itt a poll of the famous album court & spark by joni mitchell

"same situation" just kills me--

You've had lots of lovely women
Now you turn your gaze to me
Weighing the beauty and the imperfection
To see if I'm worthy
Like the church, like a cop, like a mother
You want me to be truthful
Sometimes you turn it on me like a weapon though
And I need your approval

She invents a totally great way to sing "approval" too.

i think the album falls off a lot after car on a hill, but falls from like, the top of mt olympus, to a lower part of mt olympus

Either "Help Me" or "Free Man in Paris."

eh who i am kidding 'down to you' totally slays

voted "People's Parties" but I coulda voted for many of these.

love most of them, but "raised on robbery" is the fun one so i'll vote for fun. "i'm a pretty good cook/i'm sitting on my groceries"

even within an arrangement that practically screams out "this is not a pop song," "car on a hill" in many ways remains my ideal pop song. the line "he makes friends easy, he's not like me/i watch for judgment anxiously" has haunted me for pretty much my whole life.

car on a hill is joni's steely dan moment imo

agreed. i assume joni had a pretty strong influence on sd.

Raised on Robbery gets my vote! Hey where you going? Don't go yet!

yeah, Raised on Robbery. great character sketch, very funny, and fun to sing along with

"Raised on Robbery" is too awkward for me; she's trying too hard to rock.

"Help Me" is sophisti-pop that has never been emulated.

car on a hill is joni's steely dan moment imo

― max, Monday, April 12, 2010 11:14 AM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

agreed. i assume joni had a pretty strong influence on sd.

― fact checking cuz, Monday, April 12, 2010 11:16 AM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

The commonality there is the L.A. Express -- all those guys (Tom Scott, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample) would go on to play on Steely Dan albums.

Will vote for "Car on a Hill" because I've discovered it last, but it keeps unfurling surprise after surprise. For years I tagged it as the-one-with-the-classic/crazy-Joni-vocal-swoop; then I noticed the way she sings "It always seems so righteous at the start."

"People's Parties" is probably a minor transition track but I love every part of it--a real "A Case of You" vibe before that schmaltzy set of backing vocals. "Down to You" 2nd place.

OK, what the hell does "ITT" stand for??? [/dumb old man]

in this thread

international thief thief

international telephone and telegraph

Superfluous internet slang - how did we ever exist without it?

really hard decision. ended up voting Free Man in Paris because it had such a huge imaginative influence on me for years (equal to like Fitzgerald, Hemingway, etc depictions of ex-patriotism, glamor, an artistic bohemian class). but they're all so amazing.

Also, the "I deal in dreamers" verse is insanely great.

Wd like to vote for the "Free Man in Paris" through to "Same Situation" sequence, which is 1 tremendous thing really. Will probably vote "Free Man" cos it's my jam for life but feels wrong to single out any of those 3 tunes in particular. Agree that this album sorta peters out tho.

I know this is a specific album thread, but I have to mention how incredible her discography is -- from srsly killer folk albums (Ladies of Canyon, Clouds) to Blue and then Court + Spark! Srsly, if her career had ended here I'd have nothing to complain about, and then the very next year Hissing of Summer Lawns comes out...

the title track is so terrific, too

Agreed. So easy to overlook it cause it depends so heavily on the (potent) "looking for a lady to court and spark" image which easily becomes just the name of the album. But sooo amazing

"Court and Spark" the song no doubt deserves more love than it'll get. There's a lot to be said for Joni's deeper cuts and it's almost unfair judging them against the out and out hooky numbers, cos they satisfy different pleasure nodes.

In the title track I especially love when she sings, "dancing up a river in the dark," and "when something strange happened / glory train passed through him," AND "i cleared myself, I sacrificed my blues, and you could complete me -- I'd complete you."

I voted for "Free Man in Paris" because it's fun to sing "I was a free man in Paris, I was Kevin Federline"

I always heard "I was a free man in Paris, I saw Alice in Chains and Live."

talk about a generation gap

Raised on Robbery isn't trying to hard to rock.. it's awesomely impersonating the Andrews Sisters!

"people's parties" because even though her narrative stance has some of her least attractive I-stand-apart-and-judge stuff ("thinking I can't understand" - c'mon, yes you do), she ends with this, and it makes me cry every damn time:

I wish I had more sense of humor
keeping the sadness at bay
throwing lightness on these things
laughing it all away

and also for "cry for Eddie in the corner/thinking he's nobody"

fuck I can't even type it out without getting all fucked up, <3 u so much joni mitchell

So I send out my prayer
Wondering who's there to hear
I said "Send me somebody
Who's strong... And somewhat sincere

^^^ Love this.

But could also vote for the title track, "Same Situation" and "Car On A Hill".

yeah lyrically same situation is maybe my favorite mitchell song--its covering the same territory all of her love songs do but theres something particularly cutting and direct about it that ends up wrecking me

Apparently about Warren Beatty.

Beautiful album.

I voted 'Free Man in Paris'.

whoa! xp

Re "Same Situation":

I like how it parlays that sense of nervousness that really defines For The Roses (esp. "Lessons In Survival" with its perturbing sudden flights of quicksilver trebly melody) into the more glamorous poise of the entire Court & Spark sound. You can really imagine Joni trying to stay cool while inside all these doubting thoughts are crowding eachother out.

Whereas the next album didn't really have love songs per se (more still lives of romance) and by the time of Hejira the tremors had actually stilled, and she could be measured and reflective as well as insightful. On songs like "Same Situation" she gets to the heart of things but in this really wild instinctive way, her insight more a function of literally not being able to stop thinking rather than some kind of wisdom per se.

Yeah Max! And "Car On A Hill" is about Jackson Browne. I can't remember who "Court & Spark" is about again.

In some ways "Car On A Hill" should be her darkest song ever, instead it's deceptively... not breezy, but, um, assured in its glumness.

Yeah, I hear this album as the first step towards what she accomplished on Summer Lawns and Hejira – she's thinking about the rituals of romance more intently than limning the merely "personal." No judgment intended; it's a few miles down the road from Blue.

I think that started on For The Roses really, but that's probably being pedantic.

Oh definitely ("Lessons in Survival," as you pointed out, "Electricity," "Barandgrill).

great album. voted people's parties, one of the simpler tracks here but that vocal assault at the end still overwhelms me every time

To celebrate the Leafs not finishing the season in dead last place (in your FACE, Edmonton Oilers!) it's only appropriate to vote for "Raised on Robbery"

In some ways "Car On A Hill" should be her darkest song ever, instead it's deceptively... not breezy, but, um, assured in its glumness.

glumness lined in optimism. she's still waiting. his car may still yet arrive on that hill. the part of her that wrote the song seems to understand it isn't going to happen. but the part of her that's singing it is still holding out hope.

i've listened to this album like 5 times since this poll started and i still can't decide. it's weird, contra my other favourite mitchell albums (blue/hissing/hejira) the actual words and narratives didn't jump out at me in the same crystal clear way - her voice really melts into the (gorgeous) arrangements to an extent that it's rarely done over her career.

("help me" or "free man in paris", i think)

(because somehow for court & spark the songs where the sound is most inviting seem more important than the lyrically stronger tracks like "same situation")

Court & Spark bested only by Blue but for me the two are co-equally her greatest..."Help Me" gets my vote

her "Joan Didion" album IMHO

listened to this the other night, lots of stuff to chew on in this thread. had totally forgotten Cheech and Chong's involvement on this record lol. still comfortable voting for Raised on Robbery, it has such a hectic, slapdash urgency to it, its business compliments the subject matter like I AM in the bar being overstimulated and hit on and kinda drunk

Car On A Hill.

the albums even more heartbreaking because the last awful song is the signpost that she was on the edge of her descent into arrogant slightly misanthropic jazz pretension. which wasn't always bad, she did some beautiful stuff in that mode over the next 2 or 3 inconsistent records, but she was never really as human and relatable again for me.

Oh... "My favourite song", she said. It was Joni singing "Help me, I think I'm Falling"

Too hard. If I could listen to one song right this moment, it would be "Just Like This Train." So that.

Voted for Dorothy Parker's favourite song.

instrumentation on this album is a+++--the way the bass sneaks in on 'people's parties' or the drums on 'court & spark'

Voted for Down To You, this album would be near perfect if you removed Twisted

Has anyone read the book 'Will You Take Me As I Am'? I'm halfway done but it's not really gripped me in the way I hoped it would.
There is however, an excellent deconstruction of the meaning behind the lyrics to C&S.

The melody of "Same Situation" is so magical.

Down to You without a seconds hesitation..

instrumentation on this album is a+++--the way the bass sneaks in on 'people's parties' or the drums on 'court & spark'

xpost - also the horn arrangements are just frikkin' sublime

Oh fuck i had completely wiped this out of my mind. Someone mentioned the LA mafia steely dan connection. Here's more evidence... MITCHELL + MCDONALD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWPrNAE8wjI

sorry, make that LA Express, not LA mafia

Raised On Robbery.

voted "free man in paris" in the end

After voting I felt unfettered and alive.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

missed this, voted Other People's Parties. Like the live version on Miles of Aisles.

An artist's most popular album all too often isn't they're best, but this is one that is. Plenty of other great stuff in her long career of course but this is my fave. Voted for "Free Man in Paris", but really this is one of those rare albums that's truly strong from start to finish, one great song after another.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

raised on robbery? wtf?

That little segue with the squawky saxophone (http://youtu.be/XOEE-kR-Txg?t=44s) has been in my head all weekend since I heard it at the grocery store.

raised on robbery? wtf?

― iago g., Friday, May 14, 2010 7:59 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'm actually kind of annoyed that "Free Man In Paris" won this, I've always found it kind of clunky.

Yeah it certainly doesn't feel unfettered.

actually that was about "Raised on Robbery."

i adore "help me" but my attempts to really get into her back catalog have not been successful. i do usually like covers of her songs by other artists, and i like her voice, so i'm not sure what it is.

When I was in law school I used to fantasize about becoming an entertainment lawyer and turning out like the speaker in Free Man in Paris

listen to the album Hejira, I don't think there are any well known tracks on it and it is a thing of wonder

xp

thanks, i haven't checked that one out yet

yeah Hejira is really of a piece too, one solid introspective groove

i love that album but boy are her lyrics pompous and self-absorbed.

She finds enough fresh inflections to keep the self-absorption at bay most of the time, and when this fails her there's always her guitar and Jaco Pastorious.

Aw, I like "Just Like This Train."

Furry Lewis not a big fan of the lyrics either

i think this is lyrically her best album

max otm about "same situation"

"trouble child" is really great. i'm such a sucker for "down to you." it's that piano thing. i think the lyrics strike a good balance between light/"profound."

help me 100%

this album. maybe my favourite of all the albums. ever.

i just feel on top of the world when i put this album on

there is just like electricity and energy coursing through me

i love it so much

for like a dollar too!

those posts are going to make me start listening to / reshelving my records tonight for the first time since i moved a few months ago.

i did this^. and now i'm listening to court and spark.

how she sings wanderrrrr down the champs elysees

"car on a hill" is my favorite song on earth prob

Between Same Situation and Down to You, with several runners-up

Tim F is great in this thread

When I was in law school I used to fantasize about becoming an entertainment lawyer and turning out like the speaker in Free Man in Paris

― extremely lewd and incredibly crass (Hurting 2), Monday, January 16, 2012 7:46 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You wanted to be David Geffen?

oh he doesn't seem to be in right now, i'll get him.

laughing it all away :/

I voted for "Free Man in Paris" because it's fun to sing "I was a free man in Paris, I was Kevin Federline"

lol

thank you benbbag.

"car on a hill" is my favorite song on earth prob

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, December 3, 2014 5:32 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I always loved this song but reading Girls Like Us deepened it further for me.

the unexpected, almost intrusive but ultimately gorgeous, heart tugging vocal harmonies on People's Parties get me every time. I only discovered Court & Spark this year having written off Joni as 'not my thing' based on Blue. It became a firm favourite and maybe my most played 'old' album of the year. The whole thing is just so great. My partner and I went up to say goodbye to my (sadly deceased) grandmother's apartment in Paris and spent two days walking around with Free Man going through our heads. I can't listen to Court and Spark without remembering that time, so it's intrinsically linked in my head with my grandmother.

I had no idea it was about David Geffen and I don't want to know, somehow

I love the way this album starts up, the way it unfolds, and by the time we get to the end of the first verse it's all up and running, really great. Same with Cotton Avenue.

the unexpected, almost intrusive but ultimately gorgeous, heart tugging vocal harmonies on People's Parties get me every time.

woops, that was a dog latin quote. meant to OTM it

but YES YES YES i just love this album. the highs are so high, it's just one after another

love the GROOVES on this album so much too, the funky little intro to Free Man, and then the breakdown lick in the same song

oh yea totally

i love that little guitar strum between "falling" and "........in love again"

(in "help me")

oh yeah the chorusy one, know exactly what you're talking about

I guess it's not that chorusy actually, but yeah

and just EVERYTHING that happens musically during this passage:

Didn't it feel good
We were sitting there talking
Or lying there not talking
Didn't it feel good
You dance with the lady
With the hole in her stocking
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good

is just so incredible, gives me goosebumps

I love the drumming on that song a lot, the little open-hi-hat flourish on the "and" of every 2

i love that little guitar strum between "falling" and "........in love again"

― marcos, Wednesday, December 3, 2014 4:00 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh mate, i was just about to come here and post about that but instead i'll just OTM you back.

for like a dollar too!

those posts are going to make me start listening to / reshelving my records tonight for the first time since i moved a few months ago.

― mattresslessness, Thursday, November 13, 2014 1:26 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
2 weeks pass...

i did this^. and now i'm listening to court and spark.

― languagelessness (mattresslessness), Tuesday, December 2, 2014 11:22 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha that's great dude

just found a site with loads of joni chords and tabs. she must have had about 15 guitars with her when playing live - i can't get my head round all the tunings!

Nobody's future to decide.

even within an arrangement that practically screams out "this is not a pop song," "car on a hill" in many ways remains my ideal pop song. the line "he makes friends easy, he's not like me/i watch for judgment anxiously" has haunted me for pretty much my whole life.

with "you" being

― fact checking cuz, maandag 12 april 2010 18:12 bookmarkflaglink

Climbing over the hill

I got to know this via a cassette version which had resequenced the songs to equalize the sides. That version ended with "Down to You", and it has never felt right hearing it towards the beginning of side two. It is certainly a bigger finish than "Twisted".

I have the cassette

never could deal with "twisted".. just eurgh.
feel like the right song won this poll, though "people's parties" and "down to you" should have been higher.

the chord changes in “people’s parties” are just so swoonworthy

"Raised on Robbery" the worst song

just going to cross post this here too. xp yeah i don't like raised on robbery either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQa_GwnnvxQ

wait, maybe i do like it.

"Just Like this Train" might have been my pick from this. Funny that she goes on TV to promote two compilations by playing an old song that isn't on either!

"raised on robbery" is fun, suffers in comparison to the rest of her contemporaneous work, but i do like the layered harmonies on the intro, and robbie robertson's guitar.

I'm a pretty good cook
Sitting on my groceries

I like "Raised On Robbery", it's good timey

Count me in as a very late vote for Twisted.