Joni Mitchell: "Hejira" Song by Song Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Parachute Woman, Oct 10, 2018.

  1. Kavorka

    Kavorka Chief Bottle Washer

    Location:
    North America
    The best three songs on "Hejira" (in my humble opinion) are "Amelia", "Furry Sings the Blues" and "Strange Boy". I'm not a big fan of "Coyote" (too simplistic, relying too much on the the opening bare bones riff to carry the song).

    Another blasphemy: I don't think that Jaco and Joni were such a good match, musically. I much prefer Max Bennett, Wilton Felder -- they made amazing contributions on "Court & Spark" and "The Hissing of Summer Lawns".

    Max also sounds great on the song under current study. I really do like "Furry Sings the Blues". It is one of those Joni songs that takes me through stages and layers of moods and sentiments. She is a consummate and the most brilliant performer, always using her amazing vocal chops in the service of the song and of the story line. In this song, she keeps changing and morphing her vocals, from sarcastic overtones to right down imitating grumpy old man's "I don't like you!"

    And then there is pathos. No one can sing pathos the way Joni can. She feels deep pain, and her singing can make you feel it as deep as she does. In that regard, she is similar to John Lennon.

    In summary, this song is absolutely brilliant. The range of emotions, visions, the flawless portrayal of the human condition, it's mind boggling. Only a song like "Strange Boy" (coming up next) could surpass this dizzying brilliance.
     
  2. chrisblower

    chrisblower Norfolk n'good

    This is how Joni and her Jazz friends played Furry and Hejira in '87 at a Superstar get together. No guitarist tho ! Band is Bobby Mcferrin on vocal sounds, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, David Sanborn, Larry Klein, Vinnie Colaiuta, and someone unspecified on Percussion. Given chance this band just might have matched her incredible '79 touring band.

    Furry starts at 1:03.

     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2018
  3. lschwart

    lschwart Senior Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    @VU Master and @mark winstanley make some beautiful observations in their exchange, and I agree with Mark, in particular, about the way the "relationship" reading of the "false alarm" works in the song, and with the way he discusses the apostrophe to Amelia. I also absolutely agree with @Sordel's understanding of why the "pregnancy" reading is also compelling.

    I wonder, however, about the way we might understand the opening image of the six vapor trails. I think they are more than just a distraction or a beautiful piece of setting (although I agree that they don't seem to have much to do with nuclear war). As I noted back in post #71, she chose that image carefully with reference to the I Ching and used it to suggest an over-arching structure for the images of the song--even going so far as to echo it in the linguistic structure of the verses themselves. This is one implication of her connection of the six white vapor trails with the strings of her guitar. The image of the heavenly hexagram is an image of what is above, what is transcendent and suggestive of higher, permanent, determinative meanings, and her task is to sing such meanings as an earthbound artist on her instrument, a hexagrammic lyre. And she sings of sad fallings short, crashings short, futures that present themselves in tantalizing, but also alarming prospect only to disappear, of complicated social and emotional negotiations, and of the loneliness of the life dedicated to singing, a discipline and a vocation that puts you at a distance from the things that you might yearn for but can't have because commitment to them would compromise the primary commitment to life as an artist (in this case, specifically, as @Parachute Woman's posts and others have suggested, a female artist whose negotiation of this particular landscape and skycape at a particular moment in time was much more vexed and treacherous than it would have been for a man--like, for example, as @Sordel observes, the male lover in "Coyote," who suffers from his own dilemmas and dislocations, but can maintain an easier freedom than the singer can.

    In any case, as I noted earlier, the text that goes along with the the hexagram of six unbroken lines in the I Ching itself (the first of the 64 hexagrams), suggests all of the dangers and the possibilities she sings of in the song. Here's the text again, but I've changed the gender to fit the song and the singer:

    Ch'ien - The Creative:

    -----
    ----- above Ch'ien The Creative, Heaven
    -----
    -----
    ----- below Ch'ien The Creative, Heaven
    -----​

    The Judgement

    The Creative works sublime success,
    Furthering through perseverance.​

    The Image

    The movement of heaven is full of power.
    Thus the superior woman makes herself strong and
    untiring.​

    The Lines

    Nine at the beginning means:
    Hidden dragon. Do not act.

    Nine in the second place means:
    Dragon appearing in the field.
    It furthers one to see the great woman.

    Nine in the third place means:
    All day long the superior woman is creatively active.
    At nightfall her mind is still beset with cares.
    Danger. No blame.

    Nine in the fourth place means:
    Wavering flight over the depths.
    No blame.

    Nine in the fifth place means:
    Flying dragon in the heavens.
    It furthers one to see the great woman.

    Nine at the top means:
    Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.

    When all the lines are nines, it means:
    There appears a flight of dragons without heads.
    Good fortune.
    I don't think that the glosses of the six lines--and the seventh gloss of what it means when all the lines are 9's--map perfectly and specifically across the verses (each gloss serving as a specific jumping-off point for each verse), but the general movement of the glosses does related in evocative ways to the movement of the verses in the song and the creative, emotional, and social struggles of the singer. And, so, I think it does matter that she wrote 7 verses, one for each gloss (that in addition to the Genesis allusion--suggestive of creation and rest--that I mentioned in my earlier post). The text of this hexagram ends on a more hopeful note than the song seems offer in its final verse, but the fact that the song itself exists suggests that the rest and the dream described in that final verse will lead the "creative" back to her flight, sublime success achieved through perseverance, in the wake of this particular coming to ground. One day she will no doubt fall and never--like Icarus, like Amelia--re-ascend, but not yet. She will slay her dragons, if that's what their headlessness means in the final gloss, or at least rein them in and direct them.

    L. ​
     
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  4. mkolesa

    mkolesa Forum Resident

    The funny thing about 'Furry Sings...' is that, as I mentioned in an earlier post, when I went to the Joni tribute concert here in Toronto in 2013 (in honour of her 70th birthday), it was one of the couple songs she chose... So it must have some special resonance for her! I certainly wouldn't have picked it as being typical or as something she was known for, but there must have been some deeper significance for her. Here's a clip plus an interesting intro:
     
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  5. VU Master

    VU Master Senior Member

    Wow, I really love the harmonica. To me the feeling is just right and it adds a lot to the song.
     
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  6. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    perhaps it was the ambiance of listening in the car with a phone call every minute lol
     
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  7. Socalguy

    Socalguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
    Thank you, thank you mkolesa for this clip. I just fell in love with Joni all over again.
     
  8. Kavorka

    Kavorka Chief Bottle Washer

    Location:
    North America
    Incredible! A lifetime of heavy smoking, and at 70 years of age, she still has that stunning vocal delivery. Plus, she oozes that world famous Scorpio charm.
     
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  9. gregorya

    gregorya I approve of this message

    I was quite surprised when I learned that it was Neil Young... I loved the part before I read the credits. Some of his phrasing here reminds me in ways of some of Wayne Shorter's soprano sax work with Joni, very empathetic, highly conversational... beautiful work.
     
  10. Kavorka

    Kavorka Chief Bottle Washer

    Location:
    North America
    Joni seemed critical of Neil Young in her interview with Elvis Costello. But Neil's harmonica in this song is superb, sublime. Takes me to some unexplored places in my mind. Bravo, Neil!
     
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  11. VU Master

    VU Master Senior Member

    I really liked it too. 2013. I didn't know that she was performing at all at that point. Wasn't that shortly before she got sick and apparently went into seclusion?
     
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  12. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    The Fall weather is starting to kick in over here in Virginia.

    Definitely a nice time to sit outside and meditate on this album.
     
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  13. mkolesa

    mkolesa Forum Resident

    She hadn't performed for some time before this, I think 2000 was the last tour, because of her ongoing health issues. And yes, about 2 years after this performance she had her stroke and I remember thinking in retrospect we may have seen her at once of her last performances. She did a couple other things that night, a spoken word performance of a poem, and a group performance of Woodstock-both on YouTube if you're interested (apparently she did Don't Interrupt the Sorrow the first night of the 2 nights, but I haven't found it on YouTube and she didn't authorize its' release). At one point the tribute show was rebroadcast on CBC but I don't see it available for streaming.
     
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  14. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    Man, I knew this album would inspire everyone here, but wow!

    "Furry" just haunts me. That backing track starts up in my head and I carry it with me indefinitely. Often with no vocal, no Shakey, just Joni, Max and John on an endless riff loop ... and it's always a supreme blessing.

    The subject matter haunts me as well, the depiction of Mammon and neglect having their inevitable way on the holy sites of our cultural commons. The more I age, the deeper I'm wounded.

    I had the misfortune of seeing the Stax building before it was restored and I just felt empty and desolate. Add to that the touristy elements of Beale Street and Graceland, and I was seriously bummed on that particular Memphis trip.

    And just guess what song was stuck in my head! :D
     
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  15. Planbee

    Planbee Negative Nellie

    Location:
    Chicago
    Stealing my own post from 10 years ago in the other thread about Hejira:

    According to the Shadows and Light biography, from Elliot Roberts: "all Joni said about him was 'Furry sings the blues', the rest is about the neighborhood. She doesn't even mention his last name. She really enjoyed meeting him, and wrote about her impressions of the meeting. He did tell her that he didn't like her, but we can't pay him royalties for that. I don't pay royalties to everybody who says they don't like me. I'd go broke."

    :laugh:
     
  16. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I like the change of pace that Furry Sings The Blues offers. Unlike the dreamworlds of Coyote and Amelia, here the lyrics seem a bit more straightforward, slightly more focused. Same for the music, which is rather more traditional-sounding than the first two tracks. It helps to ground the album a bit. I definitely don't think it's the weakest song on the album (though it might seem so coming after two genuine masterpieces).
     
  17. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    No, the weakest song on the album is still a long way off.
     
  18. lschwart

    lschwart Senior Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    I used to find the turn to "Furry Sings the Blues" a little bit of a comedown after the two monumental songs that start the record, but I have more recently come to love the vividness of the encounter, the way it moves from fantasies of the Beale Street heyday and the squalid present and stubborn presence of Furry Lewis himself--at least how that presence felt to her. I think the song works on the album, not only as a travelogue encounter, but also as another mediation on Mitchell's sense of her relationship to her art, in this case, her relationship to African-American musical traditions. Another source of ambivalence that generates creative energy for her--a strange and I think wholly original mix of affinity and alienness. The song captures that, I think. She's able to dive deep in her imagination into that world while still never being a part of it (no matter how much smoke and drink she offers). She draws from it, but what she draws comes back out completely altered, subdued to her own sensibility, but without any sense of appropriation or dishonor. I understand why Furry Lewis didn't like the song (and I certainly get that he'd have liked to have gotten paid by it), but the song doesn't feel unfair to him--even if it is unflattering. It gives me a sense of documentary honesty. At least nothing makes me mistrust the singer's voice here.

    L.
     
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  19. VU Master

    VU Master Senior Member

    I'll officially guess that you're referring to Black Crow or Blue Hotel Room. One of those I like halfway, the other I like very much. All in good time.

    P.S. I miss HenryFly.
     
  20. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Yes, very true. And Joni would continue to explore her relationship with African-American music (and culture) more deeply on her next two records. Perhaps to mixed results, but it's interesting that she chose to explore at all.
     
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  21. MikeManaic61

    MikeManaic61 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Just finished this album today at work. Think I'm gonna grab Blue next.
     
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  22. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    Nice post. For my part, I absolutely love this track and feel it is central to the album and is placed where it is for that reason (we'll get to "A Strange Boy," but that would personally be my choice for "weakest" and least essential on the album, even though it is still outstanding).

    Agree with many of your impressions.

    Broadly I think it is (yet another) Joni song about the symbiotic and almost inevitably eventually callous relationship between artist and audience. There's typically this surface level view of such relationships, early on, that make them seem like the healthiest most wonderful thing in the world - a mutual love fest, everyone is high - but then right below the surface and soon popping through there's this kind of sick and twisted thing where each is basically using the other, often followed by a mutual casting off.

    So this is yet another theme on HEJIRA that she had been mining for quite a while, but now (IMHO) she's really crafted her message to a point of incredibly high refinement and art and it's couched in this wonderful and incredibly vivid imagery of Beale street and Furry and these (in some ways) dilettente musicians and fans who ostensibly come to "pay homage" (but really to catch a contact high and feel self-righteous and cool) that serves to keep the lyric from sounding too self-serving/pitying - and adds the other layer of race relations and exploited musicians of color from prior generations. By this point clearly Joni had absolutely NO illusions about the whims of fame and what "fandom" typically ends up meaning. I think in fact it is likely the case that in this wonderful little short film, Joni identifies most strongly with or "is" Furry, not one of the visitors (or, maybe, she's equal parts each).

    I don't think the "leg removed" and "teeth out" thing is ultimately meant to be taken so literally, though of course it is on one level a literal description of a particular man. Rather I think it is primarily intended as a wonderfully vivid representation of the artist under public scrutiny in the bright lights - I mean, they have literally invaded the man's bedroom - with every potential vulnerability exposed, who to survive has to become a little hardened and callous in response - to escape with honor.

    Love the lonesome harmonica. It's little touches like this, and the clarinet on "Hejira," that really pop on an album that is otherwise (gloriously) monochromatic, from the cover artwork on down.

    A shout out to Joni's vocals here too, which are simply incredible. I defy any other artist to get across those lyrics the way she does here, soaring and swooping and growling, almost like a really great jazz trombone solo. Her phrasing is remarkable, such an ultrafine relationship with the beat, first way ahead, then way behind, then right on. Try to sing along some time. She makes it sound like falling off a log, so conversational, but it's nigh on impossible to copy. Many a pure jazz singer would kill to be able to do that.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2018
  23. lschwart

    lschwart Senior Member

    Location:
    Richmond, VA
    Thanks for this post! I've never considered the possibility that Mitchell might identify with Furry Lewis in this song, but I think that's a very suggestive idea--especially in light of the late career performance that @mkolesa linked to above and some of the interviews she's given in in recent years.

    L.
     
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  24. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    Dead on, great observation re: the Shorter connection. Really interesting coming from Neil. Maybe it is just something about her music that brings this type of playing out.
     
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  25. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    Thank you and yes, it was very eye opening for me to see @mkolesa's post, I had not seen that before.
     

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