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

'The Priest' has never been covered by any notable artist if the very reliable website "Second Hand Songs" is to be believed. What neglect! I'd love Cassandra Wilson to have a go or Norah Jones in a similar style to her work with Herbie Hancock on 'River: The Joni Letters'

 

Next:

Track 9: "Blue Boy"


Lady called the blue boy love
She took him home
Made himself an idol yes
So he turned to stone
Like a pilgrim she travelled
To place her flowers
Before his granite grace
And she prayed aloud for love
To waken in his face
In his face

Sometimes in the evening
He would read to her
Roll her in his arms
And give his seed to her
She would wake in the morning
Without him
And go to the window
And look out thru the pain
But the statue in her garden
He always looked the same
He looked the same

Bring her boots of leather
And she will dance for him
Shyly from a feather fan
She'll glance for him
Here he comes after midnight
To find her again
He will come a few times more
Till he finds a lady statue
Standing in a door
In her door

 

Blue Boy
If the last song was one of Joni's more lyrically obtuse, 'Blue Boy' takes things even further. In many ways, this song feels like an outlier among Joni's compositions. There really isn't anything else I can think of in her catalog similar to this song. It seems to tell a metaphorical fairy tale of a lady in love with a statue (a man turned into a statue? A statue who becomes a man?). Is it symbolic for loneliness, or for loving a man who is unfeeling and not emotionally available? Is Joni the woman? It's a beautiful song to listen to but lyrically it is quite a mystery to me. The song I most closely associate it with is a great song called "Misty" by Kate Bush, in which a woman brings a snowman to life and loves him.

'Blue Boy' is very evocative and puzzling, rich and beautiful.

 

According to a quick Google search Cretan mythology puts Mount Ida on the island as the location of the story of a beautiful woman who gets turned to stone for her vanity and her bereft lover who decides to share her fate to be with her. It's found in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'. It's just possible that she wrote this in Matala, Crete directly after the split with Nash, or before leaving for the island of course.
I think we have to assume that she's still feeling incredibly raw from whatever emotion it was that sparked this song: I think it's easily the saddest singing she'd ever done at that point.

 

Another Joni deep cut, on a couple of levels. You know by now I’m not a fan of her upper register singing - I recognize it’s very beautiful, but it always sounds slightly forced and a little fake to me.

I haven’t done any kind of serious study about this, but did she write her saddest songs on the piano?

 

But Blue Boy was copyrighted in 1969 ? Not sure the exact date of split with Nash, but she was still travelling together with CSNY in January 1970 when they both had shows in London around the same time. Well known photos of her with Nash and also alongside Young exist from that time. Matala was after that wasn't it ?

 

If it was copyrighted in 1969 it is very unlikely to have been written on Crete. Thanks for clearing that up!

 

Love.

 

HenryFly, I don't have my old vinyl copy anymore, I'm just checking the date on the cd booklet. But there would have been very little time as LOTC was released in April 1970.

She also is quoted as saying this 'In January 1970 I did my last concert and I came home. In February I finished up my record. I gave my last concert with the idea that I'd take the year off, because I need new material'.

 

Next:

Track 10: "Big Yellow Taxi"


They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel *, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Pink Hotel: Although Joni's own words (below) suggest she wrote this on Maui, the Pink Hotel in this song is most likely the Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu. The romantic and legendary Pink Palace, built in 1927 is the landmark hotel on Waikiki Beach. Here, amidst serene gardens behind the coral-colored facade, you can still find the special ambiance of old Hawaii and its gracious island hospitality. The Royal Hawaiian has 526 beautifully appointed rooms, located in either the elegant Historic Building or the modern Tower Wing.

Tree Museum: Dave Donelly, reporter for Honolulu's Star-Bulletin, informs us that: "'Big Yellow Taxi', by the way, was written about Hawaii and the "tree museum" she sang about where they charged you to see the trees was Foster Botanical Garden"

New fees to see the trees?
Admission:
$5.00 - General, 13 years and older
$3.00 - Resident of Hawaii, 13 years and older with ID
$1.00 - Child, 6 to 12 years old
FREE - Child, 5 years old and under (must be with adult)
$25.00 - Annual family pass

DDT is a persistent organochlorine pesticide and is largely responsible for the great decrease in the reproductive capabilities and consequently in the populations of fish-eating birds, such as the bald eagle, brown pelican, and osprey. Because of DDT's effects on birds, the chemical has not been used in the United States since 1972, and can no longer be used except in cases of public health emergency. At the time Joni wrote this lyric (1967-68), the continued use of DDT was quite controversial. DDT is still used in several other areas of the world.

Joni introduced the song this way on November 29, 1969:
"Two weekends ago I went to Hawaii. It was my first time there and I was only there for two days which was kind of a bummer, I wish I could’ve really seen more of the island and I arrived there at 11 o’clock at night and the next morning I ran to the window and threw back the curtains and sure enough, there it was, paradise, you know, green, lush hills, old Sugarloaf Mountain up there, white birds flying low, Myna birds all over the place, and, right in the middle of it all, was a big parking lot [laughing]. So I wrote this little rock and roll song to commemorate the occasion. It’s called “Big Yellow Taxi,” or, alternately, “They Paved Paradise and Put in a Parking Lot.”

 

Big Yellow Taxi
Like many, 'Big Yellow Taxi' was the first Joni Mitchell song I ever heard. Also like many, I first heard it in one of the hundreds of cover versions that have been done over the years. One of the first three cassettes I got when I was a child (the very beginning of my music collection!) was House of Love by Amy Grant (1994). That album contained a cover of 'Big Yellow Taxi' that I was listening to when I was six years old and years before I would learn about Joni.



Amy changed the price of the cost of seeing the trees, to update the song for the early '90s. I've always found 'Big Yellow Taxi' to be a pleasant enough song, but I have just no idea why it has become the most famous song in Joni's vast catalog and the most covered. It has a catchy melody and a memorable chorus line. Is that it? I think she's got dozens of superior songs, but this song is so brief (not even three minutes) and inoffensive that I can't say I've ever skipped it. It is still a relevant message in 2018, though. It's good but not even the best song on this album.

 

Big Yellow Taxi was probably my introduction to Joni as well. I think it was one of the few songs of hers that got actual radio play in 1970. I wonder if the version released by the Neighborhood is what I'm remembering...I was only in 8th grade after all. This is the return of happy Joni for me, hippy Joni. Anyway, here's a mashup of two of my very favorite artists (apologies in advance to anyone who finds Mr Crumb's art offensive, my loving and tolerant wife sure does LOL).

 

What can be said about “Big Yellow Taxi”? Hard to not like this song except for the irritating rehearsed giggle at the end. Short, bouncy, simple, perhaps Mitchell’s catchiest tune. It was destined to become popular. People who bought LOTC expecting more of the same were no doubt a bit surprised.

@ParachuteWoman: Nice pull on the Amy Grant cover. Never heard it before. It’s lovely and effortless... adds a bit while respecting the original. I might actually prefer it to Joni’s version.

 

see below

 

inoffensive? are you serious? besides many thinking it was hippie BS from the outset, many farmers felt she was trying to take away their pest control, Monsanto etc. hated her for demonizing them, city planners would hate it for stifling 'progress'.

On reflection I just might say it's the most important thing she ever wrote, because instead of it being love songs as usual it was totally topical and a dire warning.

 

I used 'inoffensive' to refer to the sound of the record--an easy, uncomplicated melody and arrangement that goes down easy. It's pretty simplistic in terms of messaging as well. It may have made some farmers mad in 1970, but in 2002 the Counting Crows/Vanessa Carlton version was a popular singalong that fit right in on VH1 and raised not a single eyebrow.

Also, I don't think topical songs are any more 'important' than songs of a personal nature. And Joni didn't just write love songs. This very album contains several other songs that are not love songs (For Free, The Circle Game, The Priest, Ladies of the Canyon, and Woodstock--none of those are love songs). Besides, there is absolutely nothing wrong love songs and your tone sounds like you are looking down on them a bit.

 

i have always loved this song. i have been playing it since early on in my guitar playing ... i even feel compelled to put in the comical ending

 

Yeah, it was topical, but I think you’re giving her more credit than she deserves. It was a protest song of sorts, but a pretty fluffy one far as that goes. “Blowing in Wind” it wasn’t. Probably best not to get into the politics here of how many tens of millions of people have died from malaria in the intervening years thanks to all the misguided “dire warnings” about DDT.

 

This is a serious topic handled with immense intelligence and by carrying it with a classic pure pop melody she ensured ten times more listeners would be reached. I think we should respect the savvy behind the song as much as the song itself. I love how she sequenced it on the album. It never sounds quite as much fun when it doesn't follow 'Blue Boy'

The cackle, for want of a better word, could never be included these days in any song about the same topic. Bitter sobbing would be a more appropriate ending.

 

not looking down on them but as far as historical import, Taxi is a serious wake up call that Willy is not.
and not to go all political even though this song really requires it, but 2002 is light years away from where we are now re: social consciousness..all that DDT stuff is given the green light these days. IOW that song is more relevant now than it ever was.

 

The mood of Big yellow taxi adds variety to the album

 

very astute.

 

Yes, 'Willy.' Just listened to it. Seems to come from the right speaker. Not just this record, I've always heard it.

Also hear it in 'The Arrangement.' (centered)

Edit: Also hearing it in 'Blue Boy.'

 

In 'The Arrangement' I hear "It could have been more" instead of "You could have been more." Anybody else?

 

Always thought this was a sexual reference.