An Epic Joni Mitchell Liverwurst Sandwich
It must have been a sleepy Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago when I thought, mmm, I'd like to hear some Joni Mitchell. I don't know about you, but this mood comes on about as frequently as the "mmm, I feel like a big ol' liverwurst sandwich!" Nothing against wurst or Mitchell — I enjoy both in extreme moderation — I'm just saying it doesn't come on that often.
At least that's what I used to think. Before I turned 41. Since that fateful Sunday morning I have been caught in an epic Joni Mitchell liverwurst sandwich, playing 5 songs over and over (when they're not on my headphones they're in my head) — "A Case of You", "Help Me", "Big Yellow Taxi", "You Turn Me On I'm A Radio", and (my current fave of the five) "Free Man in Paris" — all worthy classics from the Rhino High Five compilation. But still. Enough.
I tried to break the cycle with the dishy Sufjan Stevens' Delighted People EP (a small step, granted), but I couldn't find a hook to help me out.
I do have a tendency to get trapped in song spirals — sometimes for months at a time. Last year right around this time it was Patty Griffin. Is it an end of summer fling with female folk singers? Is it hormonal? Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a name for it? Is this Manopause?
Help me! I think I'm fallin—- oof!
Also have a love/cringe thang w/ Joni. Careful: "Hejira" or "Hissing of Summer Lawns" might bite you. I've been spiraling in them since the late 70's.
"Each so deep and superficial between the forceps and the stone." J.M.
That about sums up everything.
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you're the victim of a massive subliminal marketing campaign. In 'the kids are alright' Annette Benning and Mark Ruffalo take of on a Joni Mitchell tribute, even including a little duet. Very disturbing, especially to the kids, who aren't quite alright anymore after that.
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I often feel music, like food and sex, is self-revealing and non-transferable. I won't venture to ask why you listened to Sufjan Stevens because I find him derivative and suicide-inducing (just as I see most of today's "indie" musicians). Though his songs do make me want to change the channel.
What you call your "song spirals" indicate the depth at which a particular song (or group of songs) resonates, and is consonant, with the ground of your being. For me, the repetition of such songs possesses a meditational quality. For example, I can listen to Ryuichi Sakamoto on a endless loop of repeats. Speaking of loops, have you ever heard John Adam's "Shaker Loops"?
Stick it out with Joni 'cause don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone....
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I actually think Joni Mitchell's voice has become amazing -- transcendent -- in later life. But you see both her strengths and weaknesses as a songstress in this 2000 version of Both Sides Now. There are certain songs (like Both Sides Now and Help Me, that were on the radio a lot when I was a kid, and like my Burt Bacharach binge last winter, sometimes I like to go back there. So you're right about the "ground of your being."
But I also like to keep it fresh and mix it up a bit. As for why Sufjan Stevens -- yes he's derivative (and boldly so -- his latest EP is actually two versions of an earlier song of his which is in turn self-consciously based on an even earlier one by another artist -- and he often sounds like a knock-off of Elliott Smith) but he's just so damn cute. I don't really mind derivative, anyway, as long as there's a hook.
As for the meditative qualities of repetition, I, too was bowled over when I discovered Ryuichi Sakamoto (I had Replica on an endless loop) and have been known on a rainy day to put on Satie's Vexations and get totally roped in by its coy questions (although I always lose count before I get to 840).
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As a fellow Detroiter, I find I have a certain pride for Sufjan. Last year when I went back to NYC and mentioned that I was listening a lot to him, I got such strong reactions from "enlightened" NY'ers who dismissed him as a religious nut. I find his music soothing and, well, he is a looker, religious nut or not!
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