Ladies Of The Canyon

"...In a thousand years, when someone wants to know what was so special and creative about the 1960s, they would do well to dust off this CD a give it a spin. From beginning to end this song cycle is her wondrous paean to the simple and beautiful countercultural dreams of peace, love and community..." Amazon reviewer Barron Laycock "Labradorman"

Joni Mitchell: Ladies Of The Canyon

I have to be honest, that while Ladies Of The Canyon is a must-listen for many of the Woodstock generation, most of it just passes me by. My guess is that I was just too young...and the hopes and dreams of a generation appalled by the Vietnam War...aren't really my cup of herbal tea. I don't have the life experience to validate these emotions, I was a child when that was happening and the war was only some exciting pictures on TV.

Furthermore, the prism through which that is seen, is a boundless sort of enthusiasm about the possibilities of Life and strangely, doomed romances...e.g. Willy (about Graham Nash)

"...Willy is my joy, he is my sorrow
Now he wants to run away and hide
He says our love can't be real
He cannot hear the chapel's pealing bells
But you know it's hard to tell
When you're in the spell
If you're wrong or if it's real..."

              Willy

Joni Mitchell on her ongoing affection for Graham Nash "...My relationship with Graham [Nash] is a great, enduring one. We lived together for some time - we were married, you might say. The time Graham and I were together was a highly productive period for me as an artist. I painted a great deal, and the bulk of my best drawings were done in '69 and '70 when we were together. To contend with this hypercreative woman, Graham tried his hand at several things. Painting. Stained glass. And finally he came to the camera. I feel he's not just a good photographer, he's a great one. His work is so lyrical. Some of his pictures are worth a thousand words...."   "...Shot between 1969 and 2003, Nash's photographs include revealing portraits of: family and friends images of life on the road still lifes and landscapes street photographs and a unique series of self-portraits which often shows him reflected in windows and mirrors..." Amazon blurb   "...Even after we broke up, Graham made a gift of a very fine camera and a book of Cartier-Bresson photographs. I became an avid photographer myself. He gave the gift back to me. Even though the romance ended, the creative aspect of our relationship has continued to branch out..." Rolling Stone interview July 1979

...and I just don't get it, so, let's leave it at that and go straight to the three last songs, Big Yellow Taxi, Woodstock & The Circle Game...all of which are much covered and genuine classics:

First up, Big Yellow Taxi, Joni offers her only ever (as far as I know) dance track (strange, because she says she loves dancing), the acoustic, giggly, infectious, sly I've-been-dumped song masquerading as an eco-anthem:  

"...Hey farmer, farmer, put away that DDT, now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!..."                             

...but lurking behind that is: 

"...Late last night, I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi took away my old man
Oh don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone
They paved paradise
Put up a parking lot..."

                           Big Yellow Taxi     

There's the hippy journalism of Woodstock, with it's Eden-like connotations that top and tail the first verse:

"...I came upon a child of God...
...And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden..."  

...it's denouncement of the Vietnam War for a generation:       

"...And I dreamed I saw the bomber death planes
Riding shotgun in the sky
Turning into butterflies
Above our nation..." 

...climaxing with the macabre image, that haunts the song's final version of the chorus.

N.B.: The two red lines of backing vocals set up a question that remains, at best, open to interpretation:

"...We are stardust                      Billion year old carbon
We are golden                             Caught in The Devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden..."