Oh I Wish I Had a POLL, I Could Skate Away On: The Joni Mitchell Tracks/Albums Results Thread (ILM ARTIST POLL #26)

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First the albums countdown today and then tracks over the rest of the week.

13. Shine - 2007 (1 point)

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12. Shadows & Lights - 1980 (2 points)

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9- TIE. Wild Things Run Fast - 1982 (3 points)

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9- TIE. Mingus - 1979 (3 points)

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9- TIE. Clouds - 1969 (3 points)

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8. Night Ride Home - 1991 (4 points)

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7. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter - 1977 (6 points)

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6. Ladies of the Canyon - 1970 (18 points, one #1st place vote)

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She was trying too hard on Clouds, I think. Other than that, she's kind of overwhelming.

5. For the Roses - 1972 (26 points)

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oh man, I can't believe I missed this poll :( Excited to see the results, at least!

4. The Hissing of Summer Lawns - 1975 (38 points, two #1st place votes)

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I still haven't tabulated the tracks results. If you get them in ASAP, I'll include them.

Also, just a little logistical note. Today and tomorrow I can't stagger the results (which shouldn't be a big deal because it's just albums rollout and first bunch of tracks). I'll do a better job of staggering though throughout the rest of the week.

hmmm i know where this is going

(the album poll i mean)

3. Hejira - 1976 (51 points, six #1st place votes: MOST NUMBER ONE VOTES)

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oooh, excellent Mordy! I will get one together asap! :)

2. Court & Spark - 1974 (56 points, four #1st place votes)

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DRUMROLL PLZ

i cdn't do this btw, felt insufficiently familiar with the latest stuff and too protective of everything else

but this top 3 seems otm to me

1. Blue - 1971 (59 points, five #1st place votes)

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SEINFELD FRETLESS BASS

3. Hejira - 1976 (51 points, six #1st place votes: MOST NUMBER ONE VOTES)

tru kult fans

oh and i like Song to a Seagull a lot more than the electorate here :(

BONUS ALBUM: Joni Mitchell and James Taylor at the Royal Albert Hall, London UK - October 28, 1970

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No votes, but I love this particular bootleg and highly recommend ppl check it out. Tons of between song banter and they sing on each other's songs.

Plus, you can listen to the entire thing on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cDyePbGpg8

xpost Would you have voted for it top 5 though?

number 5 maybe just so it got a vote

yeah, I was >this< close to putting it at #5 myself

Wild Things Run Fast in the top ten!

How were points scored for albums? 5 for #1, 4 for #2, etc? Was I really the only person to give a vote to Clouds?

Exactly so, but Clouds got (2) votes.

(iirc, I gave it the other vote.)

At least eighteen ballots, plus ffm's tardy one, bodes well for the tracks poll.

But Clouds was #3 on my ballot, which should have given it three points. If you voted for it as well, it should have got more than 3 points in total.

xpost to Mordy

it was tardy, rushed but heartfelt! am going to spend rest of the day youtubing her, not many mp3s on my phone atm

so....Shadows and Light or Mile of Aisles????

Sund4r, after reviewing all the ballots I'm not sure that I received yours. I have two ballots (including my own) w/ Clouds on it. Do you want to resend it and I'll make sure your tracks ballot is included?

(Alternatively if you resend it, and I realize I already had yours, I apologize for the oversight.)

Can I just check that you got mine?

I got yours.

I just resent it to jonimitchellpoll AT gmail DOT com. Could you please confirm that you received it? If it wasn't counted, it would push Hejira to #2.

I sent it from a Yahoo address.

I just received it. I double checked and this is the first time I've received it. I'm sorry I wasn't able to include it in the albums poll, but I'll make sure it's counted in the tracks poll.

:(

It's OK, shenanigans means I can assume dozens of Hissing votes got lost down the back of the sofa :)

I've been busy = voter fail. how many ballots have you got so far Mordy?

C&S is so good. I relistened last night.

Surprisingly close for #1, wow.

is it too late for me to get a tracks ballot in

i should have switched C&S for Blue in my #1 spot...i can't decide which one i like more most days though

go for it shakey

nm, i see that i got it already. it'll be counted.

Ladies of the Canyon was my no.1 for that moody sequence in the middle. I'm surprised it was just me.

Wow, so y'all really dig that fusion-y stuff, eh? I didn't do an albums list because I only really like the first 4, but now I wish I did.

my ballot was super-conservative, with zero entries post-1976

it was tardy, rushed but heartfelt! am going to spend rest of the day youtubing her, not many mp3s on my phone atm

― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Monday, October 1, 2012 9:47 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've been busy = voter fail. how many ballots have you got so far Mordy?

― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, October 1, 2012 1:05 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ah, those conflicting emotions almost kept me from voting in this poll, don't know much from after Wild Things Run Fast much less obscurities, side projects, or boots, but in the end just couldn't not vote, so my ballot is going to skew the results towards the earlier stuff I already knew. Forgot all about the albums poll, but I'm fine with how they were ranked here.

I'm surprised "A Case Of You" is on the Misses collection rather than Hits - I'd always thought that was one of her better-known songs, and maybe the best known from Blue.

Thanks to its appearance on xmas comps "River" has that honor imo.

I forgot to vote for "River".

Oops, me too.

TRACK COUNTDOWN

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26½ x 22½ x 2½ in - Oil on linen - 1995

29 Ballots, 105 Tracks Nominated

Tracks will also be cross-posted to this Spotify playlist for listening convenience:
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/79HgvbsptKvCXt6uKHSBl2

50. Jericho (Don Juan's Reckless Daughter): 95 points, 4 votes

Just like Jericho I said
"Let these walls come tumbling down"

49. Conversation (Ladies of the Canyon): 101 points, 5 votes

He comes for conversation
I comfort him sometimes
Comfort and consultation
He knows that's what he'll find

I do love that painting, I might do one of myself one day

48. I Don't Know Where I Stand (Clouds): 105 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote

Picked up a pencil and wrote "I love you" in my finest hand
Wanted to send it, but I don't know where I stand

47. This Flight Tonight (Blue): 108 points, 6 votes

Starlight, star bright
You got the lovin' that I like all right
Turn this crazy bird around
I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight

(I made a little mistake. This Flight Tonight is tied for 45th w/ the two next tracks that I'm posting.)

45-- TIE. Urge for Going (Hits): 108 points, 4 votes

See the geese in chevron flight
Flapping and racing on before the snow
They got the urge for going
And they got the wings so they can go

45-- TIE. For the Roses (For the Roses): 108 points, 5 votes

Remember the days when you used to sit
And make up your tunes for love
And pour your simple sorrow
To the soundhole and your knee

43-- TIE. The Circle Game (Ladies of the Canyon): 110 points, 4 votes

Sixteen springs and sixteen summers gone now
Cartwheels turn to car wheels thru the town
And they tell him take your time it won't be long now
Till you drag your feet to slow the circles down

43-- TIE. Blonde in the Bleachers (For the Roses): 110 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote

So sweet and wild
It's youth
It's too good to waste

42. Let the Wind Carry Me (For the Roses): 113 points, 5 votes

Mama thinks she spoilt me
Papa knows somehow he set me free
Mama thinks she spoilt me rotten
She blames herself
But papa he blesses me

I didn't vote for it but I'm happy "Conversation" placed - though I sorta feel it should be "comfort and consolation".

"Let The Wind Carry Me" is amazing, that and "This Flight Tonight" were on my ballot.

41. Trouble Child (Court and Spark): 114 points, 6 votes

Up in a sterilized room
Where they let you be lazy

40. Down to You (Court and Spark): 116 points, 5 votes

Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness

39. Shades of Scarlet Conquering (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 119 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote

Out in the wind in crinolines
Chasing the ghosts of Gable and Flynn
Through stand-in boys and extra players
Magnolias hopeful in her auburn hair

38. My Old Man (Blue): 127 points, 7 votes

But when he's gone
Me and them lonesome blues collide
The bed's too big
The frying pan's too wide

37. The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey (Mingus): 128 points, 4 votes

His grandpa loved an empire
His sister loved a thief
And Lindsey loved the ways of darkness
Beyond belief

You're going very fast Mordy!

36. Rainy Night House (Ladies of the Canyon): 128 points, 6 votes

You are a holy man
On the F.M. radio
I sat up all the night and watched thee
To see who in the world you might be

Sorry! That's the last one for today. I mentioned earlier in the thread that the rest of the list would be more staggered, but today (and yesterday) I'm short on time. Anyway, feel free to discuss. And if anyone checks out the Spotify list, please let me know that all the tracks listed so far are there. I'm a little worried that they aren't (since I have hard copies of all the tracks on my computer, so I'm not sure if it automatically synchs them to the Spotify library and what).

Rainy Night House has to be higher than that!

I love the "in the morning there are lovers in the street, they look so high, you brush against a stranger and you both apologise" bit in Down To You.

The provisional schedule for the rest of the week: 35-21 tomorrow, 20-11 Thursday, 10-1 on Friday.

Don't apologise, I just hope we do justice by talking about the choices enough.

I love the "in the morning there are lovers in the street, they look so high, you brush against a stranger and you both apologise" bit in Down To You.

^^^^

The use of "thee" on "Rainy Night House" is probably the only flaw in an otherwise perfect song.

Didn't vote for anything off Mingus but 'The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey' was on my shortlist so I'm glad it made it here.

Love 'Trouble Child' and 'This Flight Tonight' so much.

'Shades Of Scarlet Conquering' was my number one...probably one of fave musical moments evah is when the strings go all wonky behind her when she sings 'Given in the night to dark dreams'...fuck I love that song!

Blonde in the Bleachers was my number one

I inexplicably didn't vote for "Down To You" - I could have easily filled almost half my ballot with C&S tracks. This is a great lyric:

You go down to the pick up station
Craving warmth and beauty
You settle for less than fascination
A few drinks later you're not so choosy
When the closing lights strip off the shadows
On this strange new flesh you've found
Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf
You hurry
To the blackness
And the blankets
To lay down an impression
And your loneliness

omg this flight tonight is so low! did Nazareth kill it for everyone? it's such a beautiful song to me - the fear of meeting someone who is getting a second chance, who may still let you down.. the 'ooh baby, baby come by' song within a song..

holy many xps!

The frying pan line in My Old Man is A+. If I cook eggs for myself when my husband's not home I invariably get that stuck in my head. Pretty sure I took a photo of my spreading egg whites & sent it to him captioned with those lyrics once.

"Rainy Night House" is a jam, voted for it high; love when the voices all come rushing in about midway through

This Flight > My Old Man imo, but both are Blue's weakest afaic

Glad to see "Urge for Going"--it was the voting thread that introduced me to the original. The longest-serving staff member at my school retired two years ago, and I played "The Circle Game" over the P.A. for her during lunch (she was kind of hippieish). Perfect song for that sort of thing.

That IS the perfect song for a retiring hippieish (teacher)! :) Hope a sensitive, bookish kid heard it and ran with it.

It was great. She'd been at our school for almost 30 years--she said she sat in the room as it played, looking out the window and thinking about the all the kids that had passed through over the years. I didn't see any Joni Mitchell T-shirts at school the next fall, so I think it may have passed the sensitive, bookish kids by.

That's a pity! We'll get them in other ways. I couldn't "get" Joni until my 20s. My husband, lovable cliche that he is, played A Case of You on his guitar for me and it was game over.

Teacher looking out window could've been a great Circle Game video! <3 Love the imagery in my head right now.

My husband, lovable cliche that he is, played A Case of You on his guitar for me and it was game over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPsW2FYprfI

hahaha, yup. I'm thankful that wasn't actually ACOY because I was in cringe-ready position. I know I'm getting ahead of the poll here but
"I drew a map of Canada - oh Canada! - with your face sketched on it twice.."
Kills me. Every time.

I was the #1 vote for "I Don't Know Where I Stand". I was in the exact situation described in the song the first time I heard it, via Fairport Convention's cover, when I was a student. Still hits me hard every time I hear it....

Joni sings her own song quite well, but so does Sandy Denny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-1hH0rqeRA

I've never given it much of a chance. I really like that version!

I voted for Conversation. Very evocative storytelling, hippie but without the rough edges, love the guitar jangles. And her voice soars so lightly over it all. You can tell she's holding back. "She speaks in sorry sentences. Miraculous repentances"

In my shortlist...
This Flight Tonight - one of my last cuts - the best part about this is the Nick Drake-esque guitar
For the Roses - her voice has really dropped since Ladies of the Canyon. She sounds like a grizzled old lady.
Rainy Night House - "to SEE who in the world you might BE" and then "TO see who in the world you MIGHT be" - "tan/sand" - so many memorable rhymes - great church vocals coming from nowhere

Down to You is a really great track in the context of the album but the breakdown in the middle kept it off a list of the 20 Joni tracks I'd want to listen to in isolation.

"Conversation" is my biiiig favourite of her "I can sing!" period. It's like "yes! you can indeed!"

This Flight Tonight - one of my last cuts - the best part about this is the Nick Drake-esque guitar

I've long noted this resemblance in their guitar styles in general - the fingerpicking style, the funky open tunings, etc.

Mordy, there's three so far missing from the Spotify playlist on my side (and missing from Spotify at all, says a quick search):

urge for going
let the wind carry me
shades of scarlet conquering

"For the Roses" really reminds me of Nick Drake, at least the vocal melody.

^^^^^^^^^^^

not just the melody, but the descending guitar chords, the pastoral imagery, the butterflies and lilac sprays and the moon sweeping down the black water

Yay for "This Flight Tonight" and "Wolf that Lives in Lindsey" placing. Didn't vote for anything else so far, but it's all good. Nice that "Circle Game" made it too.

I figured that tracks from Blue wouldn't need my help, so cut most of the ones that were on on my longlist. I suspect every song from it will place.

the descending guitar chords

OTM

The Circle Game didn't make my shortlist but at the right moments it feels like the best song ever.

The Circle Game is low on my list of desired Joni tracks. She sounds like a kindergarten teacher.

All Canadians are part time kindergarten teachers.

Working with kids all day keeps us pleasant. And with everyone pitching in, we can ensure the younger generation keeps up on its "Zed"s. Damn you, Sesame Street and Alphabet Song.

Hm well it's not meant to be a shot at kindergarten teachers, who are the greatest, more that I'd rather not feel like a 5-year-old in a classroom after the emotional release of "Woodstock".

I didn't vote for "Circle Game" or "Big Yellow Taxi" or "Woodstock" either tbh. Prefer CSNY's "Woodstock" and am not partial to the other two. "Both Sides Now" was my #1, though, so maybe I'm perverse.

I'm just teasing :) well, the song is about leaving your childhood behind so it fits, I think. Not sure if you were on the Neil thread where clemenza told us this song was her response to Neil Young's Sugar Mountain?

(xp)

I did vote for Taxi, albeit at #20

No Taxi from me, though I did vote for Woodstock.

Mordy, there's three so far missing from the Spotify playlist on my side (and missing from Spotify at all, says a quick search):

thx for checking for me. I don't think I can do anything about tracks that Spotify doesn't have at all.

i totally didn't vote so i have no right to observe, but "trouble child" is too low!

Shit. I come here too rarely. I'd have voted Hissing best album and Harry's House best single, I think.

i would have voted shadows and light best album but it would have been TACTICAL VOTING

A couple thoughts after listening to Blue once at work and twice tonight... 1) There is more piano than I remembered. Her vocals tend to be the focus on those, and the instrumentation has a light touch throughout, so it's easy not to notice that multiple tracks have only piano in the backing track. Plus the piano is kind of jangly and tinny, almost guitar-ish. 2) The sequencing is something else. "Carey" into "Blue" is the most obvious jarring moment but every time you think you get into a positive groove she hits you with a killer quiet track.

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Original cover of 'For the Roses,' 1972 - Ink and Felt Pen

35. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire (For the Roses): 132 points, 6 votes, 1 1st place vote

A wristwatch, a ring, a downstairs screamer
Edgy-black cracks of the sky
"Pin cushion prick fix this poor bad dreamer"
"Money" cold shadows reply

Just a quick reminder that as the tracks are revealed they will also be added to this Spotify playlist for listening convenience:

http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/79HgvbsptKvCXt6uKHSBl2

My second vote to show up... another great piece of guitar work in addition to the harrowing subject matter. I still find it hard to believe how much her voice drops in the span of 3 years.

That Moog part in "Cold Blue Steel" after the second chorus = A+++

34. People's Parties (Court and Spark: 141 points, 7 votes

And Jack behind his joker
And stone-cold Grace behind her fan
And me in my frightened silence
Thinking I don't understand

33. The Same Situation (Court and Spark): 146 points, 8 votes

Still I sent up my prayer
Wondering where it had to go
With heaven full of astronauts
And the Lord on death row

you're picking excellent lyrics Mordy! I sing People's Parties to myself when I get nervous and socially awkward, trying to be Stone Cold Grace.

thanks! these are all the lyrics i sing in my head all the time. for some of the songs i have to pick between a few excerpts i constantly sing in my head. i try to pick the one i think about the most.

32. Little Green (Blue): 147 points, 7 votes

Child with a child pretending
Weary of lies you are sending home
So you sign all the papers in the family name
You're sad and you're sorry but you're not ashamed

little green kills me every time i hear it.

Absolutely. It's too sad for me to listen to if I'm in the wrong mood. I forgot to vote for it!

i don't get the "but you're not ashamed" line - what is she supposed to be shameful about?

that she have he daughter up for adoption

gave the*

didn't realize adoption is shameful, but whatev

maybe she felt there were cultural expectations of shame around giving a child up* for adoption in 1971. that is how i always understood the line, tho. i agree w/ you that there shouldn't be anything shameful about.

*even that expression 'giving up for adoption' obv contains a sort of negative implication - to give up on a child. it's sorta embedded in the cultural discourse around adoption.

Both of those C&S tracks are more effective in the context of the album than in isolation. And for some reason I had trouble voting for the "slow" Blue songs, the best stuff from Hejira and For the Roses grabs me a bit more.

She has since reconciled with her daughter fwiw

31. Big Yellow Taxi (Ladies of the Canyon): 155 points, 8 votes

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em

hate Counting Crows forever for covering this song

According to Girls Like Us, giving up her daughter haunted so much of what she wrote, right up to their reunion.

$1.50 always seemed reasonable to me for a tree museum

there's an Amy Grant cover of this where the lyric "dollar and a half" is changed to "25 bucks". That's some serious tree-museum inflation

hate Counting Crows forever for covering this song

hate that lots of ppl think it's a crappy song because they only know the Counting Crows version

My brother-in-law hates the laugh at the end, and I think someone on the voting thread hated it, too. I think it's an amazing moment.

30. Don't Interrupt the Sorrow (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 159 points, 6 votes, 1 1st place vote

Anima rising
Queen of Queens
Wash my guilt of Eden
Wash and balance me

you're darn right!

I have Mordy on FB & I saw he was listening to this song and guessed it was next. Insider trading!

uh oh. i'll have to be more discrete. or switch it up more.

righteous bass line on this one.

I won't spoil anything, promise :)

hate Counting Crows forever for covering this song

The Pinhead Gunpowder version wasn't so bad.

29. Court and Spark (Court and Spark): 161 points, 8 votes

He was playing on the sidewalk
For passing change
When something strange happened
Glory train passed through him
So he buried the coins he made
In People's Park
And went looking for a woman
To court and spark

28. Black Crow (Hejira): 167 points, 6 votes, 1 1st place vote

My whole life has been
Illumination
Corruption
And diving diving diving diving

I may be an unusual JM fan in that I listen to her almost entirely for the sound of her music.

It's funny: "Black Crow" is a huge favourite of mine but seeing those lyrics, I had to think for a moment - "Oh yeah, those words are in that song!"

27. Barangrill (For the Roses): 168 points, 8 votes

The guy at the gaspumps
He's got a lot of soul
He sings Merry Christmas for you
Just like Nat King Cole

Her mind's on her boyfriend and eggs over easy... Love the flutes. Great storytelling, all those little unimportant things that add up to a memorable road trip or important experience.

Does she have any tracks that are more sinister than Black Crow?

26. Blue (Blue): 178 points, 9 votes

Blue songs are like tattoos
You know I've been to sea before
Crown and anchor me
Or let me sail away

That seems low.

up against River and A Case of You maybe it got pushed down people's lists.

I can start tearing up just thinking about "Blue," it's such a beautiful song and lends the title to one of my fave ILX threads (okay, more appropriately I appropriated the lyrics for the thread):

Songs Are Like Tattoos: Female Singer-Songwriter Rolling Thread

Also, these lyrics always reminded me of Dorothy Parker's poem "Resume:"

Acid, booze and ass
Needles, guns and grass

Resume goes:

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp;
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

It's not the only Joni song that reminds me of DP -- also "People's Parties." I've always wanted to unpack the connection between the two further, but I'm not sure there is one besides these light evocations that might only resonate for me (not exactly a strong critical relationship) -- and maybe only bc they were the two poets that most deeply impacted me in high school.

Acid, booze and ass
Needles, guns and grass

One of her most memorable lines - and then the way she says "Lots of laughs". Devastating.

25. Raised on Robbery (Court and Spark): 182 points, 8 votes

First he bought a '57 Biscayne
He put it in the ditch
He drunk up all the rest
That son of a bitch
His blood's bad whiskey
I was raised on robbery

I wonder where Tim is today. I'm gonna keep posting -- but ppl should feel free to comment on stuff from earlier whenever they get an opportunity.

This next song is one of my all time faves and I'm really happy it placed so high.

24. Morning Morgantown (Ladies of the Canyon): 184 points, 10 votes

Morning Morgantown
Buy your dreams a dollar down
Morning any town you name
Morning's just the same

I agree with the 33 1/3 book on C&S: "Raised on Robbery" is fun but stiff.

23. In France They Kiss on Main Street (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 197 points, 11 votes

We'd all go looking for a party
Looking to raise Jesus up from the dead
And I'd be kissing in the back seat
Thrilling to the Brando-like things that he said
And we'd be rolling rolling rock 'n' rolling

Glad IFTKOMS made it...great album opener.

would've put the other tracks listed so far ("Shades..." and "...Sorrow") way over it though

22. Woodstock (Ladies of the Canyon): 201 points, 10 votes

And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

xp
"...Sorrow" should be higher definitely - was in my top #3.

Very pleased to see "...Morgantown" so high though

"In France They Kiss..." is a terrific single; it shouldn't have bombed.

Black Crow is extremely strong

Three of my votes in a row. Morgantown is the most precious little song. And "ROLLIN, ROLLIN" put Main Street over the top of some of the other ones for me.

Ladies in their rainbow fashions
Colored stop and go lights flashing
We'll wink at total strangers passing
In morning Morgantown

is my favorite set from MM...

Ok, last one for today:

21. Hejira (Hejira): 204 points, 9 votes

n the church they light the candles
And the wax rolls down like tears
There's the hope and the hopelessness
I've witnessed thirty years

I wonder where Tim is today. I'm gonna keep posting -- but ppl should feel free to comment on stuff from earlier whenever they get an opportunity.

― Mordy, Wednesday, October 3, 2012 5:23 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Asleep! It's now 6.40am over here.

"Hejira" was my favourite song in the world at 14, I printed out all the lyrics and stuck them on my bedroom wall.

First he bought a '57 Biscayne
He put it in the ditch

incidentally, Chevrolet didn't start making Biscaynes until 1958. I hope it's a '57 in the song not because she was oblivious to this factoid, but rather just her taking poetic licence because '57 Chevys are so much cooler than the '58s

what time does the rest of this thing roll out?

20. Refuge of the Roads (Hejira: 217 points, 10 votes, 1 1st place vote

I pulled off into a forest
Crickets clicking in the ferns
Like a wheel of fortune
I heard my fate turn turn turn

10 today i think and then final 10 tomorrow

love that bass riff on the chorus

19. The Jungle Line (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 230 points, 10 votes

In a low-cut blouse she brings the beer
Rousseau paints a jungle flower behind her ear
Those cannibals of shuck and jive
They'll eat a working girl like her alive

18. The Hissing of Summer Lawns (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 231 points, 9 votes, 1 1st place vote

He put up a barbed wire fence
To keep out the unknown
And on every metal thorn
Just a little blood of his own

17. River (Blue): 238 points, 12 votes

I'm so hard to handle
I'm selfish and I'm sad
Now I've gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
I wish I had a river I could skate away on

"Jungle Line" and "River" are both stunning.

16. Come in from the Cold (Night Ride Home): 244 points, 11 votes, 1 1st place vote

I am not some stone commission
Like a statue in a park
I am flesh and blood and vision
I am howling in the dark
Long blue shadows of the jackals
Are falling on a pay phone by the road
Oh, all they ever wanted
Was to come in from the cold

Hm, I should listen to more of her later stuff. I didn't vote for anything post-Mingus because I don't know it well.

I'm the #1 vote for "The Hissing...". Structurally, I think it's Joni's most interesting song. Too damn short (barely 3 minutes!) but that's also part of the appeal. Talk about "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" - this song is the epitome of that phrase.

shocked at "River"s low placement!

hoping you got my ballot Mordy! never got a reply from you

I did get it and it was included in the results :)

14--TIE. Chelsea Morning (Clouds): 250 points, 11 votes

Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning
And the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey
And a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch
And stuck to all my senses...

Oh, won't you stay
We'll put on the day
And we'll talk in present tenses

<3 the high placement of "Come in from the cold", that song and album rules

14--TIE. Song for Sharon (Hejira): 250 points, 11 votes

Sharon you've got a husband
And a family and a farm
I've got the apple of temptation
And a diamond snake around my arm

Love the way "Chelsea Morning" bursts out so confidently on the LP after the dark "Tin Angel" (which I also voted for but assume won't make it now).

I like Tin Angel, but in a Bleecker Street café is such a lame line to get the big overwrought treatment

I promise this will be the last time I post a Fairport Convention youtube in this thread, but this is too great to not rep for

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ga0GQ_PTog

I'm glad to see Song For Sharon there - it was my #3, and was worried that it wouldn't make it. Hoping 'That Song About the Midway' makes it in too.

I voted for both "Morning" tracks. Chelsea Morning makes me want to move to NYC even though I know it's nothing like she's singing about.

damn, just noticed the results thread was going. stupid illness wiped out any chance i had to submit a last-minute ballot

posting lyrical excerpts along with each ballot entry = A+ idea for this thread, btw

13. All I Want (Blue): 253 points, 12 votes, 1 1st place vote

I want to knit you a sweater
Want to write you a love letter
I want to make you feel better
I want to make you feel free

<3

posting lyrical excerpts along with each ballot entry = A+ idea for this thread, btw

Ha, I would post tuning guides and chord charts. [ / ducks]

I will acknowledge that on Blue, I do notice and appreciate some of the lyrics.

just listening to the guitars on Hejira the last couple of days, with attention focused by this poll, has enraptured me; & I'm not even catching very many lyrics

jonimitchell.com does have some tablature and instructional videos that I can recommend, such as:

http://jonimitchell.com/music/transcription.cfm?id=477

it looks like there's a bunch of them, including tips on how to play like joni, such as:

Third, if you use a capo, buy a "G7th" brand capo. Don't use the Kyser or Dunlop. The G7th is the only capo that lets you capo up without stretching your strings sharp.

Fourth, practice playing the songs with a light left hand touch. When the strings are tuned low you are basically stretching the notes sharp as soon as you fret them. Learn to press the string only to the fret and not beyond towards the fretboard wood.

(there is piano transcription too.)

12. Edith & the Kingpin (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 258 points, 9 votes, 1 1st place vote

Edith in his bed
A plane in the rain is humming
The wires in the walls are humming
Some song some mysterious song

very unexpectedly All I Want ended up being my #1. It has a bit of everything - uptempo and laid back, happy and sad, low key thoughtful vocals that look forward to what her voice would become and as well as some acrobatics, intricate and interesting backing instrumental that could stand on its own, strange mix of the profound and the mundane in the lyrics, and that great outro. It's hard for me to get my head around the fact that one person could come up with both the song and the production and perform it with no help in a single take. (I'm not sure about the recording process but I assume she was playing and singing at the same time.)

best use of the word "shampoo" in a song imo

All I want is so great, but Edith kept sneaking higher and higher - ended up my no.2. Sadly not on spotify, so I've had to put Elvis Costello's version on my playlist instead.

Ok, last one for today. Top 10 tomorrow!

11. Amelia (Hejira): 298 points, 11 votes

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia it was just a false alarm

"Edith and the Kingpin" is my touchstone for a kind of beguiling opacity.

if I were revoting today I'd vote "Amelia" #1. I am absolutely spellbound by it. is that Joni on slide?

It's Carlton, I think.

Best song on Hejira - totally entrancing.

'amelia' would've been my #1

My #2

so it was just a false alarm?

Given a massive showing in the top ten is unlikely, it appears For The Roses has been predictably underrated in this poll. It'd be nice to be proven wrong of course.

I was the no. 1 vote for "Come In From The Cold" - a choice both strategic and genuine.

Last day - top 10 results! I hope everyone has enjoyed the rollout. I've certainly enjoyed running this poll.

10. Car on a Hill (Court and Spark): 300 points, 12 votes

It always seems so righteous at the start
When there's so much laughter
When there's so much spark
When there's so much sweetness in the dark
Waiting for a car
Climbing
Climbing
Climbing the hill

Mordy, you are a gentleperson and a scholar...to Mordy!

Love the way her voice slides on "car on a hilllllll..."

Top 10, Friday on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.. perfect! I think it will be all Joni on our three hour drive to the cottage today :D

09. You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio (For the Roses): 320 points, 12 votes, 1 1st place vote

Oh honey you turn me on
I'm a radio
I'm a country station
I'm a little bit corny
I'm a wildwood flower
Waving for you

Same effect used to great effect in "willllllldwood flower..." Great groove. A bit on the corny side but she owns up to it. My #6.

god I love that song so much. The metaphors are heavy handed but I enjoy that.

"You Turn Me On" is arguably a better let-me-try-and-write-a-hit than "Help Me."

08. California (Blue): 333 points, 12 votes, 3 1st place votes

So I bought me a ticket
I caught a plane to Spain
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there
Reading Rolling Stone reading Vogue

They said "How long can you hang around?"
I said a week maybe two
Just until my skin turns brown
Then I'm going home to California

'california' is pretty much a perfect song to me

A propros of nothing but I really don't get 'For The Roses'...it sounds like a step backwards from 'Blue' and sounds really vanilla...none of the unresolved tension of her best work...

My husband guessed that's what I'd chose as my #1 since I walk around singing it all the time. Perfect pop song indeed.

"California"'s lyrics just roll right off her tongue, they're great. I hate that "*sigh* that was just a dream some of us had" line though, enough of a preachy Joni moment that it stayed off my ballot

California was my no.1 and tbh I'm amazed it hasn't won this poll. I kept trying to put other things at no.1 instead, but every time it left me thinking 'no, it's Caifornia'.

"Night ride home" on the stereo and Joni just sang:

I feel your leg under the table
Leaning into mine
I feel renewed
I feel disabled
By these bonfires in my spine

07. The Last Time I Saw Richard (Blue): 388 points, 15 votes, 1 1st place vote

He put a quarter in the Wurlitzer and he pushed
Three buttons and the thing began to whirr
And a bar maid came by in fishnet stockings and a bow tie
And she said "Drink up now it's getting' on time to close"

^^^ a masterpiece of tone and emphasis

Joni as piano bar chanteuse...drink up now, it's getting time to close

Anyone know how that guitar sound on California and All I Want sounds like it does? Cheap guitar? Recording technique? Happy accident? Whatever, it's strange but wonderful.

Dulcimer, no?

Oh, also, "Richard" was my #1 and my favourite album closer ever

Here, she explains it for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQpZXUGRy1U

Jeff: it's a dulcimer

So I hear. Thanks, both.

I dint think Richard would place, so no idea what the last six are going to be

06. Free Man in Paris (Court and Spark): 391 points, 16 votes

I do my best
And I do good business
There's a lot of people asking for my time
They're trying to get ahead
They're trying to be a good friend of mine

LTISR is Joni at her most Didionesque, except for maybe People's Parties

"Free Man..." is the only song from C&S I really rate as high as the ones on the albums either side and Blue.

If we're doing muso questions today, I have one: is Joni playing in irregular tempo at the start of 'Blue', or is she playing regular but doing something clever that makes it seem so?

05. Coyote (Hejira): 412 points, 16 votes, 2 1st place votes

I looked a coyote right in the face
On the road to Baljennie near my old home town
He went running thru the whisker wheat
Chasing some prize down
And a hawk was playing with him
Coyote was jumping straight up and making passes
He had those same eyes just like yours
Under your dark glasses

What was the contemporary reaction to Hejira? A lot of people must have been thrown off when they heard this track.

There's only one song now that I'm certain will be top four. It's weird to feel so in the dark at this stage.

Yay suspense!

Coyote and Blue Motel Room are about Sam Shepard, right?

@ Ismael, you mean the intro arpeggiation? It's rrrrubato

04. Both Sides Now (Clouds): 416 points, 16 votes, 3 1st place votes

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As ev'ry fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

Sometimes I forget there's a beautiful, wide world out there filled with people who like this song

It's really simple but so memorable. My #1.

"The dizzy dancing way you feel" is one of my favourite lines ever...Missed the earlier songs today. "You Turn Me On" is one song I've never connected with for some reason.

If we can speed up a wee bit, Mordy, I'd appreciate it - it's gone 8pm Friday night here. No time to be @ werk.

@ Ismael, you mean the intro arpeggiation? It's rrrrubato

Got you, thanks. It always sounded strange to me, maybe because I can't imagine a band playing like that or it being scored that way. And I always thought Blue had strings - I've only now realised it's a solo piece, with a lot of reverb on the piano.

Sure thing, Jeff!

03. Carey (Blue): 452 points, 16 votes, 2 1st place votes

The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn't sleep
Oh you know it sure is hard to leave here
But it's really not my home

Maybe it's been too long a time
Since I was scramblin' down in the street
Now they got me used to that clean white linen
And that fancy French cologne

Oh Carey get out your cane
I'll put on my finest silver
We'll go to the Mermaid Café
Have fun tonight
I said, Oh, you're a mean old Daddy but I like you
But you're out of sight

Maybe you are thinking of the Sarah McLachlan version xp

i'll do the next two in 15 and 30 minutes, okay?

another amazingly sensitive example of tone and emphasis in her vocals... it all sounds so effortless.

another great part from Carey:

Let's have a round for these freaks and these soldiers
A round for these friends of mine
Let's have another round for the bright red devil
Who keeps me in this tourist town

Also my #3.

Is Harry's House-Centerpiece really going to be in the top two??

And mine. This is the one I was certain would place, so I'm in unknown waters now.

Just did some cheating and probably not...

I have two strong guesses, there are still C&S and Blue tracks left.

02. Help Me (Court and Spark): 459 points, 18 votes, 1 1st place vote

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love too fast
It's got me hoping for the future
And worrying about the past
'Cause I've seen some hot hot blazes
Come down to smoke and ash
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom

This was #11 on my list but after having listened to the rest of the top 50 it feels like a weird combination of flat (in the vocals) and overproduced, as well as a bit dated. But still an amazing track and one of the few on C&S that really works by itself.

Can guess the #1 now (and have no problem with it being #1) so will bow out for tonight. Thanks, Mordy! Was fun.

"Help Me" is so goddamn effortless

reading the Christgau reviews now...he calls her a "very if briefly great singer-songwriter" - ouch

he's a jerk

01. A Case of You (Blue): 493 points, 19 votes, 3 1st place votes

Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as a northern star"
And I said "Constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar"

On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet

Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
oh I would still be on my feet

Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I'm frightened by the devil
And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid

I remember that time you told me you said
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
'Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet

Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet

I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said
"Go to him, stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed"

Oh but you are in my blood
You're my holy wine
You're so bitter, bitter and so sweet

Oh, I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet

I never thought it would be this

Somehow I ended up not even voting for this (probably because of overlistening) - but it was responsible for one of my few true musical epiphanies and is a worthy #1.

Thanks Mordy!

this was my #1

'you are in my blood like holy wine' is, imo, the greatest line written in 20th century popular music, and the way she sings it i get chills.

Here are the two songs that got first place votes but didn't place:

Dreamland
Tin Angel

Yeah thanks Mordy - this was a brilliant idea for a poll and took me places where I'd never've got to on my own.

And here's the full top 50. Remember that all the tracks available on Spotify can be streamed here:
http://open.spotify.com/user/mordys/playlist/79HgvbsptKvCXt6uKHSBl2

50. Jericho (Don Juan's Reckless Daughter): 95 points, 4 votes
49. Conversation (Ladies of the Canyon): 101 points, 5 votes
48. I Don't Know Where I Stand (Clouds): 105 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote
45. This Flight Tonight (Blue): 108 points, 6 votes
45. Urge for Going (Hits): 108 points, 4 votes
45. For the Roses (For the Roses): 108 points, 5 votes
43. The Circle Game (Ladies of the Canyon): 110 points, 4 votes
43. Blonde in the Bleachers (For the Roses): 110 points, 5 votes, 1 1st place vote
42. Let the Wind Carry Me (For the Roses): 113 points, 5 votes
41. Trouble Child (Court and Spark): 114 points, 6 votes
40. Down to You (Court and Spark): 116 points, 5 votes
39. Shades of Scarlet Conquering (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 119 points, 4 votes, 1 1st place vote
38. My Old Man (Blue): 127 points, 7 votes
37. The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey (Mingus): 128 points, 4 votes
36. Rainy Night House (Ladies of the Canyon): 128 points, 6 votes
35. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire (For the Roses): 132 points, 6 votes, 1 1st place vote
34. People's Parties (Court and Spark): 141 points, 7 votes
33. The Same Situation (Court and Spark): 146 points, 8 votes
32. Little Green (Blue): 147 points, 7 votes
31. Big Yellow Taxi (Ladies of the Canyon): 155 points, 8 votes
30. Don't Interrupt the Sorrow (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 159 points, 6 votes, 1 1st place vote
29. Court and Spark (Court and Spark): 161 points, 8 votes
28. Black Crow (Hejira): 167 points, 6 votes, 1 1st place vote
27. Barangrill (For the Roses): 168 points, 8 votes
26. Blue (Blue): 178 points, 9 votes
25. Raised on Robbery (Court and Spark): 182 points, 8 votes
24. Morning Morgantown (Ladies of the Canyon): 184 points, 10 votes
23. In France They Kiss on Main Street (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 197 points, 11 votes
22. Woodstock (Ladies of the Canyon): 201 points, 10 votes
21. Hejira (Hejira): 204 points, 9 votes
20. Refuge of the Roads (Hejira): 217 points, 10 votes, 1 1st place vote
19. The Jungle Line (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 230 points, 10 votes
18. The Hissing of Summer Lawns (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 231 points, 9 votes, 1 1st place vote
17. River (Blue): 238 points, 12 votes
16. Come in from the Cold (Night Ride Home): 244 points, 11 votes, 1 1st place vote
14--TIE. Chelsea Morning (Clouds): 250 points, 11 votes
14--TIE. Song for Sharon (Hejira): 250 points, 11 votes
13. All I Want (Blue): 253 points, 12 votes, 1 1st place vote
12. Edith & the Kingpin (The Hissing of Summer Lawns): 258 points, 9 votes, 1 1st place vote
11. Amelia (Hejira): 298 points, 11 votes
10. Car on a Hill (Court and Spark): 300 points, 12 votes
09. You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio (For the Roses): 320 points, 12 votes, 1 1st place vote
08. California (Blue): 333 points, 12 votes, 3 1st place votes
07. The Last Time I Saw Richard (Blue): 388 points, 15 votes, 1 1st place vote
06. Free Man in Paris (Court and Spark): 391 points, 16 votes
05. Coyote (Hejira): 412 points, 16 votes, 2 1st place votes
04. Both Sides Now (Clouds): 416 points, 16 votes, 3 1st place votes
03. Carey (Blue): 452 points, 16 votes, 2 1st place votes
02. Help Me (Court and Spark): 459 points, 18 votes, 1 1st place vote
01. A Case of You (Blue): 493 points, 19 votes, 3 1st place votes

My ballot:

ALBUMS:
1. Blue
2. Court & Spark
3. For The Roses
4. Ladies of the Canyon
5. Hejira

TRACKS:
1. All I Want
2. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire
3. Carey
4. Free Man in Paris
5. Amelia
6. You Turn Me On I'm a Radio
7. California
8. Chelsea Morning
9. In France They Kiss on Main Street
10. Barangrill
11. Help Me
12. Conversation
13. Both Sides Now
14. A Case of You
15. Coyote
16. The Last Time I Saw Richard
17. Harry's House-Centerpiece
18. Woodstock
19. The Jungle Line
20. Morning Morgantown

Only Harry's House-Centerpiece didn't place.

The Priest should've placed:

TRACKS

1. California
2. Edith And The Kingpin
3. Carey
4. Rainy Night House
5. The Priest
6. Down To You
7. Talk To Me
8. Car On A Hill
9. All I Want
10. One Week Last Summer

11. Morning Morgantown
12. The Arrangement
13. This Place
14. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
15. Roses Blue
16. Court And Spark
17. For Free
18. Black Crow
19. Blue
20. Off Night Backstreet

ALBUMS

1. Ladies Of The Canyon
2. Hissing Of Summer Lawns
3. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
4. Hejira
5. Court And Spark

All of Canada thanks you.

1. “Carey” (40)
2. “Chelsea Morning” (36)
3. “The Circle Game” (33)
4. “Both Sides Now” (30)
5. “Big Yellow Taxi” (28)
6. “Urge for Going” (26)
7. “Night in the City” (25)
8. “Cactus Tree” (24)
9. “Ladies from the Canyon” (23)
10. “Free Man in Paris” (22)

great poll mordy, very enlightening! thanks!

Wait, Mordy, did you count my ballot? I put in a lone point for "Travelogue" that I don't see on the results. No matter, here it is:

The Last Time I Saw Richard
Hejira
Passion Play
Black Crow
Otis and Marlena (Travelogue)
The Sire of Sorrow (Travelogue)
Amelia
Conversation
Nothing can be done
The Wolf that lives in Lindsey
Coyote
Help Me
A Case Of You
Raised on Robbery
For The Roses
All I Want
Shiny Toys
River
God must be a Boogie Man
The Arrangement

Blue
Hejira
Night Ride Home
Court and Spark
Travelogue

I didn't vote for any tracks from "Hissing", which I love 100%, but for some reason the individual songs don't resonate nearly as much as the ones on "Hejira" (which dominated my ballot). I think my inclusion of "Shiny Toys" (from "Dog eat dog") was more childhood nostalgia than anything else.

Oh, that's 1-50, Richard was my #1

Just checked and it doesn't look like I ever received your ballot. Sorry!

S'okay, great work on the poll!

I just double checked and found it in the Spam folder. Only ballot that went there. So sorry. I feel really bad. :(

*I actually found Sund4r's first ballot in there too -- but he resent his before track tabulation so I caught it. I didn't even think to check the Spam folder...

1.Shades Of Scarlet Conquering
2.Edith And The Kingpin
3.Help Me
4.Amelia
5.Black Crow
6.Ladies Man
7.Don't Interupt The Sorrow
8.Car On The Hill
9.Herjira
10.Jericho
11.Free Man In Paris
12.Same Situation 
13.Talk To Me
14.All I Want
15.Coyote
16.In France They Kiss On Main Street
17.Little Green
18.River
19.Number One
20.My Secret Place

1.Herjira
2.Hissing Of Summer Lawns
3.Court And Spark
4.Blue
5.Don Juan's Reckless Daughter

Thanks, Mordy! This was great.

My ballot:

Tracks:
1) Both Sides Now
2) Amelia
3) A Case of You
4) Black Crow
5) Blue
6) The Wolf That Lives in Lindsay
7) Help Me
8) All I Want
9) Paprika Plains
10) The Jungle Line
11) Let the Wind Carry Me
12) For the Roses
13) Song for Sharon
14) The Fiddle and the Drum
15) The Arrangement
16) Carey
17) Chelsea Morning
18) I Had a King

Albums (not counted):
1) Hejira
2) Blue
3) Clouds
4) For the Roses
5) Ladies of the Canyon

This came close to being the first poll where all of my selections placed....

Almost as soon as i submitted my ballot i began thinking i ranked "Help Me" and "Coyote" way too low. Bumping up Coyote a couple of notches would have pushed it ahead of "Both Sides Now", not bad for a song I thought would barely place at all. My low "Help Me" placement likely due to overfamiliarity, but i normally try to avoid allowing that to affect my ranking.

1. I Don't Know Where I Ttand
2. Both Sides Now
3. Free Man in Paris
4. You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio
5. Chelsea Morning
6. Raised on Robbery
7. People's Parties
8. A Case of You
9. The Circle Game
10. The Same Situation
11. Woodstock
12. Coyote
13. The Last Time I Saw Richard
14. The Hissing of Summer Lawns
15. Help Me
16. Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
17. Car On a Hill
18. My Old Man
19. Trouble Child
20. Big Yellow Taxi

S

01 Both Sides, Now
02 Carey
03 The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey
04 Come In From The Cold
05 The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
06 The Jungle Line
07 Refuge Of The Roads
08 Car On A Hill
09 Woodstock
10 Paprika Plains
11 You Turn Me On I'm A Radio
12 A Case Of You
13 Amelia
14 Chelsea Morning
15 For The Roses
16 Conversation
17 Song For Sharon
18 Morning Morgantown
19 Same Situation
20 Big Yellow Taxi

Tracks

01 The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
02 The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey
03 Don't Interrupt The Sorrow
04 The Jungle Line
05 All I Want
06 This Flight Tonight
07 Free Man In Paris
08 Harlem In Havana
09 Coyote
10 God Must Be A Boogie Man
11 Woman Of Heart And Mind
12 Edith And The Kingpin
13 Marcie
14 Chelsea Morning
15 In France They Kiss On Main Street
16 The Arrangement
17 Tin Angel
18 I Had A King
19 Morning Morgantown
20 Paprika Plains

LPs
01 The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
02 Blue
03 Mingus
04 For The Roses
05 Hejira

1. Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire
2. Trouble Child
3. A Case of You
4. Urge for Going
5. Song for Sharon
6. Barangrill
7. Let the Wind Carry Me
8. Dreamland
9. Lesson in Survival
10. Carey
11. The Last Time I Saw Richard
12. Night Ride Home
13. Refuge of the Roads
14. Down to You
15. Sisotowbell Lane
16. Turbulent Indigo
17. Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
18. For Free
19. All I Want
20. Happiness is the Best Face Lift

-there is a Mermaid Cafe on Toronto island and as such I cannot so much as step foot on the island without delightedly and obsessively singing Carey
-A Case of You was my #1, Richard #2, Twisted #3.
-check out Joni doing "Me and My Uncle" on YouTube in '65 /stumbled across that the other day
-being at the cottage, I want to listen to only Joni
-listened to case of you covers on YT last night, are there any good ones? I expected more of you Prince, Tori
-"I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet" = you're weak? Never knew if that was a love song or breakup song or both

I thought it meant "you're mean but I can take it"

Oh you're a mean old Daddy but I love you? I could see that. :) I definitely thought in a way it was the prettiest dis track ever recorded.. "Constantly in the darkness .. If you want me I'll be at the bar.."

The "oh, Canada!" In that song stirs me far more than our actual anthem.

Great poll Mordy, thank you!

1. Refuge on the Road
2. Help Me
3. Woman of Heart and Mind
4. The Last Time I Saw Richard
5. Court and Spark
6. Barandgrill
7. Just Like This Train
8. Don’t Interrupt This Sorrow
9. A Song For Sharon
10. Carey
11. A Case of You
12. Trouble Child
13. Both Sides Now (2000 version)
14. Come In From the Cold
15. In France They Kiss on Main Street
16. Hejira
17. Little Green
18. You Turn Me On (I’m a Radio)
19. The Same Situation
20. Good Friends

OF the road, of course

Thanks for running this one, Mordy -- I wish I'd been able to pull enough attention together to vote in this one, but it was not to be.

@ FFS. The US/Can duality of all those singers (Leonard lives in Mtl, Joni lives in L.A., Buffy lives in Hawaii, Neil lives ?) never had any interest to me, I mean, it doesn't seem all that worthwhile a discussion talking about which member of The Band lived where and for how long. Except with "Blue". On the whole it's an album about place, the island in "Carey", Vegas in "This Flight Tonight", getting out of California in "River", going back to California in "California". But there it is, the most understated and affecting moment on the record is that "Oh Canada", neither a celebration or a putdown, just an acknowledgement. I think it's one of the reasons I never LOVE-loved "California", the sentiment is, in comparison, closer to a Beach Boys-style kind of gimme than any of the other songs.

I agree completely (I imagine that FFS was FFM? :). It pisses me off a little that California is about California - I get it, great place, but this is such a poetic land and it does hurt that she creates such beautiful songs about her travels and so few about our homeland! Should've given Ontario in the summer a few more chances, Joni. (I have never been to the west coast, I'm biased obviously.)

haha yeah sorry, my fingers are just used to typing ffs all the time, too many diary entries i s'pose

AND tbh I think it's very Canadian of Canadian-born songwriters to ~not~ make references to cities and provinces, or, when they do so, to do so in an not-necessarily-flattering light ("I hate Winnipeg" i.e.)

-"I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet" = you're weak? Never knew if that was a love song or breakup song or both

yeah i always thought this was a put-down, i never realised until recently some ppl parse it as 'you're just so awesome i could drink a whole bunch of you', wikipedia says it is a song about 'infatuation' which is just ???

i saw a busker playing the appalachian dulcimer today.

My ballot cuts off at Blue:

01 Tin Angel
02 Little Green
03 I Had a King
04 River
05 A Case Of You
06 Blue
07 I Don't Know Where I Stand
08 That Song About the Midway
09 The Last Time I Saw Richard
10 Marcie
11 This Flight Tonight
12 Conversation
13 Roses Blue
14 Nathan La Franeer
15 Cactus Tree
16 Michael From Mountains
17 The Gallery
18 I Think I Understand
19 Chelsea Morning
20 Rainy Night House

"Tin Angel" should have placed - U R all stupid etc.

Thanks for doing this poll Mordy!

My ballot:

ALBUMS:

Hejira
Night Ride Home
Blue
The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
For The Roses

SONGS:

Come In From The Cold
Hejira
The Last Time I Saw Richard
Passion Play (When All The Slaves Are Free)
A Case of You
Amelia
Edith And the Kingpin
Let The Wind Carry Me
Two Grey Rooms
The Boho Dance
Court And Spark
Lessons In Survival
Song For Sharon
Shades Of Scarlet Conquering
Same Situation
All I Want
Coyote
This Flight, Tonight
Furry Sings The Blues
Both Sides, Now (2000 Version)

Wow, I better check out Night Ride Home.

That was a strategic placement in a way "Come In From The Cold" wasn't - in truth it's on a level with Hissing for me. I had a feeling Blue wouldn't really need my help.

But Night Ride Home did sneak three tunes into my top ten, and I could have easily put "Cherokee Louse" and "Nothing Can Be Done" in the second half of my songs list except I started to feel like I was just throwing votes away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4foLKDlcE

I just finished reading/listening to all of this. Cheers Mordy and everyone who voted for a good education.

Man why did I not bother with this? Maybe guilt that I only know four Joni albums well: 1971-76. But those four albums mean so much to me.

But wait, you say, there were five albums between '71 and '76. I forgot, as I often do, about For the Roses. Need to give it more of a chance, IIRC.

Listening to Ian & Sylvia's greatest hits with a cover of Circle Game on it right now. :D

Came home depressed last night & put on Blue and sung along loudly to the whole album. Made me feel so much better.

After about two weeks of obsessing over everything she did from 1975-79 I'm a little stunned at how little of it actually made it into this poll. Part or me thinks there are different kinds of Joni fans -- pre-jazz and post. Judging by some or the comments here, that doesn't mean you exclusively like one or the other but that often only one makes you an obsessive.

And as a total latecomer to the party on this stuff, what I guess surprises me is that with the reappraisal of that era that's taken place since (ie, PFM calling Hissing her "most timeless" record) I kind of figured that bifurcation would have been left in the 70s.

"Paprika Plains" finally started sounding lovely and strange instead of diaphanous and strange last week. Talk about a sleeper.

just wanted to say, I don't know Joni's music well enough that I didn't participate in this poll at all, but listening to the Spotify results playlist is making my day, thanks for the crash course you guys

I may be an unusual JM fan in that I listen to her almost entirely for the sound of her music.

― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, October 3, 2012 5:38 PM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

count me in, though reading Mordy's choice excerpts make it clear I'm missing out

it's not as if I don't pay attention to the lyrics at all, I just mostly notice fragments, certain phrases and motifs...

anyway, great poll, Joni's the best!

We didn't talk enough in this poll.

how did i miss it? just listening to that bbc concert with james taylor from 1970 where john peel speaks the introduction. there are already quite a lot songs which later were published on blue on it (carey, california, river, my old man, a case of you) and her soprano is really perfect here. not as high-pitch as on the first album but still very girlish and innocent sounding. and all that great in between song banter. where she explains that the circle game was her uplifting answer to that kind of sad song from that unkown young canadian folk singer whose name she doesn't mention. the song was sugar mountain.

there's some discussion upthread about the meaning of being able to drink a case of somebody and still be on your feet, and while it is similar in structure to "I eat x like you for breakfast", I don't see how it could mean anything but I can't get enough of you

She seems to be putting the guy down in the first verse, though.

It could just as easily mean "you don't do anything for me (anymore)".

"Hejira" was my favourite song in the world at 14, I printed out all the lyrics and stuck them on my bedroom wall.

― Tim F, Wednesday, October 3, 2012 10:42 PM (five years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I am now 14 year old Tim F

xp well she's certainly teasing the guy, answering his metaphysical boast with an acerbic and then a prosaic remark, but anyway since the next thing she remembers is drawing his face on a map of Canada it's reasonable to suggest there's also a level of vulnerability, even love (though it's ofc slightly undercut by the drawing being on the back of a cartoon coaster lit by a tv screen)

what makes the central metaphor unlikely as a putdown imo are
a) the singer's fetichization of the lover - even if she does not explicitly desire drinking a case of the lover, the repeated focus on the act suggests infatuation
b) the beautiful preceding lines:

Oh you are in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter
And so sweet

If you wanted to criticize wine for being weak or harmless, this is not how you would describe it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_dY2cy0E2I

That's phantastic dreamy stuff. It reminds me of another song, something from "wild things run fast"?