{"id":8250,"date":"2011-08-03T11:57:15","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T15:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=8250"},"modified":"2011-08-03T11:57:15","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T15:57:15","slug":"midweek-music-break-jazzy-joni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/midweek-music-break-jazzy-joni\/","title":{"rendered":"Midweek Music Break: Jazzy Joni"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Joni Mitchell, or so I thought around the time I first heard of her, epitomized the sweet-and-fragile visuals of hippie-folk culture.<\/p>\n

(With her long straight blonde hair, oh-so-slender frame and a voice to match, with her acoustic guitar and simple attire, she seemed a\u00a0Mary Travers<\/a>\u00a0wannabe — maybe her gawky delicate second or third cousin, who admired her from a distance at family reunions and weddings.)<\/p>\n

Sometimes her songs seemed to come out of that culture, too, especially the hits like “Both Sides Now” and “Big Yellow Taxi.” They cemented (in my mind) the image of a dreamy mystic tinged with social consciousness. I saw her in person in 1969, at the Atlantic City Pop Festival<\/a> held a couple weeks before Woodstock; that restive crowd, especially in the context of her preference for small clubs, drove her from the stage in tears before she’d even finished a single song. (I vaguely remember thinking something adolescent-male shallow like, What the heck is <\/em>her\u00a0problem?!?<\/em>) Obviously — obviously — she was way too delicate and inconsequential to have much staying power in the rough-and-tumble of rock…<\/p>\n

Haha. Yeah, I know: what a jerk.<\/p>\n

Eventually it sank in that her songs were complex little bundles of sound and sense, which only seemed\u00a0simple if, like me, you had never really listened to them. Even when it’s just her and her guitar or piano, she interacts with<\/em> her music, plays with it, responds to it —\u00a0especially when she moves out of contemplative mode, relaxes, and takes up the rhythms of jazz.<\/p>\n

Her first song which hit me that way was “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio,” from 1972’s For the Roses<\/em>. The grinning-over-her-shoulder, winking lilt fits the lyrics like a saddle. “If your head says forget it \/ But your heart’s still smoking”: oh, what I’d give to have written such a poised, nuanced line!<\/p>\n

[Below, click Play button to begin <\/em>You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 2:39 long.]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

[audio:youturnmeonimaradio_jonimitchell.mp3|titles=’You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio’|artists=Joni Mitchell]<\/div>\n

Lyrics:<\/p>\n

You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio<\/em><\/strong>
\n (Joni Mitchell)<\/em><\/p>\n

If you’re driving into town
\nWith a dark cloud above you
\nDial in the number
\nWho’s bound to love you<\/p>\n

Oh honey you turn me on
\nI’m a radio
\nI’m a country station
\nI’m a little bit corny
\nI’m a wildwood flower
\nWaving for you
\nBroadcasting tower
\nWaving for you<\/p>\n

And I’m sending you out
\nThis signal here
\nI hope you can pick it up
\nLoud and clear
\nI know you don’t like weak women
\nYou get bored so quick
\nAnd you don’t like strong women
\n‘Cause they’re hip to your tricks<\/p>\n

It’s been dirty for dirty
\nDown the line
\nBut you know
\nI come when you whistle
\nWhen you’re loving and kind<\/p>\n

But if you’ve got too many doubts
\nIf there’s no good reception for me
\nThen tune me out, ’cause honey
\nWho needs the static
\nIt hurts the head
\nAnd you wind up cracking
\nAnd the day goes dismal<\/p>\n

From “Breakfast Barney”
\nTo the sign-off prayer
\nWhat a sorry face you get to wear
\nI’m going to tell you again now
\nIf you’re still listening there<\/p>\n

If you’re driving into town
\nWith a dark cloud above you
\nDial in the number
\nWho’s bound to love you<\/p>\n

If you’re lying on the beach
\nWith the transistor going
\nKick off the sandflies honey
\nThe love’s still flowing
\nIf your head says forget it
\nBut your heart’s still smoking
\nCall me at the station
\nThe lines are open<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joni Mitchell, or so I thought around the time I first heard of her, epitomized the sweet-and-fragile visuals of hippie-folk culture. (With her long straight blonde hair, oh-so-slender frame and a voice to match, with her acoustic guitar and simple attire, she seemed a\u00a0Mary Travers\u00a0wannabe — maybe her gawky delicate second or third cousin, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38,2252,74,5],"tags":[1897,1931,2497,2498],"class_list":{"0":"post-8250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-backwards","7":"category-midweek-music-break","8":"category-music","9":"category-06_writing","10":"tag-joni-mitchell","11":"tag-folk-music","12":"tag-atlantic-city-pop-festival","13":"tag-jazz","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-294","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}