Hell, maybe the appropriate cartoon isn't the one from the "National Lampoon", but that famous short, "Bambi Meets Godzilla". Remade as "JIMINY CRICKET Meets Godzilla". Really, I don't think the average cricket flying around, alighting on the ground or a tree, would worry about a lumbering monster. Sure, SOME crickets might get eaten, swatted to their deaths, but the odds of the rest being victims would be...infinitesimal.
Legend has it David Geffen told Joni Mitchell to write a HIT!
In 1971, Joni Mitchell released one of the two best singer-songwriter albums ever, "Blue". The press praised it. The cognoscenti applauded it. Sensitive boys and girls purchased it. But radio didn't play it.
It took Joni a while to develop. Oh, her songwriting chops were there, she just wasn't sure who she wanted to BE!
The first album, "Song To A Seagull", was tentative.
"Clouds" was so quiet and introspective as to inspire the likes of Nick Drake. It was single observant female ripping open her heart to reveal her soul. A true classic in retrospect, but absent SO many sides of Joni Mitchell. For Joni Mitchell isn't only quiet and sensitive, she's also loud and rocking, wry and coy, she's a fully-rounded GIRL!
Finally, these different elements came out in "Ladies Of The Canyon". THIS was the breakthrough. THIS was a WOMAN'S take on the Southern California scene.
But there were no hits.
Oh, there were hits for others. CSNY had a monster with an electrified "Woodstock". And Tom Rush had cut "The Circle Game" years before... Actually, that was one of "Ladies Of The Canyon"'s flaws. Why WAS "The Circle Game" on the record. It seemed tacked on, out of place. Like "Big Yellow Taxi".
But "Blue" was created on a fresh piece of paper. All of a piece. It was a STATEMENT, this is where I am NOW! There was the true desire of "All I Want". The wistful/hopeful "California". And her own personal "Day In The Life", "The Last Time I Saw Richard".
But it was no longer 1968. FM radio was no longer underground. It didn't play to the senses, rather it played to TESTOSTERONE! FM had been codified into AOR. AOR was music to drive your Camaro by. If it was sensitive, it was longhair on dope lamenting the absence of his old lady. True thought, true introspection by a FEMALE? That had no place on the dial.
Joni Mitchell had finally gotten it TOGETHER! But the INSTITUTIONS had passed her by.
Maybe the lack of success contributed to Joni's retreat. Buying a plot of land in backwoods Canada and living there all alone, trying to...get her head together.
And what emerged next was 1972's "For The Roses".
There are no minor Joni Mitchell records. At least until some time in the 80s. Yet, "For The Roses", although BRILLIANT, although deserving of FIVE STARS, was a step shy of "Blue". When Stevie Wonder hit his peak with "Talking Book", the audience was WITH HIM! People were paying ATTENTION! Everybody was WATCHING! This spurred him on. To write "Innervisions", and "Fulfillingness' First Finale". But people weren't watching Joni Mitchell. Not in prodigious quantities. So she went deeper into herself. Yet, unlike with the first two albums, the record was of a piece. It was "Blue", but from a different perspective.
Although save one you don't hear any of these songs on the radio, the tracks off "For The Roses" contain some of Joni Mitchell's BEST lines.
Listen to "Lesson In Survival". Not only is it MUSICALLY pleasing, it's an honest portrait of twentysomething adulthood. Just any man, anywhere, doing anything...that works when you're nineteen. But as you start to approach thirty, you get to know yourself, and what you need. This is SO different from today's music. Today's music is about reflecting the audience. Whereas by singing HER story, Joni Mitchell allowed one to TRULY identify.
Still, the best song on "For The Roses" is "Woman Of Heart And Mind".
Joni begins by stating exactly who she is.
"I am a woman of heart and mind
With time on her hands
No child to raise"
She's OPEN, she'll PLAY. But will she be taken advantage of, will she be ABUSED?
Joni will deliver for you. Be your best friend. Your mother even.
But like a typical guy, after getting what you want, THAT'S NOT ENOUGH!
"After the rush when you come back down
You're always disappointed
Nothing seems to keep you high
Drive your bargains
Push your papers
Win your medals
Fuck your strangers
Don't it leave you on the empty side"
WOW!
And what's even MORE amazing is today there are WOMEN like this. So into ACHIEVEMENT, so into their RESUME that they can't wholly connect, can't be counted on to BE THERE for you. Your attachment to them is often as an ACCESSORY!
But Joni draws a line.
"I'm looking for affection and respect
A little passion
And you want stimulation-nothing more
That's what I think
But you know I'll try to be there for youWhen your spirits start to sink"
God, that's what I'M looking for. You don't have to be perfect, but you have to be IN IT! You have to want ME! Be into ME! Otherwise, it just doesn't work.
And then there's the poignancy of the closing lines. Ones I've uttered only second to the couplet in "A Case Of You".
"You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don't try
When you don't even try"
That's IT! Who you ARE is enough. You don't have to dress up. You don't have to put on airs. I need no demonstration of erudition. There's only one YOU! Be THAT person. THAT'S the person I'm enamored of.
Oh, the couplet in "A Case Of You"? It's: "I could drink a case of you darling, and I would still be on my feet."
Still as great as "Woman Of Heart And Mind" is, Joe and Jane Average would never come in contact with it. They're too far removed from artistry. There's no AIRPLAY! How can we get THEM to hear the REST of Joni's music.
By having a HIT!
Yes, this was the OPPOSITE of today's syndrome. The HIT will draw you to the ALBUM tracks. And, at the time, it was well known that the hit was oftentimes a confection, that didn't truly reflect the artist, that wasn't truly representative of the artist's music. But only music FANS knew this. The people who listened to hits? They were OUT OF IT!
Kind of like today. But now NO ONE CARES about the fan, major labels ONLY play to the casual listener.
So, to break through, Joni sat down to write a hit.
I won't say "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" is the weakest song on "For The Roses", but it's kind of pedestrian. There aren't the changes in so many of Joni's great songs. The words aren't as deep or cryptic.
Still, it was rewarding to finally hear Joni on the AM radios that still populated so many cars.
Yet, "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" was "For The Roses"'s throwaway. The trifle, not the meat. So, I never play it. I mean if I play all of "For The Roses", I hear it. But I've never ripped it. I never play it only. "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" is for EVERYBODY! And what I love about Joni, is she's done it for ME! Yes, that's what it's like listening to her albums, like she cut them for YOU, like she knows YOU!
Still, I've heard "You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio" so much, it's in my DNA. And, as I exited from my car an hour ago on a beautiful Southern California afternoon, it started to go through my head.
"I know you don't like weak women
You get bored so quick
And you don't like strong women
'Cause they're hip to your tricks"
Wow. What AM I looking for?
Joni's THOUGHT about this. She's got me pegged.
God, I hate being bored. Then again, I don't want to constantly be ON GUARD!
I rushed into my house and pulled the lyrics.
The song SEEMS to be about a radio station, but really it's about Joni. Sending her message. To a man.
"And I'm sending you out
This signal here
I hope you can pick it up
Loud and clear"
That's what I wait for. The SIGNAL! It can be a look. It can be an invitation. Just a demonstration that you're INTO ME, that you want to PLAY!
And the way the song ENDS!
I use these lines all the time. I wait for when a woman uses them on me.
"Call me at the station
The lines are open"
I'm READY. And WILLING! AND ABLE!!
It occurred to me. Joni Mitchell's sell-outs are STILL far superior to EVERYTHING broadcast on hit stations today.
Eventually, with her following album, "Court and Spark", Joni Mitchell truly broke through to the mainstream. She had HITS!
But make no mistake, she didn't need to develop. She already HAD IT! The audience just had to catch up with HER! Thank god the process didn't frustrate her so much that she gave up. Thank god she had a record company and manager who could see the long term.
Play ANY of these albums. In their under fifty minute length they STILL have more insight into the human condition than ANYTHING released since. I only hope as young boys discover Led Zeppelin, they and their female brethren will discover Joni Mitchell. Yes, Joni's for EVERYBODY! She's our best selves. Not perfect, but honest and three-dimensional.
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