Joni Mitchell: "Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm" Song by Song Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Parachute Woman, Dec 12, 2018.

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  1. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

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    Track 7: "The Beat of Black Wings"


    THE BEAT OF BLACK WINGS
    WORDS AND MUSIC BY JONI MITCHELL
    ©1988 Crazy Crow Music BMI
    JONI MITCHELL Drum programming
    MANU KATCHÉ Talking drum, percussion
    LARRY KLEIN Bass
    BENJAMIN ORR Background vocals
    JONI MITCHELL Vocals, background vocals, keyboards

    Lyrical Excerpt:
    There's a man drawing pictures
    On the sidewalk with chalk
    Just as fast as he draws 'em
    Rain come down and wash 'em off
    "Keep the drinks comin' girl
    'Til I can't feel anything
    I'm just a chalk mark in a rainstorm
    I'm just the beat of black wings

    Complete Lyrics at Joni Mitchell's Official Site

    Joni on the song:
    "The Beat Of Black Wings"
    During the late '60s, I used to play at Fort Bragg for boys who were coming from and going to Vietnam. On night, I came off stage in a long velvet dress with flowers in my hair and bare feet. I opened the door to my dressing room and inside was a little guy with his fists clenched and his teeth grit- shaking- and his face was red with anger.

    With a southern drawl he said, "You got a lotta nerve, sister, standing up there singin' about love because there AIN'T no love. An' I'm gonna tell ya where love went!" Then he burst into tears and told me about his experiences in 'Nam and having to pick up pieces of what he referred to as his "brother," who was his best friend. He said, "I went over there to kill a commie for God." He said, "Give Charlie a safety pin and he'll blow up a platoon." He said, "They're in the right. We shouldn't even be there."
     
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  2. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    The Beat of Black Wings
    I am the child of a career Army officer, so I appreciate songs that delve into the experiences and emotions of veterans. 'The Beat of Black Wings' is fairly powerful, though not the best song on the subject of young men and Vietnam ('Fortunate Son' and 'Born in the USA' spring to mind immediately). But it's a nice piece and I like that the lyrics actually try to say something and say them in a poetic way rather than just ramming things home in obvious phrases. The verse comparing Kyle to a chalk mark in a rain storm is quite beautiful and clearly Joni thought so as well. Kyle actually feels like a well-rounded character and I empathize with him throughout the song. Melodically, it's very nice if a tad glossy for such stark subject matter. The sighing "Charlie Angel" refrain vocals add something haunting to the overall piece. There is some debate in the comment section on Joni's site for the lyrics as to what Charlie Angel refers to specifically, which is interesting.

    Going through the thread, I have to say that I agree that the first half of this album is stronger than the second half.
     
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  3. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    "Black Wings" is for me the star attraction on the album. It's the only song that made me sit up and say "Wow!"
    Objectively, there is very little to the song. Beginning on the sub-dominant chord, the verse almost sounds as though it's the second half of a fully formed verse, with the first half missing. It's a bit like walking into the middle of a song. Deceptively simple, the song is given drama and a slight scare factor by the insistent percussion and the swelling synth chords.
    I always thought it was "Johnny Angel", quoting this song. His demographic would likely have known it, and it could conceivably have been one of the songs he listened to to kill boredom while over there in 'Nam".
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2018
  4. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Interesting! I haven't heard this song in years, but I remember it being played on an oldies station I listened to when I was growing up. Strange that the official lyrics page doesn't make note of the background vocals at all, almost as if they don't exist, when they are such a huge part of the song.
     
  5. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    The Carpenters also recorded the song, though I'm not sure whether their version would have been too late to have been part of the vets' listening experience.
     
  6. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    I've always thought it was "Johnny Angel" as well. It was a hit during Joni's senior year, and I assumed she was throwing in a bit of nostalgia - perhaps to evoke Killer Kyle's pre-war life.

    The song is a highlight of the album for me. In spirit it hearkens back to the whole folkie anti-war tradition (although she wouldn't have gotten away with the profanities and clinic reference in a Yorkville coffee house).

    Her vocal is superb. She could've again gone the strident route but instead infuses it with an aching sympathy.

    It's also a winner musically - she makes the technology serve the song rather than overwhelm it as on the previous album.

    The wordless backing vocal refrain reminds me of someone else, but I can't quite articulate who. Again, Benjamin Orr is barely discernible.

    I don't much care for how the track ends - it really feels like it needed a longer and more gradual fade-out.

    It's not a title track, but the album title comes from it (I love that verse btw) so it's an honorary member of the great Joni title track club.
     
  7. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    The Wikipedia page about the song "Johnny Angel" contains the following:
    Obviously, like everything else on Wikipedia, this does not constitute absolute proof; however it certainly indicates the popular perception seems to tally with mine.
     
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  8. HenryFly

    HenryFly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Yawn! Yet another song about America's tiresome self-induced loss of glory and innocence. Next...
     
  9. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    Vietnam was very much in the cultural zeitgeist of 1988, especially at the cinema, so it's not surprising her Fort Bragg encounter came back to mind.

    (It's intriguing to think of her performing at the enlisted club or a USO show).

    I'd just left the Air Force the year before this album, and though my tech specialty had a combat designation the only battles I ever saw were with the Army grunts who considered us softies. (Yeah, good luck winning battles without Comm support).

    Anyway, there were still quite a few senior enlisted who'd been to Nam and I got to hear them relate their experiences. Let's just say any notion of the "glories of war" was dispelled from my young brain.
     
  10. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham
    Best song on the album.
     
  11. Fortysomething

    Fortysomething Forum Resident

    Location:
    Californ-i-a
    I loved The Beat of Black Wings. Thought it was a wonderful merging of Joni's storytelling and the Sound of the Now, as it was then.

    I'd heard Janet Jackson covered it for the tribute album and always wondered why it was not included. (That tribute as eventually released was, um, a bit anemic...but that's another topic, perhaps.)
     
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  12. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Next up:

    Track 8: "Snakes and Ladders"


    SNAKES AND LADDERS
    WORDS BY JONI MITCHELL
    MUSIC BY LARRY KLEIN AND JONI MITCHELL
    ©1988 Crazy Crow Music/Dee Klein Music BMI
    JONI MITCHELL Drum programming
    LARRY KLEIN Bass, keyboards
    MICHAEL LANDAU Guitar
    DON HENLEY Vocals, background vocals
    JONI MITCHELL Vocals, background vocals, keyboards

    Lyrical Excerpt:
    Get to the top and slide back down
    Get to the bottom climb back up
    Buy the townhouse
    Call the preacher
    Get to the bottom climb back up
    Get to the top and slide back down
    Get to the bottom climb back up
    Set up credit for the lovely creature
    The lovely creature

    Complete Lyrics at Joni Mitchell's Official Site

    No comments from Joni on this song in the Geffen box set.
     
  13. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Snakes & Ladders
    Hmm...As we learned in an earlier thread, Don Henley was originally set to be the male voice on "You Dream Flat Tires" but Joni erased him and replaced his voice with that of Lionel Richie because she didn't think there was a strong enough contrast between the voices. He gets his Joni duet here. I've never been a big fan of Don's or of his voice but he sounds okay here I suppose. I think the song itself is just a bit "ho hum." She covered similar subject matter back in 1975 on The Hissing of Summer Lawns and did it in much more interesting ways. I also think this one is overly long. It just seems to keep going and going with too many verses. It's enjoyable enough while it's on but doesn't stick with me in any significant way.
     
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  14. Black Thumb

    Black Thumb Yah Mo B There

    Location:
    Reno, NV
    You nailed it, PW. It's like a descendant of "Hissing Summer Lawns" with an infinitesimal fraction of that song's quality.

    That's two albums in a row where she's gone after the rat race with an eminently forgettable track.

    Some of her vocal inflections here are downright annoying, at least to my taste. Henley on the other hand is unusually restrained.

    IMO, Lionel got a far better deal. :D

    The song actually made the Top 40 on Billboard's Album Rock chart - no doubt at least partly due to Don's presence.
     
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  15. HenryFly

    HenryFly Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    When I skirted over Black Wings and wrote 'next...' I'd forgotten it was this song. Next..
     
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  16. Fortysomething

    Fortysomething Forum Resident

    Location:
    Californ-i-a
    My original life goal was to be a radio DJ. I remember volunteering at our campus station and helping one of the on air personalities - he'd always ask me to pick out a few songs and without fail I'd have him play this cart....it had JUST come out at that point.

    Listening to it now.....well, it's okay.....damned with faint praise, I suppose?

    Yeah, I think she was trying to enunciate those very staccato lyric phrases and some of the ends of those phrases are really odd. The words get twisted up.
     
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  17. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    OK, as soon as I hear the opening notes of this track I think "Boys of Summer", and I would have thought that even had I not known of Don Henley's involvement. Except that Boys of Summer develops into a much better song.

    This here is another dull song, like many of those on this album and the two preceding albums. I used to think that this album was an improvement over Dog Eat Dog, but now I'm not so sure. This album does not have any real stinkers like those towards the middle of Dog Eat Dog, though Dancin' Clown comes close, and it does have The Beat of Black Wings. On the other hand DED has Good Friends, Fiction and Ethiopia. So it's neck and neck.

    A good single album could probably have been made by selecting the best tracks from WTRF, DED and Chalk Mark. It still wouldn't have been as good as Hissing or Hejira, but it would have been decent.
     
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  18. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Interesting proposition. I saw what I would come up with in such a scenario. I came up with this:

    Side 1:
    Chinese Cafe/Unchained Melody (WTRF)
    Lakota (CMiaRS)
    Moon at the Window (WTRF)
    Impossible Dreamer (DED)
    My Secret Place (CMiaRS)

    Side 2:
    Good Friends (DED)
    You Dream Flat Tires (WTRF)
    The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms) (CMiaRS)
    Love (WTRF)
    Lucky Girl (DED)

    Smooth out the production so that it all matches and I'd give this record about a 7.5 out of 10. Looks pretty good, but not up to the level of her '70s masterworks.

    (In reality, I give Wild Things a 6.5, Dog Eat Dog a 4 and Chalk Mark a 6.)
     
  19. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    That's not a bad list. I would have replaced Flat Tires with The Beat of Black Wings.

    The next question of course is what would be a good name for the album. "Wild Dog In a Rainstorm"?
     
  20. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I was stumped on a title as well! I cut all the title tracks. :laugh:
     
  21. Socalguy

    Socalguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    CA
    Yeah, right about here’s where it seems she started running out of new musical ideas and interesting subjects to write about...
     
  22. chrisblower

    chrisblower Norfolk n'good

    Not only is it a poor song it has Henley on it. Yuk.
     
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  23. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Next:

    Track 9: "The Reoccurring Dream"


    THE REOCCURRING DREAM
    WORDS AND MUSIC BY JONI MITCHELL
    ©1988 Crazy Crow Music BMI
    MANU KATCHÉ Drums
    LARRY KLEIN Bass
    MICHAEL LANDAU Guitars
    JONI MITCHELL Vocals, background vocals, keyboards, collage

    Lyrical Excerpt:
    This is the reoccurring dream
    Born in the dreary gap between
    What we have now
    And what we wish we could have
    More fulfilling and less frustrating!
    Out of the envy in our eyes
    Look!
    Glamorous picture people rise
    Radiant!
    Gleaming down from screens and pages
    Ooh glamour before your very eyes!
    Isn't it true isn't it true?
    Good question I know who cares

    Complete Lyrics at Joni Mitchell's Official Site

    No comments from Joni on this one, surprisingly.
     
  24. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    The Reoccurring Dream
    Is it a song, really? Kind of. It wants to be one, anyway, but it is so darn awkward and unmusical. Joni apparently spent a couple of weeks taping sounds off her television from advertisements and such and then sampled them all through the song. I find it gimmicky and this is Joni *again* writing about the empty, superficial lives of modern folk. I'm tired of the subject and didn't even care for it much to begin with. Unfortunately, Chalk Mark starts out with such promise on the first half but ends with a whimper on these last couple of tracks.

    Interestingly, I have glanced at the YouTube comments on every Joni song I've pulled for these threads. Every single one of them, no matter the quality of the song, is full of people rapturously praising it and talking about Joni's genius. :D I love the woman, but seeing folks worshipping at the altar of "The Reoccurring Dream" is kind of funny.
     
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  25. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    This song is "Tax Free" part 2. The voice snippets are, as you say, gimmicky, and add nothing to the "song", which was pretty insubstantial in the first place. I imagine some of the people worshipping this song might be people who love anything with the samples, simply because they are samples, and, man, it's so cool to sample something from someone else and insert it into your own song.

    The "Johnny Angel" samples or quotes are used effectively in Beat of Black Wings to enhance the song. The samples on Reoccurring Dream are all there is to the song. This track is ridiculous.
     
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2018
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