Joni Mitchell: "Ladies of the Canyon" Song by Song Thread

Thank you again to everyone who has so far participated in my Joni Mitchell song by song threads (moving through her discography in original release date order). We have completed Joni's first two records and today I open up discussion for Joni's third record, Ladies of the Canyon, released in 1970.

Previous threads in this series
Joni Mitchell: "Song to a Seagull" Song by Song Thread
Joni Mitchell: "Clouds" Song by Song Thread

Ladies of the Canyon


Album Notes

Released: April 1970
Composed and arranged by Joni Mitchell
Engineered and advised by Henry Lewy
Recorded at A&M Studios, Hollywood, California

Assisted on arrangements for Cello by Don Bagley
Cello played by Teressa Adams
Percussion by Milt Holland
Paul Horn on clarinet and flute
Jim Horn on Baritone Sax
Bop vocal by "The Saskatunes"
Circle Game Chorus by "The Lookout Mountain United Downstairs Choir"
Other vocals, guitar and piano by Joni Mitchell

All music published by Siquomb Pub. Co., 55 Liberty Street, New York, N.Y., 10005
Lyrics copyright by and reprinted with Siquomb's permission
Cover by Joni



Ladies of the Canyon is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on Reprise Records in 1970. It peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA.[10][11] The title makes reference to Laurel Canyon, a centre of popular music culture in Los Angeles during the 1960s. The album includes several of Mitchell's most noted songs, such as "Big Yellow Taxi", "Woodstock" and "The Circle Game."

Background
The album is notable for its expansion of Mitchell's artistic vision and its varied song topics (ranging from the aesthetic weight of celebrity, to observation of the Woodstock generation, to the complexities of love). Ladies of the Canyon is often viewed as a transition between Mitchell's folky earlier work and the more sophisticated, poignant albums that were to follow. In particular, "For Free" foreshadows the lyrical leitmotif of the isolation triggered by success that would be elaborated upon in For the Roses and Court and Spark. The sparse, alternate-tuning laden sound of later records comes to the forefront on "Ladies of the Canyon."

Of all of Mitchell's work, this album is the most related to her long-standing friendships and relationships with Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young (whose rock arrangement of "Woodstock" was one of their four radio hits in 1970). A number of the album's songs, including the aforementioned "Ladies of the Canyon" and "Woodstock", feature densely stacked, wordless harmony overdubs reminiscent of David Crosby's oeuvre; Crosby himself has performed "For Free" for many years. "Willy" is an infatuated paean to Graham Nash, whose middle name is William. "The Circle Game", one of the artist's early signature songs, features background vocals from all four, and is a response to Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain". "Big Yellow Taxi" has become a standard over the years, as well as being sampled by Janet Jackson. In 1995 Annie Lennox performed the song "Ladies of the Canyon" and released it as the B-side of her single "No More I Love You's".


Contemporary Reviews
"Joni Mitchell's second album, "Clouds," won the Grammy Award as best folk performance of 1969. Her followup to "Clouds" is "Ladies of the Canyon," a lovely collection of pure truth and beauty. Her singing as always is animated, yet serene, tender, still determined, lyrical and poignant, but never overbearing. With a quiet intensity her lyrics project their message, her crystal-clear voice happily free of Joan Baez's subtle tension and repetitious protest themes."
Morning News, April 1970

"Joni could sing a copy of the New York Telegraph and make it sound like poetry. She has that kind of voice. Give her a song with substance and she is among the most beautiful creatures alive. As a song writer, she is among the brightest young talents of this era. And the beauty is that she will get even better as her talent expands with experience and philosophical growth.

For the time being, Joni is at her best poetically when her mood is whimsical or sentimental, the flavor on many of the numbers in "Ladies of the Canyon." The lyrics do not stagger you with profoundness, but they are pretty. And when Joni has a statement to make, it is made quietly. It is a feminine statement. She can be singing a song of the "revolution" and you do not realize it until the song is over."
Philadelphia Inquirer, April 1970

"I have been hopelessly in love with Joni Mitchell since the unheralded arrival of her first brilliant recording. This is her third collection, and she keeps getting better and better. Her crystal clear imagery is as shining bright as ever, and her melodies, if anything seem to be improving. She always has been a fine guitarist and now, surprisingly, she is becoming a growingly powerful singer, too. Unlike the sometimes delicate vocalizing on her first two recordings, Miss Mitchell's work here seems to revel in chance-taking. She uses epiglottal stops, wide, headtone vibrato and resonant chest tones-- a range of vocalizing that would be remarkable even if Miss Mitchell hadn't written all the songs on the album."
New York Times, April 1970

"Joni Mitchell writes some of the finest tunes around and matches their flowing hesitancy with her enduring epiphanies and modern parables. Her clever inner rhymes and stylized satire have been around for years - recall Tom Rush's "Circle Game" and Judy Collins' "Both Sides Now"? Ably matched here by "For Free," "Conversation," and the already CSNYed "Woodstock," not to mention the elusive "The Priest" or the incisive "Ladies of the Canyon" and seven other enigmatic, poetic word-journeys that move from taxis to windows to whiskey bars to boots of leather and racing cars. Plus the fact that Joni has now mastered the piano to the point where she employs it rather than guitar on nearly half the cuts - she plays it shrilly with a lot of echo and lingering notes, giving certain songs even more dimension and wideness."
Rolling Stone, June 1970

 

Tagging everyone who participated in the first two threads, to let them know this one has begun:
@bluemooze @Sear @Damiano54 @jkauff @Hall Cat @bob_32_116 @DeYoung @scousette @Kiss73 @Denim Chicken @HenryFly @Tommy Jay @Johnny Thunder @All Down The Line @Hardy Melville @anth67 @VU Master @Planbee @Bruno Republic @BRush @cublowell @Sax-son @chrisblower @correctodad @DmitriKaramazov @Cokelike- @EddieMann @StarThrower62 @beccabear67 @bvb1123 @lucan_g @Socalguy @daleyguy @Dr. Pepper @drad dog @Rose River Bear @NumberEight @Liam Brown @oxegen @bartels76

My apologies if I missed anybody!

I will also open things up with the first song on the record. Today please share your thoughts on 'Morning Morgantown' or the album as a whole.

Track 1: "Morning Morgantown"


When morning comes to Morgantown
The merchants roll their awnings down
The milktrucks make their morning rounds
In morning Morgantown

We'll rise up early, with the sun
To ride the bus while everyone is yawning
And the day is young
In morning Morgantown

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

We'll find a table in the shade
And sip our tea and lemonade
And watch the morning on parade
In morning Morgantown

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

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

I'd like to buy you everything
A wooden bird with painted wings
A window full of colored rings
In morning Morgantown

But the only thing I have to give
To make you smile, to win you with
Are all the mornings still to live
In morning Morgantown

© 1966 Gandalf Publishing Co.

 

Morning Morgantown
Judging by the copyright date (and the sound of the song) 'Morning Morgantown' is an older composition that finally made it onto an album for Joni in 1970. It's a sweet, innocent kind of song that definitely has much in common with the other songs Joni wrote in that early 66-67 period ('Chelsea Morning'; 'The Circle Game'). While the song itself has never been one that bowls me over or would make it onto a list of all-time Joni favorites, I do think it works very well as an album opener and those lyrics perfectly bring to life a sleepy town waking up in the morning and everyone going about their morning business. That image of the businesses rolling their awnings down seems like just the right mood to open up this album, which has always felt very domestic and homey to me. It was written while Joni was very much a part of the Laurel Canyon scene and there is a real sense of community throughout the whole record. Lots of character pieces, lots of images of hippie/young people culture in 1970.

Ladies of the Canyon is a record that was a great favorite of my mother's and for that reason I have a real soft spot for it. It reminds me very strongly of home, comfort and love and I think those themes are very much reflected in the songs themselves. Joni was young, in love and part of a world that is captured elegantly on this record. You put it on now and it still sounds like Laurel Canyon in 1970.

 

Love, love, love.

 

I got this out of the library earlier this week so I could warm up in the bullpen a little bit. I own the vinyl but I spend a lot of time with my I-pod so....
The beginning two songs on this album seem to straddle her career from Song to a Seagull to Court and Spark. This one (Morning...) would fit comfortably on her debut, while For Free could be a Court and Spark track. I see that the song was published in 1966 so this makes some sense. This is just a beautiful song and even in the many years that I wasn't too familiar with this album I always liked Morning Morgantown. Just another random thought; Joni is becoming quite the musician now. I'm really enjoying what she adds to the songs with piano and such. Great start!

 

Hugely likeable start to proceedings.
I've never felt the need to trace this one back through the sixties live shows because it is such a great version she and Henry Lewy put together here and it was a good idea to wait 4 years before releasing it just like Circle Game later on.
Could the vocals in fact be the most perfect distillation of her midtempo singing? Every ullutation or catch in the throat, each effortless glissando, the two or perfectly delivered syncopated notes (is that the right term?) when she sings "to make you smile, to win you with"
It's different to the faster-paced Chelsea Morning for example, there's more going on here vocally. Impressive.

 

Oh, yes! In my opinion, we are now reaching into Joni's greatest period as a singer (for me, the apex is at For the Roses). She has gained confidence and ease with her voice and she knows how to use it on each song to get the emotion and impact that the composition requires. Joni is an interesting artist in terms of vocals because they changed so radically throughout her career (unlike, for instance, her friend David Crosby who sounds much the same today as he did 50 years ago!). And she always worked with the voice that she had at the time.

There is quite a bit of daring to her vocal choices on Ladies of the Canyon. Like the New York Times review I quoted above says, her singing seems to "revel in chance-taking."

 

Her best album opener until the title track to Court and Spark.

 

Ladies of the Canyon is where my love of Joni starts. The previous two albums never really clicked with me.
This one, for me, is the start of a unique sequence of albums from an extraordinary artist. When she's at her best, you cannot escape being drawn into her world. On this album, as for her subsequent run, she achieves this on many tracks. An artist not afraid to take risks, and to take you to such heights and depths when the risk pays off.

--

The opener Morning Morgantown is not a bad song. Not her greatest, but a nice gentle opening to the album.

 

Something I noticed earlier while looking up information on the first 4 albums, the gap between Clouds and LOTC is the shortest of her career. 11 months. Even taking into account that two songs had been written before Clouds there is 1 new song per month (including the outtake 'The Hunter').
She'll never again reach that level of fecundity.

 

'Ladies of the Canyon' is the first of her chronology that I have as a vinyl LP (80s reissue) but for years I had to make do with a home-taped cassette taken off a beaten-up original LP borrowed from the discarded stock of my University's
amateur radio station. That home-taped cassette was played to near death on radio cassette player with twin very weedy speakers. Never occurred to me that what I was listening to was inferior in any way to the proper Reprise 'Clouds' cassette I had at the same time. It obviously was but I was more involved in the later of the two albums I guess.

 

interesting archive release from this period. this is one I would liked to have attended.

Amchitka (album) - Wikipedia

Amchitka is a 2009 two-CD release of a recording of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Phil Ochs performing an October 16, 1970, benefit concert at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. The event funded Greenpeace's protests of 1971 nuclear weapons tests by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission at Amchitka, Alaska.

 

Morning Morgantown is my fourth most favorite JM song. IMHO, for this album, Henry and Joni stepped up their production technique

 

It's the subtle organic beginnings of something she needed to paint her aural pictures. Henry's sonic palette was a bit bigger with each album, but whether she used the breadth was her choice, in bright primary oil colours, pastels or her 'blue' period.

 

I would agree with that. The sonic palette of the album was also expanded due to Joni writing and recording a significant portion of the album on piano, an instrument barely heard on the first two records. This gave them some variety to work with in terms of arrangements, I think. Joni is very well-known for her inventive guitar techniques and playing, but her piano work is wonderful as well--not flashy, but deeply felt.

Beautifully put! Henry and Joni were a wonderful team. He's a bit overlooked, I'd say, in terms of his contributions to Joni's amazing run of albums.

 

Outstanding opening track..
And great lyrics..
Reads like a poem.

 

This was my first Joni I owned. A friend got it for me when it came out, I was in 10th grade. I fell in love with the album, and her. My feelings are still the same even after all these years. There are albums of her's I like better, but this one is a sentimental favorite because it was my first.

 

Here is the next track:

Track 2: "For Free"


I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet for free

Now me I play for fortunes
And those velvet curtain calls
I've got a black limousine
And two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls
And I play if you have the money
Or if you're a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good for free

Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never
Been on their T.V.
So they passed his music by
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good for free

Joni added these lyrics to the song during the 1983 tour:

Playing like a fallen angel
Playing like a rising star
Playing for a hat full of nothing
to the honking of the cars

Joni introduced the song this way on July 7, 1969:
"Now New York is an amazing city and every time I go there I write a story. Here’s another story that’s about a New York street musician who played real good for free and that’s the name of the song, “He Played Real Good for Free” and it’s in a kind of a Gene Autry country and western riff. Funky Gene Autry, of course."

 

For Free
'For Free' is one of my top two favorite songs on this record and in my top 20 Joni Mitchell songs overall. I adore it. In many ways, it feels like the strongest precursor to the For the Roses album (one of my top two Joni albums). It's the first Joni song we've heard led by piano rather than guitar, and when you combine that with the subject matter and the use of a woodwind instrument...it could have fit in on For the Roses. I think this is an absolutely beautiful song featuring lyrics that brilliantly showcase Joni's feelings on fame vs. musicianship at the time. The image of the street musician playing alone amid the hustle and bustle of a busy city street has always been striking to me. Her vocal is stunning--maybe my favorite Joni vocal so far--clear, strong and mature. And I adore when the clarinet solo comes in at the end, like a wisp of nostalgia and smoke at the end of the song, a perfect accent and 'chime in' from the street musician himself. Beautiful arrangement, beautiful song. Highly evocative and a true dear one to me.

 

Have only a failing familiarity with most of her work but when first hearing this album a few months ago it had that something about it - magic, mystique? - that attracted me to it. Just the alliteration of the opening track title, just thinking of morning in a town, to begin with, is captured perfectly, in my mind, in the opening song. I went to look for the vinyl at a local store that had lots of her albums for months and months and month and Ladies was in amongst them but when I went this week to finally grab it it was gone of course. On Ladies her vocals and the other instruments are mixed in a complementary, balanced way.

 

I love this album. It was probably my introduction to Joni and it was a good one. Along with this album, Hejira and Shadows and Light would be my favourite things she did (that I have heard)

 

I came to this album late and it was a nice surprise to hear this song on it. It's one of my favorite Joni songs, even though I first heard it in 74 when I bought the just released Byrds self-titled album. It's just a wonderful song from the time.

 

Whenever I listen to this album, I always have this whimsical nostalgia thing. It is a sort of comforting thing, and this song exemplifies that feeling.

 

I first heard the song 'For Free' when it was used in a theatre production called "Stone Free" which was loosely based on hippie culture. I was completely blown away by the beauty of it's lyrics, and the clarinet solo at the end. I went straight out and bought 'Ladies Of The Canyon' the very next day.

 

I think it would go well on Court and Spark too. In fact the first time I listened to it this week I kind of was expecting Twisted to start playing after the woodwind solo at the end lol.
A couple of short asides not related to anything but on my mind this morning.

These three threads you started about Joni have been some of the most enriching I've participated in during my few years here on the forum. I know they will become even more so as we move into those albums of hers that I've played to death over the last 4 decades. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have Clouds thru Hejira on my I-pod and last night on the long drive home from the baseball game in Chicago I put those 7 lps on shuffle. Sitting alone in your car and having a chance to fully focus on her music is a tremendous way to spend an hour.