in the Billboard Album charts and #3 in the UK.
– In January 2000, the New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented “turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music”.
– Despite the success of her first three albums and songs like “Woodstock”, 1970 saw Mitchell make a decision to break from performing. After a tough breakup with her longtime boyfriend Graham Nash she set off on a vacation around Europe during which she wrote many of the songs that appear on Blue.
– In 1979 Mitchell reflected, “The Blue album, there’s hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn’t pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there either.”
– The album was influenced by jazz, particularly the music of Miles Davis. Mitchell used alternative tunings on her guitar to allow easier access to augmented chords and notes in unexpected combinations.
– In 2003, Blue was ranked #30 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, the highest placement for a female artist.
– In 2000, Blue won the top spot in Chart’s ’50 Greatest Canadian Albums of All Time’ (Blue was third place in 1996 and 2005).
– In 2007, Blue was ranked second in Bob Mersereau’s book The Top 100 Canadian Albums, behind Neil Young’s Harvest (which was the second-place finisher in all three Chart polls).
– In 2001, Blue was ranked #14 on VH1’s list of the ‘100 Greatest Albums of All Time’, the highest album by a female artist to appear on the list.
– In 2006, Blue was listed among Time Magazine’s ‘All-Time 100 Albums’.
– In 1999, Blue was given the honor of a Grammy Hall of Fame award, which is given to recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have “qualitative or historical significance”.
– In 2004, Pitchfork Media ranked the album #86 on its list “Top 100 Albums of the 1970s”.
LYRICS
My favorite lyrics are in green…and, yes, there are a lot of favorite lyrics, as you can see.
Blue songs are like tattoos
You know I’ve been to sea before
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away
Hey Blue, here is a song for you
Ink on a pin
Underneath the skin
An empty space to fill in
Well there’re so many sinking now
You’ve got to keep thinking
You can make it thru these waves
Acid, booze, and ass
Needles, guns, and grass
Lots of laughs lots of laughs
Everybody’s saying that hell’s the hippest way to go
Well I don’t think so
But I’m gonna take a look around it though
Blue I love you
Blue here is a shell for you
Inside you’ll hear a sigh
A foggy lullaby
There is your song from me