I've been disgusting folks with my newfound obsession

Harlepolis said:

I've been disgusting folks with my newfound obsession

And what an incredible obsession to have!

To me, and with anyone, it's first and foremost about experiencing great music. If it weren't, I'd just read poetry.

But the lyrics are a stupefying bonus. Few I think have ever reached such profound truths of the soul with such great abundance.

In time, once the “Maggie May” bias fades, I think she's seen not only as a legend and one of the greatest female recording artists of all time, but as a legend's legend with absolutely no asterisk for effeminacy.

"So Blue" always reminded me of "Blue Motel Room". Prince was a huge Joni fan already so it may have been an inspiration. His song,"When we're Dancing Close And Slow" is an actual line from Joni's song "Coyote".

sunlite said:

"So Blue" always reminded me of "Blue Motel Room". Prince was a huge Joni fan already so it may have been an inspiration. His song,"When we're Dancing Close And Slow" is an actual line from Joni's song "Coyote".

I heard he covered "Blue Motel Room", haven't heard his version yet.

Isn't "Ice Cream Castle" a line from the album "Clouds" btw?

I've always admired Jaco Pastorius' work with Weather Report but his playing didn't fully grab me until I heard Hejira. I think he & Joni made one of the perfect musical marriages.

Harlepolis said:

I am so thrilled that you are digging Hejira. It's... it's... like you've joined my religion.

I've always found that "Amelia's" beauty is in its sprawl. It just goes on and on, no real form, until it arrives where it arrives. In that way, it does remind me of some pilot sailing across an open terrain with no real destination in mind. So freeing.

And "Blue Motel Room" is just so much fun in its candor. It's confessional. It's slightly selfish. It's vulnerable (but on its own terms, of course). And from someone who comes off as protected as Joni, that's always such rich territory.

Amazing, though, that within the album these two fantastic songs appeal to me maybe the least. For me, "Song for Sharon" and "Hejira" make the experience. Their content is similar in that they're both these existentialist laments, but while "Sharon" completely scrapes the achy pits between satisfaction and restlessness here on earth, somehow "Hejira" lifts me into some heaven, observing that angst from a place of remove. Just stunningly cathartic meditations to me. Chaka covered "Sharon" live in a Central Park concert tribute to Joni a few years back, and I can only imagine what a spectacle that was.

[Edited 3/27/11 8:07am]

"Song for Sharon" is amazing!

Lammastide said:

I am so thrilled that you are digging Hejira. It's... it's... like you've joined my religion.

I've always found that "Amelia's" beauty is in its sprawl. It just goes on and on, no real form, until it arrives where it arrives. In that way, it does remind me of some pilot sailing across an open terrain with no real destination in mind. So freeing.

And "Blue Motel Room" is just so much fun in its candor. It's confessional. It's slightly selfish. It's vulnerable (but on its own terms, of course). And from someone who comes off as protected as Joni, that's always such rich territory.

Amazing, though, that within the album these two fantastic songs appeal to me maybe the least. For me, "Song for Sharon" and "Hejira" make the experience. Their content is similar in that they're both these existentialist laments, but while "Sharon" completely scrapes the achy pits between satisfaction and restlessness here on earth, somehow "Hejira" lifts me into some heaven, observing that angst from a place of remove. Just stunningly cathartic meditations to me. Chaka covered "Sharon" live in a Central Park concert tribute to Joni a few years back, and I can only imagine what a spectacle that was.

[Edited 3/27/11 8:07am]

I remember a thread you contributed to from couple of years ago and what you said about Hejira stuck with me ever since. I don't agree with you guys about it being dark, maybe melancholy & solemn, but there's alot of hope in there,,,,,,,but then again, this is not a final judgement, listening to this album & Hissing is like peeling onions, you thought you ended up with a revelation the first time, only to end up with something deeper the second time.

Sharon is the album's epic, it was the first song that hit me in the chest, it wasn't until recently where I had to force my shift toward the rest of the album, like those two songs, and rightI'm creeping my way into Refugee of The Road which is heart wrenching and its no surprise why I avoided listening to it.